Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Oaklawn Park
Cosmic Burst, ridden by Richard Eramia, overcame a large deficit in the final turn to win the Grade III $200,000 Honeybee Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs on Saturday. Earlier, Whitmore and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. held on late to win the $125,000 Hot Springs Stakes for the second year in a row.
HOT SPRINGS — The leader wasn’t Ruffian.
Cosmic Burst, ridden by Richard Eramia, had to overcome a deficit of as much as 13 lengths in the final turn to win the Grade III $200,000 1 1/16th-mile Honeybee Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 1: 44.19 before an estimated crowd of 17,500 at Oaklawn Park on Saturday.
Cosmic Burst trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel watched as Amy’s Challenge took command from the start to dash through the opening quarter mile in 23.27 and the half in 46.02, as Cosmic Burst ran second, eight lengths back.
Amy’s Challenge, with jockey Jareth Loveberry up, increased her lead in the second turn of her first two-turn race. She started the Honeybee undefeated in three career starts, but none were longer than 6 furlongs.
“Sometimes when you stretch these horses out, it’s game time and they want to run,” Amy’s Challenge trainer Mac Robertson said. “She wants to run. She was sharp going into the race. She’s keen, and she wants to run. She’s a head-strong filly, so it’s not all the rider’s fault. I knew what she would want to do. She wants to get it.”
“She’s still learning,” Loveberry said. “If I can get her to back up just a second that first half, I think she keeps going, but she was just kind of excited, first time going two turns. I think she’ll learn from this. She’s a really smart filly, and I have nothing but confidence in her.”
Von Hemel said he was confident that Cosmic Burst, by Violence, had the ability to win, particularly over the race’s fast track, but he said there was no way to know the talent level of the filly in front.
“You never know,” Von Hemel said. “It’s going in your head, when you see a 3-yearold filly going in 46, unless she’s Ruffian, she’s supposed to come back to you, but she could’ve still beat us. We could’ve closed on her and just not caught her. That was probably more the scenario that I was seeing at one point.”
Ruffian was undefeated in 10 career starts but shattered parts of her right foreleg in a match race with Kentucky Derby champion Foolish Pleasure on July 6, 1976, when both were 3 years old. A crew of equine veterinarians had no choice but euthanize her several hours later.
Cosmic Burst ($ 10.80, $4.80, $4) caught and passed Amy’s Challenge just past the 1/16th pole and pulled away to win by 13/ lengths. Amy’s 4 Challenge ($4.60, $3.60) held on for second. Sassy Sienna ($3.60) finished third, 11/ 4 lengths behind Amy’s Challenge and 2 lengths in front of the 4-5 favorite Red Ruby, who finished fourth in the field of seven.
“She’s so good, I thought maybe she could hang on,” Robertson said. “She’s so good, she hung on for second. It’s hard to get displeased. The effort was big. We just didn’t win the race. The other horse was just a little bit better today.”
Amy’s Challenge, by Artie Schiller and out of Jump Start’s daughter Jump Up, was purchased for Novogratz Racing Stables, Inc., in 2016 for $20,000. Counting the Honeybee, she has earned a total of $176,000.
“She’s a good looking horse out of a good mare,” Robertson said. “Anyone who would’ve took the time to look at her would’ve liked the horse. She was a pretty yearling, and he’s a very athletic looking horse. It wouldn’t have mattered who the stud would’ve been, and I would’ve liked her, but she’s by a stud who’s viable.”
Robertson said the purchase of Amy’s Challenge was ultimately motivated by his search for a bargain.
“If she’d been by Tapit, she would’ve brought $3 million,” he said. “Practicality always plays a part. Everyone always looks for horses under the radar, and just because you get them for a discount doesn’t mean they aren’t a good horse. It happens every day. Most of the time in sales, you overpay. If you’re always buying the most expensive ones, it’s awful hard to get your money back, but if you buy a few horses for average prices that can turn out to be good horses, that’s what we try to do.”
Oaklawn’s Grade III Fantasy Stakes, which is scheduled for April 13, will likely attract a rematch between Cosmic Burst and Amy’s Challenge.