Walden praying for rain in Kentucky Oaks for Bless the Broken
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It was sunny and brisk at Turfway Park on Saturday as Bless the Broken won the Bourbonette Oaks to punch her ticket to the Kentucky Oaks, but trainer Will Walden will be doing a rain dance on the first Friday in May.
“She’s really, really taken to that,” Walden said. “She ran really good in the slop. She’s always kind of shown an affinity for it. We’re kind of hoping for that, but we’ll run either way. She’s done nothing wrong, and she’s shown up every single time.”
Bless the Broken indeed was knocking at the door against well-regarded fillies. She finished second on a sloppy, sealed track in the Silverbulletday in January at Fair Grounds, earning her career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 83. That race’s winner, Simply Joking, is entered in the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes this weekend at Oaklawn Park.
Bless the Broken then finished a well-beaten third to Good Cheer and Gowells Delight in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra last month in New Orleans. Good Cheer won the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks on Saturday to remain unbeaten and stamp herself as the Kentucky Oaks favorite. Gowells Delight was third.
In the 1 1/16-mile Bourbonette, Bless the Broken made a late move to clear off, earning an 82 Beyer. Walden is bullish on the filly getting another chance to go 1 1/8 miles. In her only try at the distance, she was seventh in the Grade 2 Demoiselle at Aqueduct, a loss Walden says “was on me” for running her back too quickly.
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“She wants to go as far as they’ll write,” he said.