Over a wet track, Godolphin homebred Wet Paint unveiled a masterpiece by storming from last to first in Saturday's $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn.
The winner of the Martha Washington Stakes at the Hot Springs, Ark. track in her previous start is 3-for-3 on wet tracks and now moves to the top of the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) Leaderboard for trainer Brad Cox with 70 total points. The Honeybee was worth 50-20-15-10-5 Oaks qualifying points to the Honeybee's top five finishers.
The daughter of Blame fell behind in the 1 1/16th-mile race over a track labeled sloppy, but navigated through the field under Flavian Prat to nab front-runner Condensation before pulling away to a three-length victory as the 8-5 favorite. Her winning time was 1:45.35.
Wet Paint paid $5.40 for the victory and is now has three wins from five starts. Condensation held second after prompting a fast pace with Grand Love running evenly to finish third.
Condensation secured 20 points towards Kentucky Oaks eligibility and Grand Love received 15 points. In addition, fourth-place finisher Gambling Girl received 10 and fifth-place finisher Towhead got five points.
Bred in Kentucky, Wet Paint has $334,100 in lifetime earnings. Her dam is the Street Cry mare Sky Painter.
Honeybee Stakes Quotes
Winning trainer Brad, Wet Paint: going into the first turn I was little concerned. She was pretty far back and taking a lot of dirt. She showed a lot of heart to be able to handle these conditions today. She showed she liked the wet track and I think as the distances get longer she'll keep improving. The Kentucky oaks is our goal and I think timing wise the Fantasy or the Ashland is the next logical goal.”
Winning jockey Flavien Prat, Wet Paint: “To be honest, I was worried about how far back I was. I mean, I didn't think I had much chance from where I was. She had to give a kick somewhere and that was in the stretch. On the backside I was galloping, but the problem was I was far back and it was a slow pace. But she finished up well.”
Trainer Chris Hartman, second with Condensation: she's a super nice filly. She ran great today. Down the lane she was pretty green but she showed a lot of heart on the lead.
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