Asked when he and his partners decided to point their filly Testa Rossi to
Saturday’s Grade 1 Ashland, James Covello said, “The minute she crossed the wire
in the Breeders’ Cup.”
Covello will be seeking his second victory in the 1 1/16-mile Polytrack event
for three-year-old fillies.
“Obviously I love the race, and it means a lot to me having won it before,”
Covello said about the Ashland, which he and partners Judy Hicks and Kathryn
Nikkel won in 2011 with their 48-1 longshot Lilacs and Lace. “It’s the kind of
racing I like.”
On November 1 at Santa Anita, Testa Rossi finished second to Chriselliam in
the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in her second race in North America. Chad Brown
trains the daughter of Dr Fong, who won her 2014 debut in the Grade 3 Florida
Oaks on turf at Tampa Bay Downs.
Covello, who works for Goldman Sachs on Wall Street, races Testa Rossi in
partnership with Thomas Coleman and Mike Dohenney — “guys I’ve gotten to know
through work,” he said. “This is the first horse we’ve owned together.”
He added that his wife, Teri, and their three children, along with Coleman
and Dohenney, plan to be at Keeneland for the Ashland.
Winning the race three years ago made quite an impression on Covello.
“I went back and watched the replay of the race a whole bunch of times the
other day just channeling the positive energy,” Covello said.
Entries for the Ashland will be drawn Wednesday.
Testa Rossi arrived in Brown’s barn at Keeneland on Sunday as did Ken and
Sarah Ramsey’s Blue Grass hopeful Bobby’s Kitten.
Last year, Bobby’s Kitten won the Grade 3 Pilgrim at Belmont and was third in
the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. On March 8, he opened his 2014 campaign with an
allowance win over one mile at Tampa Bay. The son of Kitten’s Joy posted a 1
1/2-length decision over Global View, the likely favorite in Friday’s Grade 3
Transylvania.
Bobby’s Kitten will receive his final work for the April 12 Blue Grass over
the coming weekend, Brown said. Javier Castellano will have the mount in the
Blue Grass.
Brown will kick off the spring meet with two runners in Friday’s
Transylvania, Pleuven and Storming Inti. His barn also includes Grade 1
winner Stephanie’s Kitten, who is pointed to the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on the Blue
Grass undercard for her 2014 debut, and recent stakes winner Ready to Act for
the Grade 2 Beaumont the following day.
“We’ve got some horses we’re really excited about running here,” Brown said.
Landaluce Educe Stables’ Rosalind, who figures to be one of the leading
contenders for Saturday’s Ashland, breezed a half-mile in :46 2/5 Tuesday
morning after the renovation break under exercise rider Rafael Pena.
Fractions for the work were :11 4/5, :22 4/5 and a five-furlong gallop-out
time off 1:00 2/5. The work was the fastest of 11 at the distance.
Rosalind finished second here last fall in the Grade 1 Alcibiades prior to a
third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.
Tuesday’s work turned out to be Plan B for trainer Ken McPeek.
“She was scheduled to work Saturday at Gulfstream, but as she was going to
the pole a horse was injured and we pulled the plug,” McPeek said. “She was
going to fly Sunday, so we couldn’t do it that day, but I am pleased she got to
work at Keeneland. She likes that track.”
In her lone start of 2014, Rosalind finished third in a February 27 allowance
race at Gulfstream.
“She got beat by the horse (In Tune) that came back to win (last Saturday’s
Grade 2) Gulfstream Park Oaks,” McPeek said. “If I could get a do over, I’d
probably go to Oaklawn Park for the (Grade 3) Honeybee (on March 8) because that
looked like an easier spot.”
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