Ruby Notion survives three-horse photo in Ladies Sprint

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Whether she is racing on soft turf at Saratoga or firmer going at Kentucky Downs, Ruby Notion just keeps showing she is a crack turf sprinter. She illustrated as much Saturday in the Grade 3, $332,020 Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint, a start after winning the July 23 Caress at Saratoga, by edging course specialist Lull and front-running Brielle’s Appeal by a neck in a three-horse photo finish.

It was a gritty effort from the winner, battling between rivals, with Brielle’s Appeal on her inside and a surging Lull on her outside. She raced 6 1/2 furlongs in a swift 1:15.80 on firm ground, giving her a brief course record that was eclipsed a half-hour later when Proforma went the same distance in 1:15.72 in the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint.

“Up in New York, I thought maybe we took advantage of the elements – that it just worked out for us,” trainer Darrin Miller said. “But she did what she did today. So that’s great. Just really gutty. She’s in such good form this year, obviously.”

Both Ruby Notion and runner-up Lull enjoyed favorable trips, settling in stalking positions, as Brielle’s Appeal sped to the lead under heavy pressure from longshot Bixby Lou through splits of 23.10 seconds and 45.96. There they waited to make their move, with Ruby Notion three or so paths off the inside and with Lull just outside her.

Brielle’s Appeal did not go down easily. She was difficult to pass, only yielding in the closing strides to finish third, a nose behind Lull, who had won two prior stakes at Kentucky Downs from as many attempts.

“She showed so much fight today,” winning jockey Florent Geroux said of Ruby Notion.

As a West Virginia-bred daughter of Great Notion, Ruby Notion was eligible for only $250,000 of the $450,000 full purse. Kentucky Downs Stakes races are supplemented by funds from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, which rewards Kentucky breds with purse incentives.

Ruby Notion got a 93 Beyer Speed Figure for Saturday's victory.

Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf

A race earlier in the companion race to the Ladies Sprint, Insta Erma gave California trainer Richard Baltas his second stakes victory of the week at Kentucky Downs when she inched past a stubborn Valadorna to win the Grade 3, $474,780 Ladies Turf by a neck. The win followed a stakes victory for the trainer a couple days earlier when Next Shares took the $250,000 Old Friends on Thursday.

Del Mar leading jockey Drayden Van Dyke, who piloted Next Shares to success in the Old Friends, was aboard again for Baltas and delivered. He kept her well placed in the clear in eighth, aimed her after Valordorna when that one surged to the lead at the head of the lane, and gradually wore her down.

A 5-year-old daughter of Pioneerof the Nile owned by a partnership headed by Medallion Racing, Insta Erma won for the first time in four starts in 2018 and notched her first graded stakes victory in the process. She had picked up a Grade 1 placing last fall when third in the Matriarch.

Saturday marked her first race since finishing 11th in the Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs on May 5, but she never showed rustiness or shortage of fitness in winning the Ladies Turf. Racing over her most effective distance of a mile, she was timed in 1:36.26. She paid $15.40 as part of a competitive cast.

Insta Erma got a 98 Beyer Speed Figure for the Ladies Turf.

Valadorna ran almost too well to lose in the Ladies Turf, travelling well in her first race on grass after having made 11 prior starts on dirt. She finished two lengths clear of Pas de Soucis in third.