Tag: stakes

From the Churchill Downs Media Office/Paulick Report

Qatar Racing, Flurry Racing Stables and Big Aut Farms’ Shedaresthedevil, upset winner of last September’s Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), headlines a field of seven fillies and mares entered Monday for Friday’s 36th running of the $500,000 La Troienne presented by TwinSpires.com (G1).

Scheduled as the eighth race on Friday’s 13-race Kentucky Oaks program at Churchill Downs, post time for the 1 1/16-mile La Troienne is 3:03 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post Friday is 10:30 a.m.

Trained by Brad Cox, Shedaresthedevil came off a five-month layoff to start 2021 with a victory in the Azeri (G2) at Oaklawn Park on March 13, defeating next-out G1 Apple Blossom winner Letruska in a battle to the wire. Regular rider Florent Geroux will be aboard and exit post two.Two other Grade 1 winners will line up to challenge Shedaresthedevil: Peter Brant’s Dunbar Road and WinStar Stablemates Racing’s Paris Lights.

Trained by Chad Brown, Dunbar Road will be making her 2021 debut after closing out 2020 with a third-place finish behind champion Monomoy Girl in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Keeneland. Winner of the 2019 Alabama (G1), Dunbar Road will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. from post three.

Paris Lights, 2-for-2 at Churchill Downs in her career for trainer Bill Mott, won the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) last summer and opened 2021 with a victory in the Distaff Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct on April 2. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount from post five.

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Click here for the race’s past performances: Paris Lights — La Troienne (G1)

By Blood-Horse Staff

WinStar Stablemates Racing’s Paris Lights capped her sophomore campaign with a graded stakes score and made her anticipated 4-year-old bow with similar success, running down Portal Creek in the final jumps to capture the April 2 $150,000 Distaff Handicap (G3) by a half-length at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Paris Lights was last in action nearly nine months prior, when she tracked in second position before edging Crystal Ball by a head to win the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) in July at Saratoga Race Course.

Off the respite, Paris Lights utilized a similar trip in the Distaff, breaking sharp from post 4 under jockey Junior Alvarado and sitting in second position behind pacesetter Portal Creek, who led the compact five-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in :24.04 seconds and the half in :48.28 on the fast main track.

Kendrick Carmouche kept Portal Creek to the inside out of the turn, with Paris Lights tenaciously attempting to overtake her from the outside. The duo linked up in the stretch, with Portal Creek initially repelling her rival’s initial charge before Paris Lights regained command in the final sixteenth, hitting the wire in 1:26.99 for the seven furlongs.

Honor Way was another neck back in third. Kansas Kis and Lady Kate completed the order of finish.

The trainee of Hall of Famer Bill Mott won for the fourth time in five career starts and fourth straight following a third-place debut effort in April 2020 at Gulfstream Park.

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By David Grening, Daily Racing Form

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though seven furlongs may not be her preferred distance, Paris Lights seems to have found a good spot to return from a 258-day layoff in Friday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct.

Paris Lights, a daughter of Curlin trained by Bill Mott for WinStar Stablemates Racing, won three consecutive two-turn races last year after finishing third in a seven-furlong maiden race at Gulfstream in April. Paris Lights has not run since she won the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga last July 18. She developed a splint bone injury in a hind leg training toward the Alabama, and was given the remainder of the year off.

While the Distaff wasn’t originally on the docket for Paris Lights, Mott said the timing of it is better than something like the Doubledogdare at Keeneland on April 16, considering he’s hoping to get her to the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill on April 30.

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Read the full article here.