Kentucky Oaks winner returns vs. 4 in G2 Azeri
Shedaresthedevil has walked the runway, so to speak, since last seen at Oaklawn.
Hot Springs co-owner Staton Flurry’s bio required updating after the filly’s Sept. 5 victory at Churchill Downs. That goes with running a Kentucky Oaks winner, a performance enhanced when runner-up Swiss Skydiver stunned males (Kentucky Derby star Authentic included) next time out in the Preakness.
Shedaresthedevil today hopes to repeat the Grade 2 Azeri victory last year of 2019 Oaks winner Serengeti Empress, meeting four rivals in in the Grade 2 $350,000 offering on the Rebel undercard. She has been pointed to this race since placing third against older horses in the Grade 1 Spinster Oct. 4 at Keeneand.
Rather than complicate trainer Brad Cox’ work with champion racemare Monomoy Girl, who won her second Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November, Flurry sent his Daredevil filly to the bench after the Spinster, her body of work (two Grade 3 wins and the Oaks included) good enough to earn an Eclipse Award nomination.
Shuttling between Fair Grounds and Oaklawn because of anticipated winter weather, Shedaresthedevil put in four New Orleans works, the last a five-furlong drill in 1:00.20 March 6, before returning to Hot Springs.
“In a perfect schedule, I would have like to have gotten a few more works into her,” Cox said. “But her last two works have been really, really good. … Her weight’s good, so I feel confident she’s going to run a good race. I don’t think she’s 100% tight, but she’s very close.”
Her Oaklawn slate last year dotted by the Honeybee victory and show finish in the Fantasy, Shedaresthedevil is reunited with jockey Florent Geroux. Increasing her speed as the year progressed, the filly put away speedy multiple Grade 1 winner Gamine before resisting Swiss Skydiver’s stretch challenge in the Oaks.
Ken McPeek, trainer of Swiss Skydiver, sends out Envoutante for her 4-year-old debut in the Azeri. A front-running six-length winner against older horses in the Grade 2 Falls City Nov. 26 at Churchill Downs,
Envoutante went in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland when McPeek put Swiss Skydiver against males and ran second in the Grade 2 Blue Grass at the Lexington, Ky., track.
McPeek, particularly strong with filies, called the Falls City a “beast of a race” for Envoutante. With Brian Hernandez Jr. up, she may use the rail post to get a jump on her Azeri foes.
That could mean dealing with Letruska early. Twelve of 16 lifetime, a Grade 3 winner last out in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic Jan. 31, Letruska has a fan in trainer Fausto Gutierrez.
“I think she’s the speed,” said Gutierrez, who gives Joel Rosario the mount. “You check the numbers. Anyone that wants to run with her, needs to run fast. If we lose, we lose. But the other
one is taking a big risk.”
Motion Emotion, now with Steve Asmussen, had two wins over the track in 2019 for trainer Tom Van Berg. Getting a feel for the race, Cox also entered inform closer Getridofwhatailesu, who won Oaklawn’s Jan. 23 Pippin with a rush and might benefit from a pace meltdown. Hall of Famer Javier Castellano rides the three-time Hot Springs winner.
“She obviously likes Oaklawn,” Cox said. “It looks like there’s going to be some pace in there, so she might get a setup. Come-from-behind horses tend to do not as well in shorter fields, but if there’s ever one that looked like she could do well, it would probably be this one, based off just the paper.”
They’ll decide it on the track, of course, going a mile-and-sixteenth
at approximately 2:03 p.m. in a race named for Oaklawn’s only three-time Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap winner. They’ll renew that classic April 17 for $1 million but how will they ever improve on the preps?. From a champion (Monomoy Girl) in the Feb. 28 Bayakoa to the reigning Oaks winner in the Azeri. Talk about lovely ladies walking down a runway!