Amy’s Challenge has rep to uphold
HOT SPRINGS — Amy’s Challenge, a 5-year-old mare prone to freakish displays of speed, is favored in a talent-rich field of eight in the $125,000, 6-furlong American Beauty Stakes for fillies and mares 4 years old and up at Oaklawn.
Post time is scheduled for 4:38 p.m. today.
“I think [Amy’s Challenge is] the horse to beat without a doubt,” said Brad Cox, trainer of American Beauty entrant Irish Mischief. “She has a good record there at Oaklawn, especially around one turn.
“Obviously, if you run second to her, there would be no shame in the performance, but we’re running to win, and we think we have a chance.”
“It’s a real solid race,” said Mac Robertson, the trainer of Amy’s Challenge. “I expect as this Oaklawn meet gets stronger, it’s going to get more competitive. You kind of know what you’re going to draw. There’s going to be more than one or two punchers in every race. It looks like five or six can win this one.”
The American Beauty joins the Martha Washington Stakes as co-features on Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort’s ninerace card.
Amy’s Challenge, by Artie Schiller, has not raced in nine months, but she is accustomed to success in stakes company after extended layoffs.
“She’s been off a while, but we’re looking forward to racing her,” Robertson said. “She didn’t get much of a break the year before, but after giving her a long break, hopefully she can last through the Breeders’ Cup this year.”
The American Beauty marks Amy’s Challenge’s third season of stakes starts at Oaklawn, a run with a record of 3-1-0 five starts, including wins in the 2018 Dixie Belle Stakes, the 2019 American Beauty and the 2019 Spring Fever Stakes.
“I have never been disappointed
in her effort,” Robertson said. “It seems like she has always started well in Arkansas. She’s big and fast and a lot of people root for her. For a big filly, or a big mare now, she has wicked speed.”
Among expected contenders is Special Relativity, a 5-year-old daughter of Cowboy Cal trained by Robertino Diodoro, with Orlando Mojica as her assigned rider.
Special Relativity, in a rare move among contemporary thoroughbreds, is set to race one week after her last start, a second-place finish among nine entrants in the 1-mile Pippin Stakes at Oaklawn on Jan. 25.
Diodoro said he was confident in Special Relativity’s ability to return from a route to a sprint in such short order.
“If she didn’t bounce back from her last race as well as she did, we wouldn’t be doing this, but she’s come back great,” Diodoro said. “It’s not an easy race, but we’re excited about coming back and sprinting.”
Brian Williamson trains Raintree Starlet, a 4-year-old daughter of Get Stormy and the winner of the 6-furlong Dixie Belle Stakes at Oaklawn last season. She has not won in five races since, but a string of solid works under listed rider Martin Garcia has given Williamson hope.
“She’s training super,” Williamson said. “It’s a tough race, though, a really tough race.”
Most notable among Raintree Starlet’s nine training sessions over the past three months are 4 furlongs in 48.20 on Dec. 23, 5 furlongs in 1:00.80 on Jan. 6, and 3 furlongs from the starting gate in 35.80 on Jan. 24.
“My filly’s been training good,” Williamson said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Cox brings Irish Mischief back to Oaklawn off her 3-yearold season that included a second-place finish in the Grade III, 7-furlong Charles Town Oaks at Charles Town Races in West Virginia on Sept. 21. She finished fourth in a field of 11 in the Grade II, 7-furlong Lexus Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 19, then won a 7-furlong race for optional-claimers at Churchill Downs on Nov. 21 in her last start.
“It’s a challenging race,” Cox said. “It’s obviously a very competitive group of filly-mare sprinters. I think — as long as [Irish Mischief] gets a good trip, and I think she will — she’ll be very competitive, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Most in the field will run with legitimate shots, but their connections will likely watch with an eye toward Amy’s Challenge.
“I think Mac’s horse is the one to beat,” Williamson said. “She was a monster here last year.”