Searching for first win since debut, Mechaya needs rain to stay away
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Mechaya, given her raw talent, should not remain eligible for a first-level allowance race in July of her 4-year-old season and six starts into her career. And after the co-featured eighth race Friday at Ellis Park, she probably won’t be.
Mechaya and 10 other older fillies and mares were entered in a 5 1/2-furlong grass sprint, a “one-other-than” in racing parlance. Listed the 7-2 morning-line favorite, Mechaya would be worth a play at that price – despite taking five losses since a blowout debut score in August 2024.
“She’s been an unlucky horse,” said trainer Jimmy DiVito, who trains Mechaya for the Doubledown Stable. “Little things happen to her all the time.”
Mechaya’s luck might not be changing. The weather forecast for Ellis calls for showers Thursday night into Friday. Mechaya won’t run if the race rains off grass, and True Passion becomes the horse to beat if Friday’s eighth becomes a main-track contest.
“I ran her once on dirt and she got beat way off,” DiVito said.
That was the Rags to Riches Stakes two falls ago at Churchill, one of two poor performances among Mechaya’s six outings. The other came on her vastly preferred surface, turf, when she ran a nine-furlong distance beyond her best – and failed to run to her best – beaten badly in the 2025 Regret at Churchill.
Her other starts include a 4 1/2-length debut win at Kentucky Downs in 2024, and a somewhat troubled second over the same course racing at this class level last Aug. 28, her most recent outing. Mechaya got a bad trip checking in a close fourth in the Grade 2 Jessamine at Keeneland in October of her 2-year-old season, and in her one race at a distance as short as Friday’s, she finished third.
And that was no ordinary third. Coming back from a winter break in the 5 1/2-furlong Mamzelle in May 2025, Mechaya was 11th of 13 at the stretch call and stormed home to finish third behind Shisospicy and Kilwin. Shisospicy would go on to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, while Kilwin that August captured the Grade 1 Test. And DiVito sees no reason Mechaya has to race from so far behind, even at a distance a touch short of ideal.
“At Churchill she got killed leaving the gate. She’s not a speed horse, but she doesn’t have to be back that far,” he said.
Mechaya should be more than ready for her comeback run. DiVito had the filly entered at Churchill last month but had to scratch when Mechaya’s race rained off grass. A return trip to Kentucky Downs and its trove of riches awaits, but if Mechaya gets her chance on turf Friday, she should go there a two-time winner.
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