Winning Colors, Mint Julep make Saturday Ladies' Day

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Saturdays are for the girls – at least this Saturday at Churchill Downs is. A pair of Grade 3, $100,000 stakes, both for fillies and mares, will anchor an 11-race program being run without spectators.

With other states such as New York still preparing to reopen racing amid coronavirus-related stipulations, equine talent remains in high concentration in Kentucky, where fan-free action resumed May 16. Grade 1 winners Spiced Perfection and Mia Mischief are among a field of nine in the 17th Winning Colors, while no fewer than eight graded winners help make up a 14-horse lineup in the 44th Mint Julep.

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First post Saturday is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the Winning Colors going as race 7 at 4:08 and the Mint Julep being the race-11 finale at 6:16. Both stakes are part of the 20-cent Single 6 (races 6-11), which began the four-day week Thursday with an empty jackpot.

Three allowances (races 6, 9, 10) and two maiden specials (races 3 and 8) also are part of a card that drew 174 entries, counting also-eligibles and exclusions. Sunshine and a high of 73 are in the local forecast.

Winning Colors

Mia Mischief, with Ricardo Santana Jr. riding from post 8, brings not only an edge in recency over fellow millionaire Spiced Perfection (post 7, Javier Castellano) into this six-furlong race, but also perhaps a preference for the distance.

“She’s fast,” said Steve Asmussen, who has trained Mia Mischief throughout a 21-race career in which the 5-year-old mare has racked up 10 wins, including an upset last May in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill.

Mia Mischief comes off back-to-back romps in Oaklawn Park dashes, ending with the April 25 Carousel over the highly regarded Bellafina and others. Those two races were her first since she was purchased at auction last fall by Stonestreet Stables for $2.4 million.

“She’s been a lovely filly for anyone who’s ever had anything to do with her,” Asmussen said. “I can’t say enough good things about her.”

Spiced Perfection also has changed owners in recent months, having been purchased privately by Haruya Yoshida and turned over to Mark Casse since finishing fourth as the favorite in the Grade 2 Inside Information on the Jan. 25 Pegasus World Cup card at Gulfstream Park. The 5-year-old California-bred shows seven works for Casse since mid-March.

From a tactical standpoint, Mia Mischief figures to get the jump on Spiced Perfection, whose two Grade 1 wins have come at seven furlongs. Both figure to be in hot pursuit of Break Even (post 2, Joel Rosario), an exceptionally quick 4-year-old with seven wins from nine career starts. Sneaking Out and Take Charge Angel probably have enough speed to push Break Even through an opening split of 21 and change, while Mia Mischief and Spiced Perfection figure to be poised just behind that first flight.

The potential stretch-runner Bell’s the One returns to her preferred surface after she “spun her wheels” on the Fair Grounds turf in her last start, according to trainer Neil Pessin. “Put a line through the last one.”

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Mint Julep

A capacity field in this 1 1/16-mile turf race begins with a strong one-two punch from the Brad Cox barn – Juliet Foxtrot (post 1, Florent Geroux), who figures to stalk the pace from a forward position, and Beau Recall (post 2, Shaun Bridgmohan), who tends to produce her best results from the clouds. Each makes her seasonal debut following a steady diet of morning breezes.

“They’re both training great,” Cox said. “I expect this to be a good comeback spot for both of them. They’re both quality mares, and I’d like to think we’re going to have big years with them.”

Beau Recall won a pair of Grade 2 races, the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile and the Yellow Ribbon, during a breakthrough 2019 that stamped her as a major presence in the filly-mare turf division. Lengthy layoff or not, she rates among the deserving favorites in what clearly is a race with great depth.

Cox is one of four trainers with two starters in here. Chad Brown, who has dominated this division in recent years, steps in with Nay Lady Nay and Altea; Graham Motion is represented by Secret Message and Varenka; and Brendan Walsh will saddle La Signare and Zofelle.

Nay Lady Nay (post 6, Jose Ortiz) is familiar with the course, having won the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere here last fall. The Irish-bred filly shows 11 works dating to early March in preparation for her 4-year-old debut.

The two outside horses, Elizabeth Way (post 13, Brian Hernandez Jr.) and Mitchell Road (post 14, Joe Talamo), both were very active and competitive through the winter at Gulfstream Park and seem to rate consideration at square toteboard prices.