Rusty Slipper sneaks up rail to win One Dreamer

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Rusty Slipper out-gamed A Little Bit Sassy in the final yards of the inaugural running of the $150,000 One Dreamer Stakes, the first of four closing-day stakes Saturday at Kentucky Downs.

Ridden by Jimmy Graham, Rusty Slipper rallied up the rail to prevail by a head over A Little Bit Sassy, with Annulment another 1 1/4 lengths back in third.

The winner returned $21.80 after finishing the mile and 70 yards in a record 1:41.70 over a firm course. The former record was 1:42.06 set last year by Bitty Kitty.

The top two finishers are both based at the Fairhill training center in northern Maryland, with Rusty Slipper trained by Graham Motion and A Little Bit Sassy by Michael Matz. The One Dreamer was restricted to fillies and mares that had not won a stakes in 2015.

Kitten’s Dumplings, the 2-1 favorite trying to win for the first time since the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup nearly two years ago, made a menacing outside move in the upper stretch but flattened out late to finish fifth.

Rusty Slipper, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred mare by Lemon Drop Kid, is owned by Zanim R. Meahjohn. She now has won 5 of 15 starts.

The $2 exacta (10-9) paid $136, the $1 trifecta (10-9-11) returned $427.60, and the 10-cent superfecta (10-9-11-8) was worth $343.29.

The One Dreamer originally was scheduled for Sept. 10 and split into divisions but was canceled because of poor course conditions. It was redrawn and re-slotted as a single race for this last of five Kentucky Downs cards.