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Lovely Maria gives Jones duo third Kentucky Oaks win
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| Lovely Maria captured the Kentucky Oaks in front of a record crowd
(Jim Tyrrell/Horsephotos.com) |
Lovely Maria (Majesticperction) gave owner Brereton Jones and trainer Larry
Jones a third win in the $1 million
Kentucky Oaks (G1) when taking Friday's featured
contest with jockey Kerwin Clark aboard.
"I've been riding for 40 years and I won my first Grade 1 last month at
Keeneland (in the Ashland) with this horse. Then we won this race today," an
emotional Clark said. "I am very blessed. Blessed to have this horse; to have
(trainer) Larry Jones in my life and believing in me, and to have Mr. (Brereton)
Jones believe in me and stick with me."
Lovely Maria wasn't as heralded as her stablemate I'm a Chatterbox (Munnings)
heading into the Oaks, but reports coming out of the barn continued to talk up
the bay miss.
"She did good. She sure did," Larry Jones praised. "Very similar going into
the Keeneland race. She's a filly just doing good. She worked so well here. I
knew she didn't have to carry her track with her." |
Lovely Maria lived up to those expectations in the Kentucky Oaks after tracking four wide just in behind the pacesetting pair of Angela
Renee (Bernardini) and Condo Commando (Tiz Wonderful). Those two established
fractions of :23 2/5, :47 1/5 and 1:11 2/5, but found company in the form of
Lovely Maria and Shook Up (Tapit) upon hitting the final turn.
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| Lovely Maria's connections
gathered around to share in the winner's circle celebration
(Jamie Newell/Horsephotos.com) |
Despite going a bit wide when circling her rivals, Lovely Maria quickly moved
up to take over from Angela Renee after that one grabbed command from a
fading Condo Commando entering the lane. Shook Up kept up the pressure, but
Lovely Maria began pulling away in the shadow of the wire to be 2 3/4 lengths
clear on the line.
Sent off the 6-1 fifth choice in the 14-filly field, Lovely Maria paid $14.60
after finishing nine furlongs on the fast Churchill Downs dirt in 1:50 2/5. She
did so in front of an Oaks Day record crowd of 123,736.
Shook Up, let go at 26-1, took second by a length over I'm a Chatterbox,
while 3-1 favorite Stellar Wind (Curlin) filled the fourth spot.
"Chatterbox came closing. She came closing. She got squeezed back a little
bit early, but she came closing. Third in the Kentucky Oaks. We can live with
that," Larry Jones smiled.
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"We had a great trip. We were right where we wanted to be. I was content in
my spot behind the first two (Condo Commando and Angela Renee)," said jockey
Robby Albarado, who was aboard Shook Up. "She's matured quite a bit. When we
turned for home, I thought we had a chance to get there."
"She's a good filly, and good races are in her future," trainer Steven
Asmussen applauded his filly, Shook Up. "Very proud of her. She was ready, and I
loved how she acted, love how she ran. I wish she had won, but I'm very proud of
her effort."
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| A packed house watched Lovely Maria prevail in the 141st Kentucky Oaks
(Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com) |
Trainer John Sadler didn't think Stellar Wind had much chance after a rough
start.
"She just got roughed up at the start, you can't be that far back today. She
was way too far back," he said. "She was last around the first turn and the
winners were all up close today so she never had any position. She just banged
up out of the gate. Sometimes you get a bad trip so there's nothing you can
really do. We'll take her back to California, freshen her up and then decide
what to do next with her."
"She broke just a bit slow and that was a problem," explained Stellar Wind's
rider, Victor Espinoza. "I tried to stay up with the horse next to me, but we
were getting outrun. Then when we went into the first turn and the dirt was
flying back, she started jumping up and down. This wasn't her day."
Sarah Sis (Sharp Humor) was pulled up and vanned off.
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"At the three-sixteenths (pole), she just stuck her feet in the ground,"
stated the filly's jockey, Gary Stevens. "She went from runner to stopper. I had
to pull her up. Something got her. But she just walked away OK. I think she's
going to be all right."
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| Lovely Maria gave her sire,
Majesticperfection, a Kentucky Oaks winner from his first crop
(Jamie Newell/Horsephotos.com) |
"She's fine. There is nothing wrong with her," trainer Ingrid Mason said of
Sarah Sis. "I really think she just didn't like the track. I had worked her over
it and she bobbled a few times. It's different than what she is used to."
Lovely Maria entered the Kentucky Oaks off a nice 3 1/4-length score in the
Ashland S. (G1) at Keeneland. Her other stakes tries resulted in a second behind
I'm a Chatterbox in the Rachel Alexandra S. (G3) at Fair Grounds over the winter
and a fourth-placing in the Trapeze S. With the Kentucky Oaks now added to her
line, her record stands at 8-4-3-0 and she's banked $966,800 lifetime.
Bred in Kentucky by Olin B. Gentry and Thomas B. Gaines, Lovely Maria was a
$5,000 RNA as a weanling at Keeneland November. She is the first registered
stakes winner out of the unraced Thunder Cup (Thunder Gulch), who is a
half-sister to Grade 2 heroine Rare Blend (Bates Motel). That mare would go on
in the breeding shed to produce Grade 3 heroine Rare Gift (Unbridled's Song). |
Click the following links for full
jockey and
trainer quotes, and the complete
transcript.
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