Mundaye Call, Four Graces square off in Eight Belles

Covfefe, champion older female sprinter of 2019, posted a couple February workouts at Fair Grounds this year and out of the blue was whisked off to retirement. Half a year later, out of the blue, trainer Brad Cox has a filly who might merit comparison to Covfefe.

Covfefe, by Into Mischief, crossed the triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure threshold in the fourth start of her career. Mundaye Call, by Into Mischief, did so in her fifth race. On Aug. 9, in the Audubon Oaks at Ellis Park, Mundaye Call went to the front, set a strong pace while under a hold from Florent Geroux, and flew home to post a seven-furlong time of 1:21.17. That was an Ellis track record that produced a 100 Beyer, and especially notable was the ease with which Mundaye Call seemed to race.

“Florent had never been on her before, and he was as impressed as anyone. He never really even let her run. She’s gifted,” Cox said. “I do think she’s the kind that’s going to be a Grade 1 horse.”

First things first – namely the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes on Friday at Churchill, Mundaye Call’s graded stakes debut. She drew the rail, was made the 6-5 morning-line favorite under Geroux, and faces just six foes in this seven-furlong contest. One of them, Four Graces, looks like a formidable opponent.

As for Mundaye Call, Larry Best’s OXO Equine paid $950,000 for the filly, who is out of the Warrior’s Reward mare, Reve d’Amour. In three starts at age 2, racing for trainer Don Chatlos, Mundaye Call came away with a decent maiden win but nothing more. She showed up for Cox this summer at Keeneland and promptly won a first-level allowance race by nearly three lengths, posting a career-best 88 Beyer. That performance paled in comparison to the Ellis explosion.

“She’s a really good work horse, along the lines of a lot of these Into Mischief fillies, and she fits right in with the good ones,” Cox said. “What maybe was surprising was the speed she showed last time. The plan wasn’t really to go to the lead, and there were some other fast fillies in there.”

Four Graces has plenty of speed herself, and where Mundaye Call must cope with the rail draw, Four Graces starts from post 7 and actually is the more accomplished filly. She has won 4 of 5 starts, improving in all but one of them, and exits a dominant win at Keeneland in the Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes. Trained by Ian Wilkes for her breeder, Whitham Thoroughbreds, Four Graces is a sister to multiple graded stakes winner McCraken. The only blemish on her record was a fourthplace finish as the favorite in her second start, a first-level allowance at Gulfstream, a race in which she displaced her soft palate.

“I didn’t think she could get beat that day,” Wilkes said.

Four Graces underwent a relatively minor throat procedure to fix the issue and it hasn’t troubled her since – clearly. In the Beaumont, she pressed a fast pace and drew away to win easily, albeit facing only four foes.

“I can’t fault how she’s trained since then,” Wilkes said. “She’s come a long way in a short time, but you’ve got to keep getting better because the water gets deeper and deeper.”

Mundaye Call hasn’t proven much yet, but her talent, indeed, appears to run deep.