Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Shedaresthedevil returns with big win on her résumé
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn is something of a homecoming for Shedaresthedevil.
The winner of the Kentucky Oaks last September is returning to both the site of her first career stakes win and the home track of one of her owners, Staton Flurry, a native of Hot Springs.
It was Shedaresthedevil’s victory in last year’s Grade 3 Honeybee at Oaklawn in which she secured 50 points for the Kentucky Oaks. After the race, which was run the weekend before the coronavirus pandemic led to spectator-free racing, there was a huge celebration.
“We must have had 50 people in the winner’s circle when she won the Honeybee,” Flurry recalled.
Shedaresthedevil returns to town to launch her 4-year-old season against four other fillies and mares – multiple Group 1 winner Letruska, Grade 2 winner Envoutante, and stakes winners Motion Emotion and Getridofwhatailesu.
The 1 1/16-mile Azeri is one of five stakes on a 12-race program that includes the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel. It’s one of the most significant cards of the Oaklawn meet, and Flurry is pleased to be running his stable star at home.
“She loves the track at Oaklawn, so we said, ‘Let’s make this the first green light of her 4-year-old year,’ ” Flurry said.
Flurry purchased Shedaresthedevil at auction in 2019 at Keeneland. One of her original owners, Qatar Racing Limited, bought back in, and Flurry also has an additional partner in the filly in friend Autry Lowry, a firefighter in Benton, La. Brad Cox trains Shedaresthedevil, who won last year’s Kentucky Oaks by 1 1/2 lengths over a pair of eventual champions in Swiss Skydiver and Gamine.
“It was honestly just a blur,” Flurry, 30, said of winning his first classic. “We went into the race thinking anything better than fourth was a bonus and anything worse than fourth would be disappointing.
“We knew it would be very competitive. We knew we were coming in with a fresh horse. All those horses had been trailblazing all over the country. We decided let’s take the conservative route, go in an allowance at Churchill Downs, go to the Indiana Oaks – one race out of our own stall and the other an hour and a half trip. The freshness, I think, is what helped us win the race. Brad, he’s the best game-planner in the business.”
Plans are to return Shedaresthedevil to the site of her greatest career victory later this spring. Flurry said a goal is to make the Grade 1, $500,000 La Troienne on April 30 at Churchill.
For the Azeri, Shedaresthedevil will break from post 5 under regular rider Florent Geroux. She is up from Fair Grounds, where she has prepped for Saturday.
Envoutante ran fourth to her stablemate Swiss Skydiver in the Grade 1 Alabama last August before closing her year with wins in the Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks in September and the Grade 2 Falls City over older rivals in November at Churchill. Envountante won off by six lengths in the Falls City, and the Beyer Speed Figure of 101 she earned is the best last-race number in the Azeri.
“Her race in the Falls City was really, really good,” trainer Ken McPeek said. “She’s always been a beautiful filly with a lot talent. She seemed to be a step behind Swiss Skydiver during the summer last year, but I think her race in the Falls City was powerful and I don’t know that Swiss would have beaten her that day as well as she ran. Hopefully, she’s going into 2021 as strong as she came out of 2020.”
Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount from the rail for Walking L Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm.
Letruska also is looking for a third straight win. She captured the Grade 3 Rampart at a mile in December at Gulfstream Park, then shipped to Sam Houston in January and won the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic. The latter race was run over 1 1/16 miles. Letruska earned a Beyer Figure of 97.
“Letruska ran a nice race, won comfortably, by around three lengths,” trainer Fausto Gutierrez said. “She’s trained in Florida after the Houston race. She’s in very good form.”
Gutierrez noted Letruska is returning to an Oaklawn surface over which she won an allowance at the Azeri distance last April. She led throughout and could prove to be the dominant speed Saturday.
“She just has one style, and we give her the chance to run like she wants,” Gutierrez said.
Joel Rosario has the mount from post 3 for St. George Stable.
The Azeri is the final local stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom on April 17 at Oaklawn.