Shawnee Stakes a golden opportunity for Envoutante, Paris Lights
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The big girls are going out of town, leaving Envoutante and Paris Lights to get what they can while the getting is good.
Swiss Skydiver, Shedaresthedevil, and Letruska are all headed from Kentucky to New York for the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on the Belmont Stakes undercard next Saturday. Left behind for the $150,000 Shawnee at Churchill Downs on Saturday are Envoutante and Paris Lights, a pair of 4-year-olds who have dabbled in the upper echelons of the filly-mare division and whose connections hope they’ll eventually prove themselves worthy of those heights again as 2021 unfolds.
In fact, as much as any race on the Stephen Foster Preview Day card Saturday at Churchill, the 1 1/16-mile Shawnee is designed as an ideal prep for a bigger goal. As such, the connections of the two favorites are looking for the Shawnee to set them up perfectly for the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis, which will be renewed on the Foster card June 26, closing day of the spring meet.
“We’re intending on bringing her back in the Fleur de Lis,” said Kenny McPeek, trainer of Envoutante.
Envoutante gave Shedaresthedevil everything she wanted when finishing second by a length to her in the Grade 1 La Troienne on the April 30 Kentucky Oaks undercard. The effort underscored a fondness for her home surface first revealed in a May 2020 allowance victory and a six-length romp last fall in the Grade 2 Falls City.
“She loves this track,” said McPeek, also the trainer of Swiss Skydiver. “She’s a really good filly and she’s doing great right now.”
Paris Lights also ran in the La Troienne, albeit without the desired results. Trained by Bill Mott, the WinStar Farm homebred had swept through her four previous starts, including the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks last July at Saratoga, before being hung wide through both turns of the 1 1/16-mile La Troienne to finish a well-beaten sixth at 6-1.
“We are hoping she bounces back from the La Troienne,” said WinStar president Elliott Walden. “She was very wide and we hope to get a better trip. She has trained well since.”
Envoutante (post 7, Brian Hernandez Jr.) and Paris Lights (post 8, Tyler Gaffalione) will break alongside each other from the outside posts Saturday. They’ll dominate the pre-race wagering and face six others, with Istan Council and Miss Bigly among their more capable challengers.
This is the second running of the Shawnee, named for a long established neighborhood in western Louisville. It goes as race 7 and kicks off the 50-cent late pick five (races 7-11), with post time set for 3:50 p.m. Eastern.
Regret Stakes
The only other stakes for females here Saturday is the $150,000 Regret, a Grade 3 turf race that directly follows the Shawnee as race 8 (post, 4:22). There are no graded winners in the field of nine 3-year-old fillies, although Spanish Loveaffair did finish first by open lengths in the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride in late February before being disqualified by the Gulfstream Park stewards.
Tough luck further followed Spanish Loveaffair out of a last-place finish in her only subsequent race, the April 3 Appalachian at Keeneland. The Karakontie filly was diagnosed “with some kind of weird fungus that I can’t even describe,” said her trainer, Mark Casse.
“One of the veterinarians said it was something he’d never seen in 15 years,” Casse said. “We sent her to the clinic and it would end up being some kind of respiratory deal. She’s past all of that now, thankfully, so I’d have to think she’ll run a lot better than she did at Keeneland.”
Gaffalione, who rode Spanish Loveaffair in the Herecomesthebride, will be back aboard from post 4 for the Regret, which goes at 1 1/8 miles on the turf. Lining up alongside in post 5 is perhaps her main threat, Barista (post 5, James Graham), who outran her 23-1 odds when finishing second to the run-off winner Gift List in the Grade 2 Edgewood on the Oaks undercard.
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Fringe players include the respective third- and sixth-place finishers from the Edgewood, Line Dancing (post 3, Julien Leparoux) and Postnup (post 6, Hernandez), as well as the Maryland shipper (post 1, Chris Landeros) Oyster Box, whose decent efforts in the Florida Oaks and Memories of Silver followed two career-opening wins. Postnup is one of two Cherie Devaux-trained fillies entered here, along with Gam’s Mission (post 7, Adam Beschizza).
This is the 52nd running of the Regret, which honors the longtime Hall of Fame inductee who in 1915 became the first of three fillies to capture the Kentucky Derby. It begins the 50-cent late pick four (races 8-11).