Champion older mare of 2023, Idiomatic showed she’ll be a strong contender for the award again in 2024.
With Florent Geroux riding, Idiomatic took the lead entering the final turn and pulled away for a 3 3/4-length victory in Friday’s $1 million, Grade 1 La Troienne Stakes on the Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs.
Trained by Louisville’s Brad Cox , Idiomatic covered the 1 1/16 miles on a sloppy track in 1:43.24 and paid $3.66 on a $2 win bet.
Idiomatic, a 5-year-old daughter of Curlin, was making her 2024 debut. She closed her 4-year-old season with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita Park, clinching Eclipse Award honors.
“There’s a lot of pressure when you’re the price she is, off the layoff, with the resume she’s got and just being a champion,” Cox said. “I enjoy the position … but there’s some anxiety going on.”
Free Like a Girl finished second, and 2023 Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous was third.
Idiomatic broke a step slow and stalked early leader Dorth Vader, who set fractions of 23.53 seconds for the quarter-mile and 47.00 seconds for the half-mile. Idiomatic began to make her move entering the final turn.
"Once she started getting into her stride, you could tell she was getting into a nice rhythm, and from there she just went on," Geroux said. "You could tell she was looking around a little bit. She gets a little distracted sometimes, but she looks like she’s back to her old self.”
Owned by Juddmonte, Idiomatic has won six straight races and is 10-1-2 in 13 career starts. Cox said facing male horses could be an option for Idiomatic later this year.
“She seems to be every bit as good as she was last year,” Cox said. “We never really know. There’s times when these mares — as they get a little bit older — may not be as good. I think she’s set up for a big year.”
Cox and Geroux also teamed to win the La Troienne in 2020 with Monomoy Girl and 2021 with Shedaresthedevil.
- Jason Frakes
My Mane Squeeze takes Eight Belles Stakes
William Butler — who commonly goes by his nickname, “Buck” — wasn’t feeling his best Friday. The rain, the humidity — it was too much. A co-owner of 3-year-old filly My Mane Squeeze , Butler wanted to go home.
His wife, Loretta Butler, would have none of it.
“She made me stay,” Buck said. “We went down and saw (My Mane Squeeze) in the paddock, and I was overjoyed when I saw her.”
Butler was even happier later in the day, when My Mane Squeeze powered to the lead and held off the favorite, Impel , to win the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes at Churchill Downs.
The euphoria Butler felt in the aftermath was thanks to one person.
“You know, the only thing I've done right most of my life? I just listen — to her. Not to anybody else,” he said with a laugh, referring to his wife.
Friday marked My Mane Squeeze’s fifth win in eight career starts. And it came on the heels of her worst performance: an eighth-place finish (in a 10-horse field) in the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 30.
“She wasn't feeling real good out at Oaklawn,” said Butler, referring to his star filly, whose worse showing prior to the Fantasy Stakes was third (on two occasions). “She looked (like) her old self here (today).”
My Mane Squeeze won the $600,000, 7-furlong race in 1:22.85, followed by Impel, who went off at 9-2. Asternia , who led in the early going, faded in the late stages and placed third. Halina’s Forte was the last horse on the board, notching fourth place.
My Mane Squeeze returned $15.84 on a $2 wager to win. Impel paid $5.42 to place. Asternia returned $8.92 to show.
Denim and Pearls , like Impel, trained by star trainer Cox, entered as a favorite. But Denim and Pearls never was a factor Friday, finishing in seventh — the worst performance of her career. By far. Before Friday, she had never finished outside the top two in five starts.
Speaking of starts, Butler already was looking ahead to what might be My Mane Squeeze’s next squeeze. Barring something unforeseen, My Mane Squeeze’s next race will be the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes — which will be a 1 ⅛-mile event — next month at Saratoga.
“That's what we want. Look at it. It seems like that's the way she runs, so yeah,” Butler said. “We're very, very happy with this, and this plays right into what my dreams were for her.”
A dream also describes Butler’s day itself. Winning the Eight Belles, he said, is the pinnacle of his ownership career to this point, as it marked his first triumph in a graded-stakes race.
And to think he almost wasn’t there to see it in person.
“I said it to my wife as (My Mane Squeeze began charging toward the front), 'This is where she goes.' And she did. She likes that move right there. And she kept it up, too,” Butler said. “I was a little concerned about this competition, that she might not be able to keep (the lead).
“I honestly did not see the end, but it looked like, you know — I heard the roar.”
-Ryan Black
First Mission, trained by Louisville's Brad Cox, wins Alysheba Stakes
Geroux's heater continued in Friday's seventh race, when he and First Mission ran down T O Saint Denis in the final furlong and won the $750,000, Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes by 4 lengths.
For a third stakes victory of the day, Geroux and the Cox-trained horse covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.03 after another patch of rain passed over Churchill Downs. Geroux will ride Cox's Gin Gin in the Kentucky Oaks.
It was the first start on a wet track for First Mission, a 4-year-old son of Kentucky Derby 133 champion Street Sense. He broke out of Post 3 at even money and returned $4.14 on a $2 wager for the win.
T O Saint Denis was making his eighth start in such conditions — second only to Money Supply with nine.
It showed when the Japanese horse and jockey Ryusei Sakai built a 5-length lead at the quarter-pole with fractions of :22.96 and :46.77.
Cox and Geroux weren't mad about it.
“I was glad we weren’t up there running with him,” the trainer said.
