Stellify favored to win second straight Ladies Marathon
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In the course of eight days at Kentucky Downs last year, Stellify basically made her career.
On Aug. 28, Stellify earned $120,000 strolling to a two-length allowance win. Trainer Brad Cox ran her back on Sept. 6, and Stellify scored by an even wider margin in the Ladies Marathon, with the winner’s share of the purse worth $1.16 million.
Sunday at Kentucky Downs, Stellify tries to get here career back on track in the same race that launched it, and despite a modest comeback run last month following a long layoff, she’s a likely odds-on favorite to capture her second straight Ladies Marathon.
The race is contested over 1 5/16 miles, one lap around the Kentucky Downs course, and nine entrants vie for a total purse of $1.5 million. Half of that money is available only to Kentucky-breds like Stellify, and four horses were bred in other jurisdictions.
Stellify’s star rose rapidly last year at age 4. Late to make the races, she turned in two decent maiden runs at Fair Grounds, then won two straight at Churchill, though both her maiden and entry-level allowance scores yielded a modest 78 Beyer Speed Figure.
Then came Kentucky Downs, where the Beyers ratcheted up to 93 and 95. But after setting an easy pace in those victories, Stellify could not make the front and checked in a tame seventh ending her season in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
This campaign only began Aug. 1. It took Stellify a good long while to make it back to Cox’s barn, and he finally deemed her ready to start in the Beverly D. Stakes at Colonial Downs. Somewhat flat on the board at odds of 5-2, Stellify raced some six lengths behind a slow pace, made a modest move at the eighth pole, and finished fourth, beaten 2 1/2 lengths.
“I thought it was okay,” Cox said. “She needs to break and go forward and control things, and she’s done that twice down there. I think that gives her the best chance to win.”
The questions, though, are twofold. Does Stellify actually have true early pace, or did she just land in a series of paceless races last year? And will Stellify ever get back to the quick peak she reached as a 4-year-old?
“Based on how she physically looks and has been training, I don’t see why not. She looks the part. We ran her at Colonial with confidence,” Cox said.
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Flavien Prat rides Stellify for the first time, and the mare is priced at even money on the track’s morning line – perhaps a short favorite worth trying to beat. The Brazilian import Night of Rose, 20-1 on the morning line, offers one possibility. A Group 1 winner over 1 1/4 miles in Brazil, Night of Rose has raced 1 1/8 and 1 1/16 miles in her two American starts.
“What we are looking for Sunday is the distance,” trainer Paolo Lobo said. “She has all the pedigree for it – her grandsire was a champion mile-and-a-half horse.”
Night of Rose ran a strong race and missed by a nose making her first start for Lobo in a Keeneland second-level allowance in April. A string of tough luck followed. Night of Rose got sick, and after Lobo had her going well again, he shipped the mare to Churchill Downs, only to have Night of Rose’s intended race rained off the turf. She finally swung back into action July 19 at Colonial Downs, finishing a solid fifth in a race she probably needed and was strong for the class level. Third-place Evershed returned to win the Waya at Saratoga.
Golden Sunshine has hit a high enough mark on speed figures to contend, ran well two years ago in her lone Kentucky Downs start, and finished a useful fourth in her last start, the Trillium on July 25 at Woodbine, trying to close into a slow pace.
Dona Clota won the Grade 3 Dick Memorial at Delaware earlier this summer, while Way to Be Marie finished a well-beaten second in this race last year. Venencia and Hey Jessie would be hurt by a slow pace, Pin Up Betty races beyond nine furlongs for the first time, and Public Assembly, who won her lone local start, needs to get faster.
One Dreamer
In her first two starts this season, Miwa ran well in a Churchill allowance race and an Indiana stakes contest, but she has never run better than she did last year at Kentucky Downs and should win the $500,000 One Dreamer on Sunday.
Jose Ortiz rides Miwa for trainer Joe Sharp, who won two of Thursday’s seven races, and Miwa could drop lower than her 5-2 morning line.
Miwa doesn’t have much speed, but she should still get first run on one of her main rivals, Cheetah Lady, who always comes from far back and got a great pace setup when she won a first-level allowance on this course last season.
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