Undefeated in one-turn races, Mr. and Mrs. Tsunebumi Yoshihara's Yuugiri will try to keep that streak alive Saturday when she tackles Grade 1 company in the 22nd running of the $600,000 Madison this Friday on opening day at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.
After finishing 13th in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) last May, Yuugiri did not return to the races until Dec. 30 at Oaklawn Park.
“Going into the Oaks, we thought stamina might be a question,” said trainer Rodolphe Brisset of Yuugiri, who worked a half-mile here Sunday in :48.80. “We gave her the time off after that, and she is a different horse now. The maturity and physically she is much bigger – it is everything you want to see, and the timing was the key.”
Yuugiri won at first asking as a 2-year-old going six furlongs at Churchill Downs and followed that with stakes placings at 1 1/16 miles that put her on the road to the Kentucky Oaks. Her journey was highlighted by a victory in the Fantasy (G3) at Oaklawn Park.
“We've got her back on her game now going one turn,” Brisset said of Yuugiri, who has won her three sprint starts by a combined 13 lengths.
Ricardo Santana Jr., who was aboard for Yuugiri's two victories this winter at Oaklawn, will have the mount Saturday in the seven-furlong Madison.
In addition to Yuugiri on Saturday, Brisset may have a runner in the $400,000 Appalachian (G2) Presented by Japan Racing Association in Storyteller Racing's Peacock Lass. The Appalachian would serve as the debut effort on grass for Peacock Lass, who worked a half-mile in :48.20 over the fast main track Monday morning.
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