The Very One comeback spot for lightly raced Kaufymaker
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BALTIMORE – Grade 2-placed Kaufymaker makes her seasonal debut Friday at Pimlico in the $100,000 The Very One Stakes for fillies and mares racing five furlongs on turf.
Trained by Wesley Ward, Kaufymaker was third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar in 2021, but has only started five times since, winning three of them. She faced males in her final race last year and finished ninth in the Grade 2 Woodford at Keeneland.
“We give our turf horses the winter off and bring them back in the spring,” Ward said. “She wasn’t quite ready for [the Giant’s Causeway at Keeneland], so I told the owner to wait for [the Unbridled Sidney at Churchill Downs]. I said we’re almost there, so why don’t we just back up and wait for Pimlico, and we’re ready. She had a fantastic breeze last week at Keeneland.”
Queen of the Mud also starts for the first time in 2024. She raced three times last year, wiring a maiden special weight during the Belmont at the Big A meeting on Sept. 21 before rallying impressively from off the pace to win a first-level allowance on Oct. 22 at Keeneland.
“She kind of surprised me, to be honest,” trainer Graham Motion said. “The first time she ran, she hadn’t shown that kind of ability. She’s progressed each time, so we felt like we’d treat her like a nice horse and give her the winter off. [The Very One] was Plan C. I’ve entered her twice, I think, and the races have come off [the turf]. In hindsight, the extra three of four weeks hasn’t hurt her. I think she fits in this spot.”
All That Magic won five of her first six starts on turf for trainer Kathleen DeMasi.
“I got lucky,” DeMasi said. “I know there’s some turf in her pedigree, but she just wasn’t screaming run me on the turf.”
All That Magic completed her 2023 campaign when third in the Autumn Days Stakes at Aqueduct.
“I wasn’t really all that keen to run her one more time, but the race seemed like a logical spot,” DeMasi added. “She ran her race, but it was a lot to go to and from Keeneland” for an Oct. 22 allowance win. “I think she’s coming up to [The Very One] as good as I could ask her to, and I think she enjoyed her winter break. I’m happy with where we are right now.”
Trainer Michael Trombetta entered both Future Is Now and Hollywood Walk. The former finished fifth against males in King Leatherbury on April 20 at Laurel.
“There was nowhere else to run her that really made a lot of sense,” Trombetta said. “So, we figured we’d take our best race in there to get a race under her, so she’s not coming into this race off 60-plus days. As long as she breaks well, I’m sure she’ll be a pace factor.”
Hollywood Walk hasn’t started since finishing third in Colonial’s restricted Camptown Stakes on Sept. 2.
“She had some foot issues at the end of last year that we just couldn’t seem to resolve before turf season was over,” Trombetta said. “That’s all behind her now, and she’s had a real good spring as far as her training.”
Maryland-bred champion Bosserati won the open Stormy Blues at Laurel last spring for trainer Brittany Russell. She’ll run for the first time since a fifth-place finish in Monmouth’s Blue Sparkler on July 15.
“It’s a tough ask,” Russell told Pimlico track publicity. “But with a turf-sprint filly like that, it’s kind of hard to find a prep race for her. She’s worked along every week, and she’s been doing everything right. She seems to be ready to roll.”
Port Townsend, Lilly Simone, Shoshanah, Dulce Kiara, La Traviesa, and High Class also entered. Anonymously runs main track only.
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