Nikki My Darling back with statebreds

The consistent Nikki My Darling has carried the banner for Loooch Racing Stables and partner Imaginary Stables against some of the best fillies of her generation. The filly stands out as she comes home to face her fellow Ohio-breds again in the $75,000 Norm Barron Queen City Oaks on Sunday at Belterra Park.

Nikki My Darling posted only a maiden win last year, but all of her other outings came in stakes company, including a trip west for the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes, in which she finished seventh. This year, she has blossomed into a consistent runner, winning her first three starts of 2017 at Mahoning Valley by open lengths, including the Southern Park Stakes.

In that three-race span, all in six-furlong sprints, she defeated the stakes-placed My Ticket Home and Cali Dream, both of whom she meets again Sunday. She also finished second by a length to Someday Soon in the Tomboy Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on turf, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 78, the best in this field.

Nikki My Darling made her most recent appearance in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes on the Belmont Stakes card, showing speed for the first half of the one-mile race before tiring badly to finish sixth behind Kentucky Oaks winner Abel Tasman.

Luis Colon has the mount on Nikki My Darling for locally prominent trainer Jeffrey Radosevich, who has handled the filly for the majority of her starts.

No runner in the field has ever competed at the race’s 1 1/8-mile distance. Riproaring, trying stakes company for the first time, has won consecutive races routing at Thistledown, taking a one-mile maiden special weight by six lengths and then posting a 2 1/2-length win in an allowance race on a sloppy track going one mile and 40 yards.

Grizabella, a winner twice at a mile, finished third behind the streaking True Cinder in the Cincinnatian Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the Belterra turf last out. My Ticket Home has also won at a mile.