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

We had some rain fall at KD, and that left the turf simply as good and led to the scratches of two horses. That did not completely dampen the day, or the running of KD Ladies Sprint, as we still had eleven horses going to post, and Smokey Stover smiling in the winner’s circle after the race. He had three horses in the race, and while two of them did not get into the top four, his third horses, Mo Ki Mo, would find her way to the winner’s circle, breaking out of her pattern of rotating wins and non-wins, and getting her second straight victory. It took a strong come from behind effort to get the job done to secure the first KD Ladies Sprint win for both Smokey Stover and jockey L Machado. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:15.48, which is about the same as the 2022 edition of the race that was also run on “good” turf. Let’s take a look at how it went down:

(1/4 Mile- :22.67)- The field is close together early on, with Dauzacs Girl, trained by TwinTowersRacing, out front by a length. Great Beneficiary is second on rail for Smokey Stover and running evenly with her on the outside is Stellar Strength, for Mb Stables. Then, things are really jumbled up close together in the pack between the next six horses, which can pretty much be considered to be running six wide at this point. It’s a little hard to tell this on the old viewer that we have for KD, but we’ll go with that. These horses consist of Miss Fury (Mb Stables), New Albany (Our Athletes), Lucky Star (Maxmillion Farm), Bella Latte (Fractious), Sand Authority (Smokey Stover), and Favorite Sister (Black N Gold Stable). The other two horses are keeping themselves out of trouble by being about two lengths behind the heart of the pack. This is where we find our eventual winner from Smokey Stover, Mo Ki Mo, and Stunning (Ace Racing Stable).

(½ Mile- :46.13, Top of Stretch, 2.0F To Go)- Stellar Strength claims the top spot as we round the turn and hit the top of the stretch, but there is still very little separation between the top horses as the first seven horses are within a length and a half of one another. Most of these seem to have a clear lane in front of them, except maybe for Miss Fury. That one, as well as Dauzacs Girl, Great Beneficiary, Bella Latte, Lucky Star, and New Albany are set up for the final two furlong dash. Unable to keep up with them are Sand Authority and Favorite Sister. Mo Ki Mo draws closer, but her biggest concern right now is where a lane would open up for her. Stunning was not keeping up with her.

(Finish- 1:15.48)- Heading down the stretch, Stellar Strength and Bella Latte were looking good initially, but Miss Fury and Lucky Star began to look like the top challengers of the lead group midway through. As this was going on, a lane opened up on the inside of Miss Fury for Mo Ki Mo to take advantage of when Dauzacs Girl dropped out. L Machado was sure to capitalize and moved his filly through with a run that would make her dam, the highly successful Mo Ki Missy, proud. In the closing strides, there was no one better, and Mo Ki Mo takes the victory by a length. Miss Fury emerged as the clear second-best horse but could not hold off the winner. Lucky Star takes third, with Bella Latte, New Albany, and Stellar Strength close by. Rounding it out, we have Great Beneficiary, Sand Authority, Stunning, Favorite Sister, and Dauzacs Girl.

About The Winner- Mo Ki Mo, trained by Smokey Stover, and ridden to victory by L Machado, is a four-year-old filly by Solar System and out of the late Mo Ki Missy. She was bred as a third quarter two-year-old in Florida by Smokey Stover, the only trainer for which she has ever known. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her eighth in 15 starts and her first stake win. Her career earnings are now $927.530.

Track: Good
Time: :22³  :46  1:09⁴  1:15²

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 6 – 2 Paid 51.90
$1 Trifecta: 6 – 2 – 4 Paid 334.60

Scratched: Ponzi Scheme, Tapit Dancer

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES