It's a tough spot, going up against Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks, but as owner Ike Thrash puts it, it's not every day that you get to take on the Eclipse Award-winning champion 2-year-old filly.
So Ike and his wife Dawn are eager to make the two-hour trip from their home in Mississippi to Fair Grounds on Saturday to watch their filly Turnerloose (Nyquist) go up against a talented field of sophomore fillies vying for points on the road to the Kentucky Oaks. Thrash is confident in his filly's potential upside.
“It wouldn't surprise me if she improved in her second time on dirt,” Thrash said.
The Brad Cox-trained dark bay pulled the upset in the GII Rachel Alexandra S. last month, stalking along the inside with Florent Geroux aboard and digging in down the lane to win by half a length.
Turnerloose was successful on the grass as a juvenile. After winning on debut, she claimed the Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies S. and placed third in the GII Jessamine S. Following an unplaced finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and a brief layoff, she returned to the racetrack for her sophomore campaign in the Rachel Alexandra.
“Of all the crazy stuff we've tried, running for the first time on dirt after a layoff in a Grade II is not the recommended path, but it worked out this time,” Thrash joked. “She had to tap on the breaks a few times and I was just sitting there the whole time with one eye closed hoping that she would like the dirt, but she ran really well.”
Ike and Dawn Thrash have been involved in horse racing for 35 years. They've made it to the winner's circle with several Grade I winners, including GI Arkansas Derby winner Line of David (Lion Heart), who took them to the 2010 GI Kentucky Derby, 2015 GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. winner Her Emmynency (Successful Appeal) and 2010 GI Debutante S. victress Tell a Kelly (Tapit).
Ike and Dawn Thrash | Hodges Photography
Today, the Thrash racing stable includes eight horses at the track and another nine 2-year-olds training with Paul Sharp in Ocala . While the Thrashes were prominent owners in California for many years, they have since relocated their stable to circuits closer to home.
The couple takes pride in the fact that they pick out all of their racing prospects themselves, attending the various sales and making up their short lists together.
“I always say that I know a lot about horse racing and Dawn knows more about horses,” Thrash explained. “She zeros in on a couple and I just try to get a short list and pick the ones that the universe lets you have. For us, 99% of it is how they are physically. I'm sure that is the opposite of what other people with good sense do, but the last thing we look at is the page. I'm happy if they have a good family, but I'd rather buy a nice individual.”
Turnerloose was the exception to this rule. At the Keeneland September Sale, the Nyquist filly had a nice physical but also an impressive female family as the granddaughter of GISW Game Face (Menifee). They were expecting that she might be out of their budget, but were surprised when they had the winning $50,000 bid.
“You always think that you're paying too much or that the world knows more than you do, but this was one of those times where I looked at my wife when they brought the hammer down and thought that we must have missed something,” Thrash recalled.
Turnerloose was never a standout during her early training, so it wasn't until she made her debut that her connections realized her potential.
“Some of them just don't jump out of you,” Thrash said. “We had another Nyquist filly who we thought was prettier than Turnerloose, so every time we had a conversation [with Cox], it was about the other Nyquist filly. Now Turnerloose could beat her for fun, so it's funny how it worked out.”
As the daughter of an A.P. Indy mare, debuting the filly on the turf was far from the original plan.
“When she got to Ellis Park, the only choices we had were five furlongs on dirt or a mile on the grass,” Thrash explained. “People ask us why we ran her on grass, well it was the only thing there. Then when they had the race with the big purse at Kentucky Downs [the Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies S.], you feel silly not to go there.”
Rolling the dice to let the filly try the dirt paid off, and now Turnerloose could take her owners to their third Kentucky Oaks. Their first was with Dawn After Dawn (Successful Appeal), who ran fourth in the 2007 edition, and in 2018 they were represented by Kelly's Humor (Midnight Lute).
“The year before Dawn After Dawn ran in the Oaks the horse paid like $40 to win, but of course we picked to run our first Oaks when Rags to Riches was there and I don't think I could have beat her with my car,” Thrash said with a laugh. “I've always said that if we are going to win one of these, it's more likely to be the Oaks because we buy 10 fillies for every colt.”
Like all of the horses in the Thrash racing stable, Turnerloose is named after a member of the family.
“Turner is my grandson,” Thrash explained. “We have four children and their spouses and then 12 grandchildren, so we don't run out of names.”
Thrash said that if they can break even in this business while having some fun, campaigning the occasional standout runner is an added bonus.
“When our horse Her Emmynency sold for over $1 million a few years ago, my CPA called and told me that I almost did it. After 30 years in the business, I was only $8,000 behind. I told him that was great; it was a lot better than I expected. It's a tough business and we try as hard as we can to break even, but it's been a lot of fun. You don't win many of those big races. We've done well over the years, but it's always exciting to get there.”
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