Added the jockey, "I was very content to see him opening up and making the race very spread out. From there, no one can block me in or anything. So, if I’m there, it’s very simple, the best horse is going to win."
First Mission, owned by Godolphin, LLC, improved to 5-2-0 across eight career starts — his second in a row after claiming the Grade 3 Essex Handicap on March 23 at Oaklawn Park.
"We've thought he’s a Grade 1-caliber horse; and we believe there’s one out there with his name on it — maybe multiple," Cox said. "This sets him up to take a swing here in the near future.”
That swing is likely to be the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs; which Cox won last year at Ellis Park with West Will Power.
T O Saint Denis (27-1) paid $17.68 to place, and Il Miracolo (13-1) returned $6.10 to show.
Originally a 10-horse race, the field was cut to eight due to morning-line favorite Tapit Trice and Tumbarumba scratching.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Tapit Trice was the favorite in Kentucky Derby 149 after Forte scratched the morning of the race but placed seventh, 9 1/4 lengths behind Mage in first.
-Brooks Holton
Fast as Flight surprises in Modesty Stakes
Fast as Flight , which went off at 20-1 odds, ran 1 ⅛ miles in 1:50.63 to finish first in the $400,000 Grade 3 Modesty Stakes on Friday at Churchill Downs.
Jose L. Ortiz rode Fast as Flight to victory and paid $43.90 on a $2 win bet.
Sparkle Blue, at 8-1 odds, and Aspen Grove, also at 8-1, finished second and third, respectively, in the race for mares and fillies 4-year-olds and up on the turf.
It was Ortiz’s third victory of the day.
“I had a great trip. I followed Geroux every step of the way. I knew we were going very fast on the backside, and I was on top of him every step of the way,” Ortiz said. “I have ridden her before, and maybe she hasn’t run against these types of horses. As ( Fast as Flight trainer) Martin (Drexler ) told me, I know she has speed. I (followed) his instructions, and it worked out well.”
Sparkle Blue returned $9.80 to place, and Aspen Grove paid $6.10 to show.
Drexler talked about how it took some courage for owner TEC Racing (Elliott S. Logan) to compete in this race.
“I went along with it as long as the horse was doing well, so I didn't have a problem with it. I knew it was a little bit of a tougher spot than we would have liked. I thought maybe a couple of those stakes up in Woodbine would be a little bit better fit for her,” Drexler said. “But it worked out.”
Fast as Flight improved to 5-6-2 with 19 career starts and $806,319 in career earnings.
This was her second race of 2024. She finished second in the Sand Springs Stakes on March 3 at Gulfstream Park in Florida.
Drexler said Fast as Flight's next race might be in Toronto or Saratoga, but nothing has been confirmed.
-Prince James Story
Dynamic Pricing rallies to win Edgewood Stakes
Irad Ortiz Jr. rode Dynamic Pricing to victory in 1:44.10, edging Way to Be Marie in the $600,000, Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes in a photo finish Friday at Churchill Downs in the 1 1/16-mile turf race. It was Ortiz’s eighth race of the day.
The victory was the Irish horse’s first win since she broke her maiden Nov. 4 at Aqueduct in Ozone Park, New York. It was a significant improvement from her seventh-place finish at the Grade 3 Florida Oaks on March 9. Her record now stands at 2-0-1 in four starts.
Hard to Justify, ridden by Flavien Prat , entered the race as the favorite at 2-1 odds. The current record, set in 2009, for the race (1:39.83) remains.
Dynamic Pricing paid $19.82 to win on a $2 wager. Way to Be Marie returned $10.98 to place, and Dancing N Dixie paid $4.82 to show.
Last year, the Cox-trained Heavenly Sunday had the top showing in 1:42.40. Cox didn’t have a horse in the race this year. Instead, Chad Brown trained Dynamic Pricing to victory.
-Alexis Cubit
Ova Charged wins Unbridled Sidney Stakes
Ova Charged ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:03.71 to finish first in the $332,000, Grade 3 Unbridled Sidney Stakes on Friday at Churchill Downs, beating Secret Money , who went off at 8-1, by a neck.
Geroux rode the Louisiana-bred mare, the 7-2 favorite, to victory, which paid $3.48 on a $2 win bet.
“She usually breaks a lot faster than that … so when she didn't break, I was a little concerned,” trainer Shane Wilson said. “But she put herself right in the race. She's a good mare.”
Ova Charged has now won five straight races, with the previous four coming at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. After her first graded-stakes win, Ova Charged improved her career record to 13-1-0 in 16 starts.
“She likes to run every five to six weeks,” Wilson said. “So, we'll sit down and see what fits in her schedule five to six weeks from now, and then we'll make plans to start hauling.”
Despite rainy weather early in the day, the race remained on the turf.
In 2020, rain caused the race to be moved to the dirt. Ambassador Luna won in 1:03.56. Last year, Bad Beat Brian set the track record in 1:01.53 after beating Smokin’ Jay by 1 ¼ lengths on a firm surface.
Even if the surface changed, Wilson was comfortable in Ova Charged’s ability to run on either turf or dirt.
“She's won nine times on the dirt, and more than likely she'd be the best dirt horse in the race,” Wilson said of the filly. “We're happy, and the yielding didn't concern us at all.”
-Alexis Cubit
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Oaks Day results from Churchill Downs: Louisville trainer Brad Cox wins two races
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