Search Results is the class, but Le Da Vida might be value in Locust Grove

Le Da Vida was three-quarters of a length better than Search Results at 10 times the price when the mares finished second and third July 22 at Monmouth Park, and while the odds gap will narrow Saturday at Churchill Downs, Le Da Vida surely is the better value in the Grade 3 Locust Grove Stakes.

Not that these are the only two options. The 1 1/16-mile dirt race for older fillies and mares drew a field of 11, three of whom are Grade 1 winners: Search Results got hers in the 2021 Acorn, A Mo Reay this past winter in the Beholder Mile, and Pauline’s Pearl landed the 2022 La Troienne, which was run over this distance at Churchill.

It’s a strong race for a Grade 3, but that’s what happens when you put up a $400,000 pot. The Locust Grove is carded as race 10, post time 5:26 p.m. Eastern, the last of five stakes on an 11-race card that kicks at 12:45.

Search Results obviously is the big name in the Locust Grove. The 5-year-old mare is trained by Chad Brown for Klaravich Stables. Recently based at Belmont Park, where she has been breezing since the Molly Pitcher Stakes nearly two months ago at Monmouth, Search Results twice has raced at Churchill Downs, finishing second by a neck to Malathaat in the 2021 Kentucky Oaks, and third, beaten less than one length, in the Grade 1 La Troienne this past May.

You might say Search Results needed the La Troienne, her first race after a winter break, but then she also comes to the Locust Grove on a five-race losing streak dating to the 2022 Molly Pitcher. Search Results dominated that race but could only finish third in the 2023 renewal.

With Joel Rosario riding for the first time, Search Results was very keen into and around the first turn, and her failure to settle might have cost the mare in the end. Trapped between horses past the quarter pole and into the stretch, she finished third on class and heart as Shotgun Hottie, an 8-1 shot, swept to victory after racing four wide around the turn.

In 2022, Search Results went on from the Molly Pitcher to the 1 1/8-mile Personal Ensign. Her Kentucky Oaks showing notwithstanding, nine furlongs has always been a touch too far for Search Result’s best, though she gutted out a second-place finish behind Malathaat going that distance in the Personal Ensign.

This year, Brown took a different approach, passing the Personal Ensign for this shorter race, but in the Locust Grove, Search Results and her new jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, face difficult tactical choices from post 4. Search Results has the best early speed in the race but typically is given a target; connections might not want her leading, but she could wind up there by default.

Le Da Vida, a 6-year-old mare who made her first 13 starts in her native Chile, won her North American debut a year ago in her lone Churchill start and essentially has been improving ever since. Her two most recent races have been her best, a good win over a strong field in the Lady Jacqueline on the Ohio Derby program on June 24 preceding her second in the Molly Pitcher.

Le Da Vida and regular rider Vincent Cheminaux followed Shotgun Hottie’s wide move around the turn and got within a half-length of the winner at the finish. As usual, Le Da Vida failed to change leads in the Molly Pitcher homestretch.

A third horse, Misty Veil, also exits the Molly Pitcher, where she was a distant sixth, but the rest of the race’s strength lies elsewhere.

While A Mo Reay beat Pauline’s Pearl by more than seven lengths winning the Beholder Mile, Pauline’s Pearl, with eight wins and $2.1 million in earnings, is the more accomplished horse, and in the Fleur de Lis on July 2 at Ellis Park, the most recent start for both horses, it was Pauline’s Pearl first, A Mo Reay third.

A Mo Reay was cleverly spotted to get her Grade 1 in the Beholder but as a 4-year-old does have more upside than 5-year-old Pauline’s Pearl. Trained by Brad Cox, the Uncle Mo filly changed hands since the Fleur de Lis and now is owned by Haruya Yoshida, which means at some point A Mo Reay is bound for a broodmare career in Japan.

Falconet and Hidden Connection are a cut below the top level here and with four horses among that group either one winning seems unlikely.

Open Mind Stakes

There is one standout in the $300,000 Open Mind Stakes and two in the $300,000 Louisville Thoroughbred Society, rich supporting six-furlong sprints earlier on the Saturday program.

The Open Mind, restricted to older fillies and mares, will have Wicked Halo as an odds-on favorite and it will be somewhat shocking if she loses. Third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last fall, Wicked Halo likely is headed toward another start in that race and her opponents simply are not of similar quality.

Trained by Steve Asmussen for her breeder, Winchell Thoroughbreds, Wicked Halo this year has wins in the Matron and, most recently, the July 23 Twin Bridges at Ellis, and seconds in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff and the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses, far better form than her opponents.

Wicked Halo went to Saratoga, worked four times there, and was entered in and scratched from the Pink Ribbon at Charles Town and the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga. The reason? Asmussen had other horses to win those races, Society for the Pink Ribbon and divisional leader Echo Zulu for the Ballerina. Now he’s found a sweet spot for Wicked Halo.

Louisville Thoroughbred Society

The Louisville Thoroughbred Society, another six-horse field, has Bango listed as the even-money favorite, Strobe at 6-5, and one of those two will prevail unless they compromise one another with similar front-running styles.

At age 6 and with 32 starts behind him, Bango already has hit his peak. Strobe has run only eight times and as a 4-year-old has room to grow. After winning four of his first five starts for Godolphin and Cox, Strobe has lost three stakes races in a row.

He might have been a touch below his best form when he was third best in the True North, but that race was won by champion Elite Power. Finishing second in the Count Fleet at Oaklawn Park, Strobe ran into a lifetime best from Skelly, and the same thing happened in the Iowa Sprint, where 20-1 shot Ultimate needed a career-top 102 Beyer Speed Figure to upset Strobe.

Strobe won his only Churchill start over a fast track, but Bango is a Churchill specialist, with an 18-10-2-2 local mark, though neither horse is going to light up the tote board.

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