Thunderous break should serve Gray Lightning well
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Gray Lightning tends to leave the starting gate like a shot, which should serve her well from post 1 Monday in the $50,000 Wilma Mankiller Stakes at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla.
The Wilma Mankiller is a six-furlong race for fillies and mares. The field of six includes last year’s winner, Palacein, multiple stakes winner Take Me Serious, and quality closer Merasol Sugar.
Gray Lightning has broken on top in all five of her races, but she’s never started from the rail post. A sharp break would enable her to hold her position from the inside, particularly against a pair of speed horses situated to her immediate outside in Palacein and Take Me Serious.
Gray Lightning is making her first start in the Southwest region after beginning her career at Parx Racing. She has won three races by a combined margin of more than 33 lengths. Gray Lightning hasn’t started since finishing third in her stakes debut in the Jersey Girl on June 6 at Saratoga.
The Wilma Mankiller will be Gray Lightning’s first start for trainer Armando Hernandez after beginning her career with the East Coast-based Tyler Servis. Gray Lightning has logged a number of works at Oaklawn Park for her return, among her moves a bullet five-eighths in 1:00.40 on March 31.
Gray Lightning is a 4-year-old by Social Inclusion and a half-sister to stakes winner Fenton Forever. She defeated older rivals two races back at Parx and owns the two best Beyer Speed Figures in the Wilma Mankiller, a 94 and 95, for double-digit allowance wins at Parx. Francisco Arrieta, who is battling for the riding title at Oaklawn, is named to ride Monday.
Palacein won last year’s Wilma Mankiller wire to wire and figures to again be prominent when she breaks from post 2. This race will be the third start of her form cycle. She enters off a runner-up finish in a local allowance sprint. Floyd Wethey Jr. has the mount for trainer Scott Young.
Take Me Serious was the horse of the meet last season at Will Rogers. She has used her speed to win three stakes races.
She will start from post 3 on Monday while making her second start since November. In her return last month, she set a pressured pace in the Miranda Diane at Will Rogers and finished third as the favorite. Richard Eramia has the mount for trainer Joe Offolter.
If the three inside horses make for a blistering pace, Merasol Sugar is one who can take advantage. She used closing tactics to win a conditioned allowance over seven furlongs in July at Ellis Park. Merasol Sugar is a half-sister to Chanel’s Legacy, a multiple stakes winner of more than $400,000. Alex Birzer has the mount from post 6 for trainer John Ortiz.
The field is completed by Birdie Be Gone, a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Clickbait, and Stone Cold Lover, a multiple allowance winner making her stakes debut Monday.
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