Well-traveled Love Reigns returns home for Indian Summer

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Love Reigns is already quite well traveled for a filly still in the nascent stages of her racing career, making starts at three different tracks, in two states and in England. The Irish-born filly comes back to her adopted home of Keeneland, where trainer Wesley Ward is based and where she won on debut, for Sunday’s $250,000 Indian Summer Stakes sprinting on the turf, facing another Kentucky-based stakes winner in Private Creed.

The Indian Summer is a Win and You’re In automatic qualifier and a local prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Nov. 4, going the same 5 1/2-furlong distance. The purse for the race includes bonuses for Kentucky-breds, for which Love Reigns is not eligible.

Love Reigns won her debut by 9 3/4 lengths on April 29, sprinting the same 5 1/2 furlongs on the Keeneland turf. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 82, a flashy figure for the division that early in the season. She was then part of Ward’s contingent at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting, finishing a creditable fourth in the Group 2 Queen Mary, missing second by just a nose.

“She ran good, but she got a little sick after the race and missed a little bit of time,” said Ward, who has won three of the four runnings of the Juvenile Turf Sprint. “You never know with 2-year-olds when they get sick if they’re going to come back.”

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Love Reigns did come back, as she returned to win the Bolton Landing Stakes on Aug. 21 at Saratoga. Her form has been flattered as the runner-up, Danse Macabre, won the Untapable Stakes at Kentucky Downs. Love Reigns earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 89, easily the top number in this field; she is the only entrant to break 80.

“It was nice that she rated kindly,” Ward said. “She had been doing that in the morning, but morning and afternoon are two different animals.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. has been aboard Love Reigns in all three starts. With Ortiz in New York on Sunday to pilot top 3-year-old filly Nest, Paco Lopez picks up the mount. Ward also will saddle No Nay Hudson, second in the Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga, with John Velazquez retaining the ride.

Private Creed was a debut winner at Ellis Park, then was third in the Skidmore, both at 5 1/2 furlongs. Trainer Steve Asmussen put blinkers on the colt for the 6 1/2-furlong Juvenile Sprint at Kentucky Downs last month, and he won by three-quarters of a length.

“Just a lovely individual, great mind about him,” Asmussen said. “And he has improved in all three of his races. . . . I thought the addition of blinkers moved him up.”

Numero Seis won a Saratoga maiden, then was third behind Danse Macabre in the Untapable. Mounsieur Coco won the Proud Man on Gulfstream’s Tapeta with a 78 Beyer, the second-highest number in this field. The maiden winners Bourbon Therapy, Castelmola, Ghent, Kbcya Later, Mo Stash, and Revere Note complete the field.

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