Stellify notches second consecutive Ladies Marathon as Prat has big day
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FRANKLIN, Ky. – The Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon wasn’t the biggest race trainer Brad Cox won on Sunday, but it was the richest. And as easily as Stellify captured this race a year ago, she was even more dominant this time, posting a 5 1/2-length victory and giving jockey Flavien Prat the fifth of his six winners on a 12-race card.
Stellify, bet to 3-5 favoritism, broke decently from an outside draw, and Prat was able to work the mare over to the lead before negotiating too much of the first turn. Stellify settled, got into a rhythm galloping along in front, which is where she wants to be, and never had an anxious moment.
It was a front-running trip much like the one the Cox-trained The Good Life pulled earlier in the day, winning the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga. The Hopeful, among the most historically important races in America, is worth $300,000. Stellify earned first-place money of $887,100 in the $1.395 million Ladies Marathon.
Stellify made her name a year ago at Kentucky Downs, wiring an allowance race before leading from start to finish landing the Ladies Marathon by 2 3/4 lengths. She ran well below form in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last November and didn’t start again until last month, finishing a modest fourth after racing from sixth during the early and middle stages of the Beverly D. Stakes at Colonial Downs.
Prat did not ride her at Colonial and in fact had his first chance aboard Stellify in the Ladies Marathon, but he knows the horse. Asked if Stellify, who has done all her best work on the lead, has any real gate speed, Prat said, “Not really.” But it does not take a speed demon to go a first quarter-mile in 25 seconds, and in so doing, Stellify found herself running alone through the glorified field called Kentucky Downs.
Prat, who started his career riding in France, the land of his birth, said Stellify runs like a horse who would suit European racing, which tracks with her love of Euro-style Kentucky Downs. The mare does not really quicken, has no true turn of foot, but she picks up her pace steadily, Prat said, and when asked for more run at the quarter pole, Stellify quickly sealed the deal, running alone to the wire, in a different league than her eight opponents.
Golden Sunshine, making a steady run between rivals, emerged from a thicket of horses to gain the place, a half-length ahead of longshot third-place finisher Hey Jessie. Stellify ran 1 5/16 miles over a firm course in 2:09.54, almost three seconds slower than her winning time last year, but this Ladies Marathon was run with the temporary rail set at 25 feet, while last year’s race came with the rail down. Stellify paid $9.45 for a $5 win bet, the base wager at Kentucky Downs.
Now a five-time winner from nine starts, Stellify campaigns for George Messina and Elements Racing. The 5-year-old mare, who didn’t debut until she was 4, is by Justify out of Savvy Star, by Medaglia d’Oro. She was bred by WinStar Farm, owner and breeder of The Good Life, trainer Brad Cox’s first major winner on this September Sunday.
*** May Day Ready easily took the measure of Miwa in the One Dreamer Stakes, which drew six entrants and scratched down to a two-horse field. Miwa took a clear lead in the 1 1/16-mile overnight stakes race for older fillies and mares but had no answer when May Day Ready came at her in upper stretch. May Day Ready, trained by Richard Mandella for KatieRich Stables, was ridden by Flavien Prat and paid $8.45 for a $5 base win bet. A 4-year-old, May Day Ready is by Tapit out of Nemoralia, by More Than Ready.
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