Splendora has no trouble with Locust Grove Stakes

We learned nothing new about Splendora on Saturday in the Locust Grove Stakes at Churchill Downs, where Splendora earned $186,000 in an easy day’s work.

Facing just three foes after Miss Authentic and Simply Joking were scratched, Splendora dictated a modest tempo under Flavien Prat and imperiously dashed away from two chasing rivals in upper stretch. The 1-5 favorite, Splendora won by 5 1/4 lengths over Yes It Tiz, who proved more than three lengths better than her much-shorter-priced Brad Cox-trained stablemate Immersive.

Splendora ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:43.30 and paid $2.40 to win the Grade 2, $326,000 Locust Grove.

Splendora won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint last fall and the Grade 1 Beholder Mile earlier this year, but Bob Baffert, who trains the mare for Boyd Racing and By Talla Racing, has kept his charge out of top-level competition since Splendora’s fourth-place finish May 2 in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff. She won the Shawnee at Churchill on May 30 and routed rivals in the Molly Pitcher on July 18 at Monmouth Park, and Saturday’s contest was no contest at all, as Immersive took a step back after showing signs of life earlier this summer.

Splendora is by Audible out of Miss Freeze, by Frost Giant, and was bred in Maryland by The Elkstone Group. What we haven’t yet learned: Whether connections want to try Splendora at 1 1/8 miles in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff or cut her back to seven furlongs again in the Filly and Mare Sprint. In any case, there was no one at all to remotely threaten her in the Locust Grove.

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