Southern Honey starts drive to Breeders’ Cup return

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Last Memorial Day, Southern Honey won the Grade 3 Winning Colors as a 3-year-old over older fillies and mares. So why can’t she repeat as a 4-year-old?

Well, she just might – assuming trainer Rusty Arnold has the filly ready to roll in her first start in nearly seven months.

“I think she’s ready,” Arnold said from his Keeneland base. “We gave her plenty of time off this winter with Jeanne and April Mayberry in Ocala, and when they sent her back to me in March, the filly looked really good. She’s done really well here in her training.”

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Owned by the Ashbrook Farm of Bo Bromagen, Southern Honey finished a creditable sixth in the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in her latest outing. The bay daughter of Colonel John will break from post 7 with regular rider Julien Leparoux aboard. She faces nine others in the six-furlong Winning Colors.

Arnold said his long-term objective with Southern Honey is to make it back to the Breeders’ Cup at his home track of Keeneland in late October.

“We’ve put a lot of thought into it,” he said. “I’m not sure I didn’t have her peak a little early last year, which is why we’ve given her some extra time to get going. We’ll run her two or three more times after this and hopefully she’ll be good enough to make it back to the Breeders’ Cup.”

Spring Included, winner of the Spring Fever and Carousel at Oaklawn Park this winter, looms the main threat with Joe Rocco Jr. back to ride.

The Winning Colors, named for the third and most recent filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1988), is carded as the 10th of 11 races on a holiday Monday card which also includes three allowances (races 4, 9, and 11) and a maiden-special at the infrequently run distance of 1 1/4 miles (race 8). First post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the Winning Colors set for 5:20.

After Monday, Churchill resumes racing with an eight-race Thursday evening card that begins a four-day week.

KEY CONTENDERS

Southern Honey (Last 3 Beyers: 82-91-85)

◗ Her 2014 triumph in the Winning Colors capped a three-race win streak, after which she competed in four more graded stakes, with a runner-up finish in the Thoroughbred Club of America being her best performance.

Spring Included (Last 3 Beyers: 92-91-79)

◗ Filly who has been tried at a variety of distances and surfaces seems to have found her niche for Steve Hobby in these main-track sprint ranks, having come to a peak this winter with those back-to-back stakes scores in Arkansas.

Street Story (Last 3 Beyers: 86-70-85)

◗ Favorably drawn in the outside post, this Steve Asmussen-trained filly was good enough to win back-to-back stakes last year, including the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Saratoga.