While Friday's GII Eight Belles S. was bet more or less like a coronation for the freaky and previously unbeaten Munnys Gold, Red Carpet Ready–whose own perfect record was tarnished last out–had other ideas. Away as the second choice almost 14 times the favorite's odds, Red Carpet Ready shadowed the pacesetting chalk early with both kept well off the inside. Red Carpet Ready put the screws to Munnys Gold around the turn after a :45.11 half, and quickly opened up as noses pointed for home. Munnys Gold dug in deep, however, and clawed back almost all of the ground she'd given up late, but Red Carpet Ready found the line with a long nose to spare.
“This filly had a good break, and she put us right in it,” said winning rider Luis Saez. “When she got the lead, I wanted her to open it up, but she was waiting a little bit. When she was alone, she waited for the other horse to come back. I was pretty worried about the other horse, because in the long stretch, she tried hard to catch us. Red Carpet Ready is a spectacular filly. She always tries really hard.”
Red Carpet Ready opened her account a 10-length winner in the local slop on a “Stars of Tomorrow” card last October, and doubled up in the following month's Fern Creek S. She saw out seven-eighths no problem to take Gulfstream's GIII Forward Gal S. Feb. 4, but could only manage third at 11-10 in the Mar. 4 GII Davona Dale over a one-turn mile behind huge longshot Dorth Vader (Girvin).
Winning conditioner Rusty Arnold added, “She wants to sprint and she loves it here. We're going to regroup and keep to sprinting. Luis rode her great. He took it to [Munnys Gold] and she was ready.”
Friday, Churchill Downs
EIGHT BELLES S. PRESENTED BY SYSCO-GII, $500,000,
Churchill Downs, 5-5, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:22.28, ft.
1–RED CARPET READY, 120, f, 3, by Oscar Performance
1st Dam: Wild Silk, by Street Sense
2nd Dam: Spun Silk, by A.P. Indy
3rd Dam: Spunoutacontrol, by Wild Again
($180,000 Ylg '21 FTSAUG; $100,000 RNA 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-Ashbrook Farm and Upland Flats Racing; B-Lynn B. Schiff (KY); T-George R. Arnold, II; J-Luis Saez. $303,800. Lifetime Record: 5-4-0-1, $588,670. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Munnys Gold, 118, f, 3, Munnings–Haraawa, by Medaglia d'Oro. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($92,000 Wlg '20 FTKNOV; $300,000 Ylg '21 FTKJUL). O-Robert E. and Lawana L. Low; B-Nicksar Farms (FL); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $98,000.
3–Accede, 118, f, 3, Into Mischief–Jibboom, by Mizzen Mast. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Juddmonte Farms Inc (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $49,000.
Margins: HD, 1 3/4, 2. Odds: 5.72, 0.41, 8.43.
Also Ran: Condensation, Olivia Twist, Sabra Tuff, Grand Love.
Scratched: Effortlesslyelgant, Positano Sunset.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Pedigree Notes:
Red Carpet Ready is one of two graded winners and stakes winners from the first crop of talented turfer Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy). Street Sense is the broodmare sire of a dozen graded/group winners worldwide. His one highest-level winner to date is Roaring Lion, by Oscar Performance's sire Kitten's Joy.
Red Carpet Ready is out of a half-sister to GISW sprinter Joking (Distorted Humor) and from the deep female family of Tale of the Cat, Fed Biz, et al.
Unraced Wild Silk, purchased for $70,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November Sale, has a 2-year-old full-sister to Red Carpet Ready and yearling full-brother. The filly was a $65,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred sale acquisition by Deuce Greathouse's Pura Vida and has since been named Bougie Not Basic. Wild Silk produced a Not This Time filly Mar. 23.
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