Walkathon's stakes streak continues, takes Ladies Turf

Walkathon ran straight into the winner’s circle after a three-length win Saturday at Kentucky Downs in the Grade 3, $1,494,840 Ladies Turf.

It was the third win in a row, all stakes, for Walkathon, a 5-year-old Whitham Thoroughbreds homebred ridden by Brian Hernandez for trainer Ian Wilkes.

And it was the second stakes win in a row on the Kentucky Downs card for a horse sired by Twirling Candy. A race earlier, Ag Bullet captured the Ladies Sprint. Walkathon is out of the Stroll mare Walkabout.

While Walkathon came into Saturday’s race after stakes scores at Ellis Park and Churchill Downs, Wilkes had been eyeing this rich payday for months.

“We ran her at Churchill and then at Ellis with this in mind. She put her best step forward today, which was super,” Wilkes said.

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Walkathon earned just $878,940, about $150,000 more than she had banked in the first 17 starts of her career. The mare now is a seven-time winner, four of those coming this season alone.

Walkathon ($19.90) shared the early lead with Evvie Jets, made her way to the fence before the far turn, and gradually pulled away from her pace rival. Up by 2 1/2 lengths at the stretch call, she ceded no ground to the wire.

“When she broke so sharp and got to the turn, she skipped over a couple of the tougher spots around and she didn’t bobble at all. I said, ‘Oh, man, this is great,’ ” Hernandez said. “She just zipped around there the whole way.”

Sacred Wish stalked the pace and earned the place, three-quarters of a length ahead of Evvie Jets, who held on well and was more than two lengths clear of fourth-place Sparkle Blue. Implicated, surprisingly favored at 7-2, played no part and finished 11th, one place ahead of second choice Mission of Joy, who never traveled smoothly in her first Kentucky Downs run.

Walkathon had finished seventh in her previous Kentucky Downs start, but that was a 6 1/2-furlong race at the beginning of a form cycle, a race just to get her started. The Ladies Turf was the target race for Wilkes and his team. Bull's-eye.

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