Twirling Aces gets first real test in Audubon Oaks
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Speed figures provide a purportedly objective assessment of how fast a horse ran while applying data beyond the crude instrument of raw final times. They tend, however, to engender very subjective responses.
“I love them when they’re good,” said trainer Brendan Walsh when asked how he uses the figures.
Walsh said that with a laugh, but the question applies to a filly he trains, Twirling Aces, who comes into Sunday’s Audubon Oaks at Ellis Park with Beyer Speed Figures of 81 from each of her two starts. That’s a number more solid than spectacular for a 3-year-old filly, and for many it would not match the visual impression Twirling Aces made in two sharp wins.
“For the type of races she was running in, I think they were pretty respectable figures,” Walsh said. “I do think a lot of her.”
What Walsh is getting at is this: Twirling Aces did more than she needed to beat inferior competition. He thinks she has more to give stepping up in class to the $200,000 Audubon Oaks.
The seven-furlong contest drew nine entrants, but Percy’s Bar and Carmel Coast will instead run in the Test Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga.
That could leave a horse who last raced at Saratoga, A Fine Chardonnay, as the Audubon favorite for trainer Ian Wilkes and jockey Brian Hernandez. While A Fine Chardonnay checked in a well-beaten third in the Grade 3 Victory Ride on July 11, that performance looked like a career best, and it came with a change in tactics. A Fine Chardonnay was allowed to drop more than a dozen lengths behind the leader going down the backstretch in the 6 1/2-furlong Victory Ride, starting a run before the three-furlong marker that she sustained to the wire. She didn’t come close to running down her victorious stablemate, Sippin Pretty, but she rebounded from a flat fifth June 8 at Churchill in the Leslie’s Lady.
While seven starts leave A Fine Chardonnay fairly well exposed, key rival Betty’s Pearl has raced nine times without a real break since debuting in October. If the long form cycle has taken a toll, trainer Brian Lynch isn’t seeing it.
“Her work the other day coming into this race energy-wise was a really nice work with a good gallop-out,” Lynch said.
In her last five starts, Betty’s Pearl has two wins in one-turn races and three losses going two turns, but Lynch said that, regardless of race configuration, Betty’s Pearl is a horse who needs a strong pace in front of her.
Twirling Aces could lead, as she did in her allowance win after finishing stoutly from fifth in her debut score.
“We were a little surprised the first time she didn’t get away from there,” Walsh said.
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Twirling Aces turned in an extremely eye-catching work before her first start. She had a recent team workout with the tough older male stakes horse San Siro and went toe to toe with him, Walsh said.
The filly toyed with 13 rivals in her two races. She hasn’t yet run a fast figure, but Sunday might be the time.
Cowboy Jones
Coal Battle won the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes in February 2025, earning enough points to make the Kentucky Derby and giving trainer Lonnie Briley more attention than he’d ever gotten in his life. Eleventh in the Derby, Coal Battle has gone on a seven-race losing streak since the Rebel but has found a good spot to end it in the $200,000 R.A. “Cowboy” Jones on Sunday.
Coal Battle drew the far outside post in the one-mile Cowboy Jones, which drew eight entrants but goes with no more than seven, as Bracket Buster will instead run at Mountaineer Park on Sunday.
This Is Uscar, a smart two-turn allowance winner last out, could make the lead from his midfield draw, and Coal Battle can sit a good pressing or stalking trip just outside him, with Cristian Torres taking over the mount from the retired Corey Lanerie. Coal Battle stalked a couple lengths off a hot pace in the June 8 Hanshin at Churchill, moved into that pace in upper stretch, and ran out of gas the final half-furlong, finishing fourth.
Owen Almighty made a later move in the Hanshin, whizzing past Coal Battle to nab second behind front-running Nu What’s New, who turned in an excellent performance. Owen Almighty notched his most recent win about a month after Coal Battle got his last one.
“He did get a solid pace the other day, but he was closing as good as he ever has,” trainer Brian Lynch said. “Energy-wise, it looks like he’s on his game. He’s one of the barn favorites and we’d love to see him back in the winner’s circle.”
Groupie Doll
Among the three Bob Baffert-trained morning-line favorites in Sunday’s stakes, Cash Call appears the most likely winner. She faces six foes in a modest renewal of the $200,000 Groupie Doll and will win if her sprint form carries to this 1 1/2-turn mile.
It should. Cash Call’s lone two-turn try came in June 2025, and she won the Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita without wavering late in that 1 1/16-mile contest. In the Twin Bridges last month, Cash Call finished second to Kilwin, a top-class filly better than anyone she meets in the Groupie Doll.
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