Yes It's Ginger has options after Chicken Fried Stakes win

Travis Foley’s first trip to Lone Star Park since the track hosted the Breeders’ Cup in 2004 was a successful one last Sunday, as the assistant to his father, trainer Greg Foley, saddled Yes It’s Ginger to a win in the $75,000 Chicken Fried Stakes.

It was the first stakes victory for the consistent mare, and the first time Travis Foley had been at Lone Star in 17 years, as he originally came to town to help his father with millionaire Champali in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

“I enjoyed it then, and I enjoyed it this weekend,” Foley said Tuesday. “Nice people in Texas. They treated us first-class.”

Champali finished seventh in the BC Sprint, just 3 1/2 lengths behind winner Speightstown.

Yes It’s Ginger was a four-length winner of the Chicken Fried following a series of allowance starts. She covered the five furlongs for fillies and mares on turf in a sharp 55.69 seconds and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 92. Yes It’s Ginger, who races for Brilliant Racing, returned home to Churchill Downs on Tuesday, Foley said.

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“I thought she ran fantastic,” he said. “She’s been running against some really nice mares up here, and they’ve all been going on to run well in bigger races. This race kind of came up, and it looked like a good spot. It was obviously a long way to go. The big question mark was how she would ship. She did really well. She handled it professionally.”

Yes It’s Ginger broke on top under Reylu Gutierrez and was with the pace throughout Sunday.

“From a racing standpoint, she breaks really well,” Foley said. “She uses that as a weapon. It gives her a chance in a lot of those races.

“This was the first time we’ve been able to run her five-eighths, and she seemed to really love that. It was just a slight cutback, but she kicked home.”

Foley said Yes It’s Ginger now has some race options closer to home. They include the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Sprint on Aug. 8 at Ellis Park and the $65,000 IU Hoosiers Stakes on Aug. 11 at Indiana Grand.

◗ Irish Unity, a 3-year-old half-brother to Mohaymen, is now 2 for 2 after winning a first-level allowance sprint with a Beyer Speed Figure of 92 on Sunday at Lone Star. Trainer Steve Asmussen said his father, Keith Asmussen, has played an important role in the development of the headstrong son of Pioneerof the Nile. “We sent him down to Dad’s and he came back gentle as a kitten and ready to run,” Steve Asmussen said.