Top Female Sprinters Face Off in the Humane Distaff
The Humane Distaff will be the featured undercard race on the Bluegrass Oaks card on Friday. The top three ranked older filly and mare sprinters are among this field of fourteen that will race for a purse of $750,000. With some showers in the forecast, the track will be listed as good.
The favorites in here drew mostly outside posts, but this is a very evenly matched field. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that each of these fillies and mares has a legitimate shot to win this race. Let’s take a closer look at these talented sprinters:
(1) PURPLE HONOR (owner tatty4, 12/1) had an impressive 3-year-old campaign, especially in July when she finished second by a nose in the Grade I Priceless and then went on to win the Grade I exam stakes. Her form tailed off into the fall, including a ninth in her first test against older horses in the Breeders’ Bowl Filly and Mare Sprint. After some time off, she has come back with two very solid allowance scores this year, including a 111 SP number last time out. While she has yet to prove herself in stakes company against older fillies and mares, I like her form coming into this race. Certainly one to use underneath.
(2) SPEIGHT’S FIGHT (owner ianwhipkey12, 10/1) is an end-of-year award winner and a daughter of champion sprinter Speightstown. Her form has been up and down of late, the worst of which being her last race in Arkansas. She finished dead last in the Grade I Orange Blossom, but that was at a mile and a sixteenth. She clearly excels at this distance, and her previous start was a solid victory in the Grade II Distaff Breeders Bowl Cap back in February. I fully expect a much better effort here with the cutback in distance, but she is going to have to bring her best to have a shot in this talented field.
(3) AVASALLANTE (owner haack06, 22/1) is the longshot in here, but is a filly that may need to be reckoned with. She is still searching for her first graded stakes victory, although is coming off a solid effort last time out in the Grade II Davey Jones Handicap in Florida. In that race, she came up a length short in that race, although she did finish ahead of top-ranked JUST REGAL in that race. Going into that race, she had won three in a row, all at seven furlongs. She’ll need to take a big step up to contend here, but given her last few races, it’s not impossible.
(4) CALIFORNIA DAB (owner drklodge, 10/1) has won 10 out of 20 lifetime starts, but has yet to record her first graded stakes win. Her lone stakes victory came in a listed stakes last May in Ohio, followed up by a third in the Grade II Gleaming Invitational in July. She just hasn’t been able to put it all together in the bigger races, finishing sixth in the Grade I Nutcracker and fifteenth in the URC Breeders Championship Filly and Mare Sprint. Her recent form is a carbon copy of PURPLE HONOR, coming off of two solid allowance wins with a career-best SP of 115 last time out. Getting to the winner’s circle in this spot might be a tough ask, but that’s a good race coming into this test.
(5) JUST REGAL (owner scout1, 10/1) is the top-rated older female sprinter despite just turning four in January. However, she is looking for a bounceback effort here after finishing fifth last time out in the Grade II Davey Jones. That effort was a bit of a headscratcher in a field that didn’t seem super strong on paper. Before that, though, she strung together six straight first- and second-place finishes, all in graded stakes events. Jockey L Kraft gets the mount again after the disappointing effort, but they have been on board for two of her graded stakes victories over the past year. I expect a better race from her in this spot, and you’ll get a good price on her here.
(6) FOURWARNED (owner borrow1, 17/1) has a pair of Grade III victories since August, and will try to take the next step up in here while stretching out a bit in distance. She has been running mostly in six-furlong contests over the past year. Earlier in her career, she did run in some longer races, but does seem to do her best work at six furlongs. Even so, that victory in the Grade III Spur of the Moment last time out was the best race of her career, and jockey P Haynes does get the mount again in this race, which is definitely a positive. This is a big test for her here, but she cannot be counted out.
(7) GENUINE BLUEGRASS (owner bigblueracing1, 12/1) is looking for back-to-back graded stakes wins here in Kentucky, following a victory last month in the Grade II Virginia Madison. She put up a 116 SP number in that race, which is one of the better numbers in this field. She had another Grade II victory back on Christmas Day at seven furlongs as well. In between, there is a disappointing seventh-place finish in the Grade I Everclear, which was won by JUST REGAL. This is clearly a filly that is on the rise, and this daughter of Authenic could certainly make some noise here.
