Whoa Nellie targets Houston Ladies Classic

Whoa Nellie came out of her decisive victory Saturday in the $75,000 Joseph E. “Spanky” Broussard Memorial Stakes in good condition, and if all goes well will start next in the $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 31 at Sam Houston Race Park.

“Everything seems good on her,” trainer Larry Jones said Monday. “She’s already made it back to Oaklawn Park and we’re penciling in the Houston Ladies Classic.”

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Whoa Nellie pressed pacesetting Beautiful Trauma in Saturday’s dirt route and pulled clear to win by 3 3/4 lengths. She earned an 86 Beyer Speed Figure, which, given her top of 91 last winter, should give her latitude to improve next month in Texas.

Saturday’s start was Whoa Nellie’s second following a nine-month layoff necessitated, Jones said, by an ankle injury. A solid third in the one-turn-mile Chilukki, her comeback race, Whoa Nellie responded favorably when Jones stretched her back out to two turns in the Broussard.

“Two turns, that’s her thing, and I think she’ll run farther yet,” said Jones. “She’s gotten to where she rates well and can place herself wherever we ask her.”

Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms owns Whoa Nellie, a 4-year-old Orb filly. Fox Hill and Jones teamed up to win the 2013 Houston Ladies Classic with Joyful Victory as well as the race’s 2015 renewal with Cassatt.

◗ Monomoy Girl, who will win her second Eclipse Award when 2020 champions are revealed next month, worked three furlongs in 37 seconds Sunday at Fair Grounds. Monomoy Girl had an easy breeze the week prior that wasn’t officially recorded as she trains toward her intended 2021 debut in the Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn.