Victories by talented fillies cap Stidham's big weekend

From New Orleans to San Diego, Saturday was a grand day for the Mike Stidham stable.

At Fair Grounds, Stidham-trained horses won three races, including an eye-catching maiden score from 2-year-old filly Ursula, who flashed serious stakes potential.

At Del Mar, Stidham charge Alms, another 2-year-old filly, ran her career mark to three wins from three starts with a dominant victory in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes. Alms got an 88 Beyer Speed Figure, the second-highest route number for a 2-year-old filly in North America this year.

There will be no issue keeping Alms and Ursula apart since Ursula will continue racing on dirt while Alms will stick to grass racing, Stidham said. Alms, owned by Godolphin, is by City Zip out of Charity Belle, by Empire Maker, making her a sister to the stakes-winning grass filly Hallie Belle, also trained by Stidham. Alms won two turf sprint races in New York, including the Matron Stakes, before comfortably stretching to two turns at Del Mar, where she won the Jimmy Durante by 2 3/4 lengths.

“She finished really solid and had a strong gallop-out,” Stidham said. “She’s got that acceleration, that turn of foot.”

Other than focusing on grass races, there’s no set plan for Alms. Long-range goals include graded turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies in New York during the summer, and her connections are keeping in mind the Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs, where Stidham runs a string of horses.

Ursula finished fifth making her career debut in a Keeneland dirt sprint before taking a considerable step forward in a six-furlong maiden race Saturday. Ursula, under Mitchell Murrill, stalked the pace and took command under her own courage in midstretch, drawing away to a geared-down 5 1/4-length win. Ursula is a homebred owned by Mt. Brilliant Farm by Tapit out of the Anabqa mare Debonnaire, whose most prominent offspring is Hartnell, the Australian multi-million-dollar earner who chased the great Winx for several campaigns. Ursula was so highly regarded when sent to auction as a yearling that her reserve, which wasn’t met, was set at $575,000.

Ursula could make her next start in a first-level allowance race or be aimed directly at a stakes race like the Silverbulletday on Jan. 18 at Fair Grounds, but whatever the class level, she’ll be stretched out to two turns the next time she races.

“She’ll have no problem routing,” Stidham said. “I sprinted her twice because she really didn’t get enough out of her first race.”

Stidham’s other two Saturday winners at Fair Grounds, Tackett and The Last Zip, both are 3-year-olds who won grass allowance races, and they’ll square off Dec. 28 in the Woodchopper Stakes. Tackett, who won a second-level allowance open to older horses, was making his first start since he finished ninth Jan. 19 in the Lecomte Stakes. A month before the Lecomte, Tackett won an allowance race over subsequent multiple stakes winner Owendale, who finished second this past Friday in the Grade 1 Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs.