Ward taking three shots at Mamzelle Stakes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wesley Ward has been known to enter and scratch on occasion, but not in this case. Ward said Thursday that all three of his entries are a go in the $110,000 Mamzelle Stakes, meaning the assignment for the other 10 3-year-old fillies in the five-furlong turf race will indeed be as demanding as it appears.

Ward said he entered Illegal Smile, Wink, and Amanzi Yimpilo in the Mamzelle in good faith, with the Saturday feature at Churchill Downs serving as a logical spot for all three. Wink is the only one to start at 3, having captured the Melody of Colors on March 20 at Gulfstream Park as an even-money favorite under the Stonestreet Stables yellow and burgundy, while the other two will be making their seasonal debuts after ending their 2-year-old campaign with a stakes win.

“They could all go their separate ways after this, but without conditions for any of them, this looked like the right race for all of them,” Ward said.

All three have breezed frequently in recent weeks over the turf at Ward’s main base at Keeneland, where Ward was the leading trainer at the spring meet last month. Whereas all are stakes winners over turf, only one of their 10 opponents, New Boss, can make that same claim. New Boss won the Lacombe Memorial in early March at Fair Grounds – and that was going a two-turn mile.

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Wink will have James Graham aboard when she breaks from post 4 in the Mamzelle, the 10th of 11 races on a Saturday card that starts at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. The feature goes at 5:26.

Illegal Smile, owned by Hat Creek Racing, will be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione from post 3. The Irish-bred filly had been a maiden through four prior starts when she ended 2020 by winning the Nov. 7 Stewart Manor at Aqueduct in gate-to-wire fashion, earning an 87 Beyer Speed Figure, highest for any of the 13 Mamzelle runners.

Amanzi Yimpilo (post 7, Ricardo Santana Jr) also got some time off after defeating male rivals in her last start at 2, the Sept. 26 Speakeasy over the Santa Anita turf.

If the Ward trio is to somehow be upset, the most likely candidates are Goin’ Good, Navratilova, and New Boss, the respective 2-3-7 finishers in the Limestone Turf Sprint on April 9 at Keeneland.

Goin’ Good (post 2, Florent Geroux) appeared to have the Limestone won before Tobys Heart came flying to beat her a half-length. Owner-breeder Richard Klein and trainer Brad Cox teamed to win the male counterpart to the Mamzelle, the opening-night William Walker, with Field Day.

Navratilova (post 12, Julien Leparoux), a G. Watts Humphrey Jr. homebred, stands to benefit from the Limestone, her first start in six months.

New Boss (post 8, Adam Beschizza) flattened out when returning to a sprint distance in the Limestone following her breakthrough score in the Lacombe.

The Mamzelle honors a Humphrey-owned filly whose lone stakes victory came in the 1980 Golden Rod at Churchill. It’s preceded by three straight allowances (races 7-9) on a solid Saturday card. Dry weather and a high of 63 are in the local forecast.

Conspicuous by her absence from the Mamzelle lineup is Tobys Heart, winner of the Limestone as the favorite. Trainer Brian Lynch said he is waiting to run the Jack Milton filly next Saturday (May 15) in the Grade 3 Soaring Softly going seven furlongs on the Belmont Park turf.