KD Ladies Sprint (Grade 2)- $1,000.000 Purse
KD- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward
Six and a Half Furlongs on the Turf
August 31, 2024

It’s a big day at KD on Saturday, and turf horses could not be any happier. Part of the card features the ninth running of the KD Ladies Sprint, a $1.000.000 race for females. It’s a fantastic opportunity, and it should come as no surprise that we will have a nearly full field as thirteen horses head to the starting gate. The prestige level of the race has moved up quickly, as it debuted as an ungraded stake for $300.000 in 2015, and was elevated to a Grade 3 in 2018, before getting an additional increase to a Grade 2 in 2023. Purse levels have seen a similar progression, as 2023 was the first year that we ran for $1,000.000. That race was won by Lady Of Lord, who is trained by Our Athletes. The now seven-year-old mare is still active and being productive at the stake level, but the trainer will pin is hopes of repeating on a new horse this year. Let’s meet her and the rest of the field now:

1- Tapit Dancer (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by V R Carrasco)- Picked up by the trainer a little more than a year ago for $25.000, and has had hit and miss success since then. She never seems to have a bad race but does not always get the finishes that result in cashing a check. The last time she was out there, she did get the fourth-place portion in the Grade 3 Caress at SAR. Her two victories in Maxmillion silks have been in overnights. She’s very capable and should be in the mix, but you can also see her getting a midpack type finish when all is said and done.

2- Miss Fury (Mb Stables, ridden by J J Hernandez)- This one certainly knows how to win, as she has done so in five of her last six races, and that will certainly get anyone’s attention. Most, but not all of them are in overnights, but last time out she stepped up and won the preview for this race, of course by that I mean the KD Preview Ladies Turf Sprint at ELP, a $250.000 purse. Last year’s winner of that race, the only other time it has been run, finished 12th in the KD Ladies Sprint, but Miss Fury does seem destined to perform a lot better in what is the biggest challenge of her career.

3- New Albany (Our Athletes, ridden by W T Buick)- Our Athletes hopes to win this race once again, and it will be New Albany getting the call from the trainer to try and make it happen. She’s won at a pretty good percentage for her career, a tad less than half with seven wins out of fifteen starts. Her biggest win came at CD in April, when she captured the $200.000 Roxelana. Now, of course, comes the elephant in the room with her: she’s never run on the turf before. She doesn’t have many turf works, and if I was betting on this race, they send mixed signals to me. But she would not be here if the trainer was not confident.

4- Lucky Star (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by D Moran)- Maxmillion Farm made a big investment in this filly, picking her up for $800.000 in May of 2023, and she’s been productive since then. But more is wanted than just “productive” when considering the entry fees that go into every race, so a win here would mean a lot. That’s what she did in her last race, when she defeated fellow NY-breds going more than a mile in the $125.000 Port Washington, but she has also done well while sprinting. Even though it came on the dirt, I find her second place run in the Grade 1 La Brea particularly appealing about her.

5- Bella Latte (Fractious, ridden by J P Spencer)- J P Spencer will need to make sure that Bella Latte knows when the finish line is coming, because in her eight career starts, the filly has never gone less than a mile. She’s been running in some top races going long, including last time out when she was third in the Grade 1 BEL Oaks, though was beaten by four lengths. I don’t usually pick horses making the change from routes to sprints in races of this caliber, not because I don’t think they can handle it, but because they have to beat sprinters doing what they are used to doing at a high level.

6- Mo Ki Mo (Smokey Stover, ridden by L Machado)- The three entries from Smokey Stover will start alongside one another from the middle of the gate. Mo Ki Mo, for the last fourteen months, has rotated wins and non-wins consistently over ten starts. That’s not want the trainer wants to hear for this race, however, as the filly won her last race, which was simply a three-horse field in a MTH allowance. She’s had multiple opportunities to run in stakes, but has not been able to get a win in any of them. Maybe the trainer just needs to enter her in a stake twice in a row.

7- Sand Authority (Smokey Stover, ridden by B J Hernandez Jr)- Another one? Like her stablemate, Sand Authority has back and forth between wins and non-wins since June 2023, a stretch of eight races. However, unlike her stablemate, this would mean that she is due to win the race. Sand Authority is actually a very consistent mare, hitting the board in 21 of her 24 career starts. Last time out was not one of those times, as she was rather flat in the Grade 3 Caress at SAR. But maybe she just knew it wasn’t her race to win, based on the pattern.

8- Great Beneficiary (Smokey Stover, ridden by J K Court)- There are no patterns with this Smokey Stover filly, as she has put together a couple of winning streaks over her career. She took on her stablemate, Sand Authority, in the Caress, and while that one didn’t show much, Great Beneficiary took home the top prize, winning by a half-length. This mare has hit the board in every race since the Caress of 2023 and finished second in KD Ladies Sprint of that year. She’ll look to do one spot better and would seem to be the best option of the trainer’s horses.

9- Stunning (Ace Racing Stable, ridden by C J Lanerie)- One of two three-year-olds in the field, but she has nowhere near the resume that the other one, Bella Latte, has. In fact, Stunning is being jumped up in class significantly here after last being seen in a FE starter allowance two and a half weeks ago. Maybe if she won that, I could feel better, but she was third in the race. All of the reasons why this horse could win this race are something that the trainer sees privately, which convinced them to take the shot. Doesn’t help our case when all of her works are dirt works. Never say never, but I’ll have to see it on the track, first.

10- Ponzi Scheme (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by M J Sanchez)- Ran here last year in the KD Ladies Turf and finished near the back. However, soon after that race, she got hot, winning four in a row from November until March, highlighted by the Grade 2 Hillsborough Stakes where she defeated both La Terrifiant and Painville, among others. She’s been versatile, being able to sprint and go long with success. Going shorter this time, Ponzi Scheme hopes for a much better result than her last trip to KD and she should get it.

11- Favorite Sister (Black N Gold Stable, ridden by S Elliott)- The last time she ran in a sprint, it was in October at AQU, where she won $125.000 Glen Cove. Since then, the trainer has had her going long, and she has had her moments where she has been good, and others where she is not. As long as there is not a drop of water on the racetrack, she should be fine, but as of Thursday, there is a 55% chance of rain, so that could go either way. Regardless, I like seeing her back in a sprint.

12- Dauzacs Girl (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by D Cohen)- For the most part, Dauzacs Girl has run in overnights, and while it could be said that she is a bit inconsistent in them, those performances do suggest that she could do well at this level. Dauzacs Girl has had a hard time stepping up in class, struggling mightily in the $135.000 De La Rose last month at DMR but does have a pair of fourth place finishes at the graded level. It looks like she is another who hates an off track, and as mentioned with Favorite Sister, it’s a coin flip right now if we have that.

13- Stellar Strength (Mb Stables, ridden by J Rosario)- There’s a lot to like about Stellar Strength in this race, especially her overall consistency. She’s been able to hit the board in 12 of 14 races, with five of them being victories. Two starts back, she won the $125.000 Chicken Fried Stakes at LS, but with a little more luck at the wire, we could be talking about her coming into this on a three-race winning streak. Comes out of a third-place effort last month in the Caress at SAR, being within a length of the race winning Great Beneficiary, so there is no reason that she can’t flip the script here. The post draw didn’t do her any favors, so her start out of the gate will be very important.

Prediction: 2-8-13-10

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES