She Beast to debut; McPeek runs another without Lasix

She Beast, a 3-year-old half-sister to Grade 1-winning sprinter The Big Beast, is scheduled to make her career debut in today’s seventh race at Oaklawn Park for trainer Ron Moquett, of Hot Springs, and owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong, of Conway.

By The Factor, runaway winner of Oaklawn’s Grade 2

$300,000 Rebel Stakes in 2011, She Beast has had a series of sharp local works leading up to her career debut. She Beast (3-1 on the morning line) is scheduled to break from the rail in the

6-furlong race under five-time defending Oaklawn riding champion Ricardo Santana Jr.

“With her family and watching her work like that, she is exciting,” said Alex Lieblong, chairman of the Arkansas Racing Commission.

The Big Beast, who was campaigned by the Lieblongs, finished a troubled second in his March 2014 career debut at Oaklawn before closing his abbreviated 3-year-old season with a victory in the Grade 1 $500,000 King’s Bishop Stakes that summer at Saratoga. The Big Beast was an allowance winner in his

4-year-old debut at the 2015 Oaklawn meeting.

Big Lute, a half-brother to The Big Beast and She Beast, was a sparkling winner of his career debut for the Lieblongs as a 3-yearold at the 2013 Oaklawn meeting.

The Big Beast (by Yes It’s True), Big Lute (Midnight Lute) and She Beast are out of the Deputy Minister mare, V VS Flawless.

While She Beast isn’t as imposing as The Big Beast, Alex Lieblong said the filly still stands out physically.

“Big Lute was big and stout, nothing like The Big Beast,” Lieblong said. “I think he (Big Lute) and She Beast are about the same. She doesn’t look feminine.”

Asked if it was easy to name She Beast, Lieblong said, “Yeah, that came to me pretty quick.”

The Lieblongs originally purchased She Beast for $350,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky’s 2015 Fall Mixed Sale. They have an unnamed 2- year-old colt by Malibu Moon out of V VS Flawless and also stand The Big Beast at Ocala Stud in Florida.

Trainer Kenny McPeek said he is trying to again cashing on Oaklawn’s “Lasix-free Bonus Program” with Eskimo Kisses, who is scheduled to make her first start without Lasix in Thursday’s eighth race, a first-level allowance/optional claimer for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles. The bonus program offers a 10-percent hike to the winner’s share of the purse for any horse winning without the legal anti-bleeder medication.

McPeek has been among the most successful trainers since the Lasix-free program debut at the 2015 meeting. He has had three Lasix-free winners overall, including two this year in Rated R Superstar and Blueridge Traveler.

Blueridge Traveler, coming off Lasix, was a Feb. 10 allowance winner and collected an additional $4,560 from an adjusted purse of $80,560.

“I think it’s overrated, myself,” McPeek said of Lasix. “I’ve had plenty of horses that have won nice races without it. It’s one of those hot-button topics, but I think it’s overrated. I don’t think that many horses need it.

“Certainly, not 98 percent-plus of the horse population needs it. When they give away an added 10 percent, we’ll take it.”

McPeek said Blueridge Ridge was taken off Lasix to chase the bonus and is running “some other horses this week with the same notion – horses that I don’t truly think need it.”

“I tip my hat to Oaklawn over this topic,” McPeek said. “I think it’s really great that they are doing this.”

Eskimo Kisses broke her maiden Feb. 1 in her last start, which was her fourth career race on Lasix.

The 18 Lasix-free winners at Oaklawn since 2015, including four this year, have totaled $45,930 in bonus money, which comes from the track and not its purse account.

McPeek said Perfect Wife, who ran in the $125,000 Martha Washington Stakes and Grade 3 $200,000 Honeybee Stakes for 3-year-old fillies last year at Oaklawn, has been retired and is to be bred to 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner. He trained the stakes-winning daughter of Majesticperfection.

McPeek said Perfect Wife, the only one of 11 Honeybee starters not to return and win, was injured last fall. Gun Runner won the Grade 3 $500,000 Razorback Handicap for older horses last year at Oaklawn in his 4-year-old debut on the way to winning Horse of the Year at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Eclipse Awards in January.