(8) FLEETWOOD COBRA (owner fleetwood, 10/1) also comes out of the Grade II Davey Jones like AVASALLANTE and JUST REGAL, and she finished a solid third in this spot. That was her first finish on the board in a graded stakes race, after putting together a couple of ungraded stakes victories. This 5-year-old daughter of Nyquist has been putting together a nice resume over the past year or so, but this will prove to be a big challenge for her. Given her struggles in graded stakes races over her career, it’s going to take a huge effort to stick with the leaders in this spot, which looks to easily be the toughest race she’s been in.
(9) BETTER SOUTH (owner desbargain, 7/1) is one of the favored horses in this field, but has not recorded a victory since December. She is coming off of a third-place finish last month in the Grade II Virginia Madison. Looking at her recent form, the number of 110+ SP numbers has been pretty remarkable. She has yet to record a victory in a Grade I or Grade II race, although she has been competitive in the races at those levels. The variable here is the jockey switch to A Rolling, which is a slight upgrade from the jockeys in her recent races. That makes me think she could contend here, certainly underneath. She does have a win over a good track here in Kentucky back in November, so she may take to the off going in this race.
(10) TIZ BIG RED (owner checkmate31, 16/1) is taking a big step up in class here, as this will be her first graded stakes race. Even so, she has rattled off four wins in a row including two ungraded stakes races in her last two starts. While this filly is still looking for her first 110 SP number, a four-year-old filly like this that has put together several wins in a row could step up and be competitive in this spot. I’m not sure she’ll be quite good enough to finish in the money here, but she has been so consistently good that she could surprise in this spot.
(11) JOAN’S WISH (owner gunners4, 10/1) is the defending champion of this race, but will need to recapture that form to have a chance this year. The Humane Distaff last year was her last victory, and she has finished off the board in each of her five subsequent starts. The seven-year-old mare out of Sim hall of famer FROSTY MAE has stayed close in most of those recent races, but she just seems to have lost a step over the past year. She’s trying to reach a million dollars in earnings with a good performance here, although she’s going to have a tough hill to climb against this tough field.
(12) RYANS GATE (Owner ballgame, 6/1) is the favorite in here, and deservedly so. She comes into this race after trouncing a field of males in the Group III Winchester Cap in Argentina back in March. In that race, she recorded an SP of 118 and led throughout the whole race. That race was at a mile, and you could argue that the mile is her best distance. You also have to factor in that the worst race on her resume over the past year or so is in this race last year, when she finished eleventh. Even so, she finished a solid second over this surface in the Breeders’ Bowl Filly and Mare Sprint in November. She has rounded into some really good form, although did she peak in that race in March? It would be tough to match that effort here, but this is still a horse that will likely contend. To do that, though, she’ll need to be near the lead throughout.
(13) ITSHELLTOGETOLD (owner simsters4, 7/1) will look to register her second Grade I win of her career, although that first win was back in the summer of 2020 during her 2-year-old season. Over the past year, owner simsters4 has mostly been running her in ungraded stakes races, notching three wins in the process. She has also made two starts in Grade II events, hitting the board in both starts. That last race was her first seven-furlong race in a while, and she has done pretty well at this distance in the past. This is one of the tougher horses to gauge in this field, but I could easily see how she hits the board here if she runs well.
(14) SELL LOW (owner abcd2, 8/1) is a 7-year-old mare, but she seems to be hitting peak form now. After an over three-year layoff from 2019 to 2022, she returned last summer with some nice form. Late last year, she really rounded into form nicely as she cutback in distance. Since then, she has made three graded stakes starts this year, proceeding to hit the board in all three. She does stretch out a little bit here, but it’s well within her talent to run well at this distance. Despite being seven years old, she seems very fresh and is in peak form. She may have peaked earlier in the year, but I like her chances to make some noise here.
My Picks:
(7) GENUINE BLUEGRASS, 12/1 – In a wide open field, I’m going to take a swing here. She is in peak form right now, and the jockey change to D Givins could be enough to push her over the top and grab a G1 win.
(1) PURPLE HONOR, 12/1 – After falling off some late last year, owner tatty4 has gotten her a pair of allowance wins to start the year. She’ll prove that she can get back to the form she had in the summer of her 3-year-old year.
(12) RYAN’S GATE, 6/1 – Not sure she could be coming off a better win than that race against the boys last time out, but she’s just never been able to get the job done in the G1 ranks.
(5) JUST REGAL, 10/1 – Was clearly in peak form last year and into early this year. I’m not sure she can get back quite to that level, but this will tell us whether the last race was just an anomoly or not.
(14) SELL LOW, 8/1 – The lightly-raced 7-year-old mare has put together a string of really nice races. This field is a step up from what she’s been facing, but I think she makes some noise here.
Good luck to all!