On Fire Baby outclasses La Troienne rivals

On Fire Baby lived up to her name in the La Troienne on Friday (Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com) Anita Cauley’s On Fire Baby returned to the winner’s circle on Friday when posting a 2 3/4-length decision in the Grade 1, $327,000 La Troienne with jockey Joe Johnson aboard. The leggy gray mare lived up to her 8-5 favoritism when finishing the 1 1/16-mile contest in 1:43 2/5 over Churchill Downs’ fast main track, paying $5.20 for the win as she became racing’s newest millionaire. Devil’s Cave headed straight to the front when the gates opened, with On Fire Baby keeping in close contact to her outside. Magic Union took up a stalking spot off On Fire Baby’s flank while Unlimited Budget settled in behind the leaders through splits of :24 1/5, :47 2/5 and 1:11 1/5. Molly Morgan bided her time near the rear of the field but began picking up the pace rounding the turn. As Magic Union faded, Molly Morgan was there to take up the chase when On Fire Baby slowly inched up to run in tandem with Devil’s Cave before slowly pulling away in the lane. Molly Morgan made up some ground, but could never get to the winner as she earned her first win this season. “She broke well,” Johnson remarked. “We wanted to be in a stalking position. Her last race was a good one. She was second to Close Hatches (in the Apple Blossom) and we had given her a run for the money that day. She showed today that she is among the best. She is so gutsy.” “I thought the 5 (Devil’s Cave) would be on the lead and we would be stalking her,” trainer Gary Hartlage noted. “Joe had to get into her to keep up. Joe did a super job riding her. He asked her and she went on.

“I’ve always thought she was one of the top horses in the country and
hopefully she showed that today.”

Molly Morgan had 1 1/2 lengths to spare over Devil’s Cave on the line, while
Magic Union filled the fourth spot. Unlimited Budget, the 2-1 second choice,
never fired and finished fifth while 22-1 longshot Liberated completed the order
under the wire.

“I thought I had it, man,” sighed Corey Lanerie, who had piloting duties
aboard Molly Morgan. “I figured there’d be a quick pace in there and my mare
settled nice. I had a good trip, got out about the five-sixteenth pole and set
her down and I was hoping she’d come back. She started to but that’s a nice
filly that beat us. Hats off to them and my filly ran a big race.”

“She ran a good race and I’m not disappointed at all,” praised Javier
Castellano, who rode Devil’s Cave. “She hooked up with the winner all the way in
the race. I give the winner a lot of credit. My filly did a great performance
today and I’m very satisfied with the way she did it.”

On Fire Baby was making her third start of 2014 in this spot, having finished
fourth in the Azeri to begin her five-year-old campaign and running second as
the defending champion of the Apple Blossom Handicap last out on April 11.

She closed out her four-year-old season with the worse finish of her career
when 11th in the Spinster at Keeneland last October. That followed a fourth in
the Personal Ensign on August 25 at Saratoga, which was her first start back
after being given the summer off. On Fire Baby just
missed by a head last year in the La Troienne following a front-running victory
in the Apple Blossom to kick off 2013.

As a sophomore, On Fire Baby finished third against the boys in the Smarty
Jones and captured the Honeybee at Oaklawn Park before heading to Churchill for
the 2012 Kentucky Oaks. The gray daughter of Smoke Glacken filled out the fifth
spot on that occasion and made her final start of the year a fourth-placing in
the Acorn at Belmont 24 days later.

On Fire Baby scored in both the Pocahontas and Golden Rod at Churchill Downs
as a juvenile, and Friday’s victory back under the Twin Spires boosted her
record to 6-3-1 from 15 starts. She passed the million point in earnings, having
now banked $1,082,687 lifetime.

Bred in Kentucky by Anita A. Ebert-Cauley, On Fire Baby is out of the
stakes-winning Gilded Time mare Ornate. That mare found breeding shed success
from the start, as her first two registered foals were Grade 2 victress High
Heels, who ran third in the 2007 Kentucky Oaks, and Grade 3-placed stakes
heroine French Kiss.

On Fire Baby’s fourth dam is the unraced Light Verse, who produced Carols
Christmas. That mare’s descendents include, among many other black-type
conquerors, Grade 1-scoring stallion Cuvee; Grade 1-winning sire and
millionaire Olympio; and Grade 1 hero, millionaire and Kentucky Derby-placed Paddy O’Prado.

Later on Friday, this family also became responsible for 140th Kentucky Oaks
winner in Untapable.

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