Magdalena Racing, Colette Marie Vanmatre and James Ball's Defining Purpose posted a 20-1 surprise in Friday's Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland, defeating the heavy favorite Punchbowl and the royally-bred Julia Shining by a half-length on the wire. The $42.68 win earned Defining Purpose 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks and essentially a guaranteed starting spot on the first Friday in May.
The 3-year-old daughter of Cross Traffic, trained by Ken McPeek and ridden by jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr., ran 1 1/16 miles over the fast main track in 1:43.31. A stakes winner at Oaklawn Park in the final start of her juvenile season, Defining Purpose had previously finished third and sixth in two of Oaklawn's Oaks preps, the Martha Washington and the G3 Honeybee, respectively. A $14,000 RNA at the 2021 Keeneland January sale, Defining Purpose heads to the Kentucky Oaks with a lifetime record of three wins and a third from seven starts for earnings of over $540,000.
“I'm not overly surprised,” McPeek said after the Ashland win. “She had a couple of reasons why: She fell off a little bit of form in her last two. She hooked a couple of muddy race tracks. The last trip (in the Honeybee) she had was really wide and wider.”
Bred in Kentucky by co-owner Vanmatre, Defining Purpose is out of the multiple stakes-winning Indiana-bred Strong Hope mare Defining Hope.
Defining Purpose had clear run on the leading Effortlesslyelgant all the way around the course, tracking through early fractions of :23.62 and :47.25. Hernandez guided her around that rival in the stretch, getting a bit of clearance headed toward the first finish line. When challenged by the favored Punchbowl and 5-1 Julia Shining, Defining Purpose dug deep and managed to hold off those rivals.
“(Her early position) was great,” Hernandez said. “When she went around the first turn and got her position so nice and smoothly and settled into a nice rhythm, going down the backside I was just thinking to myself, 'Be patient, just wait and wait and let her travel well.' And that's what she did. When she turned for home she kicked on, and with the short stretch to the sixteenth pole, I was pretty confident in her.”
Punchbowl, trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Flavien Prat, had to settle for a late-closing second as the 6-5 favorite. The Uncle Mo filly paid $3.46 to place. She'd entered the race undefeated in two lifetime starts, and the 40 points she earned toward the Kentucky Oaks may still allow her to enter the starting gate.
“Unfortunately she had to wait to get out (of traffic.),” said Prat. “I couldn't go by the winner. She made a good run.”
Julia Shining, sibling to champion Malathaat, is trained by Todd Pletcher and was ridden Friday by Luis Saez. Sent to post at 5-1 odds, she paid $3.74 to show afer finishing a neck behind the runner-up. Winner of the G2 Demoiselle to close out her juvenile season, Julia Shining finished third in the Suncoast to kick off her 3-year-old campaign. Champion Wonder Wheel finished second in the Suncoast.
“She's still learning. We came to the half-mile pole and I thought we were going to win the race, but the horse on the lead never stopped,” said Saez of Julia Shining. “(The blinkers) helped a lot. She was way better. She was in the bridle the whole way. I feel like she has so much talent, she just needs to put it together.”
Guns n' Graces checked in fourth for trainer Chad Brown, pacesetting Effortlesslyelgant was fifth, Breeders' Cup winner and champion Wonder Wheel finished sixth, and Pride of the Nile was seventh.
Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Wonder Wheel, said: “She broke well and put herself in a good spot. It just wasn't her day.”
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