One day before saddling $35,000 bargain buy Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) to take on the boys in the GI Preakness S., trainer Ken McPeek was represented by the one-two finishers in Keeneland’s GI Darley Alcibiades S. Friday. New York-bred Simply Ravishing (Laoban), just a $50,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling herself, dominated her competition on the front end and ran up the score to 6 1/4 lengths. ‘TDN Rising Stars’ Crazy Beautiful (Liam’s Map) and Travel Column (Frosted) fought it out for second and third. This was McPeek’s fifth win in the Alcibiades, which carried with it an automatic berth into the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies over the same track and trip in five weeks. Simply Ravishing belied 14-1 odds to take her turf debut in an open Saratoga maiden special weight Aug. 2, and doubled up when much the best in the rained-off P.G. Johnson S. over seven panels there Sept. 3. She was the 2-1 favorite Friday off a standout 81 Beyer Speed Figure.
Friday, Keeneland
DARLEY ALCIBIADES S.-GI, $350,000, Keeneland, 10-2, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:43.58, ft.
1–SIMPLY RAVISHING, 122, f, 2, by Laoban
1st Dam: Four Wishes, by More Than Ready
2nd Dam: Emilyna, by Valid Wager
3rd Dam: Piano Affect, by Fappiano
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($50,000 Ylg ’19
FTKOCT). O-Harold Lerner LLC, Magdalena Racing (Sherri
McPeek) & Nehoc Stables; B-Meg Levy (NY); T-Kenneth G.
McPeek; J-Luis Saez. $210,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0,
$304,600. Werk Nick Rating: C. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Crazy Beautiful, 122, f, 2, by Liam’s Map
1st Dam: Indian Burn, by Indian Charlie
2nd Dam: Christmas Affair, by Black Tie Affair (Ire)
3rd Dam: Anna Lisa Beth, by Topsider
($250,000 Ylg ’19 FTKOCT). ‘TDN Rising Star’ O-Phoenix
Thoroughbred, LTD; B-Carolyn R Vogel (KY); T-Kenneth G.
McPeek. $70,000.
3–Travel Column, 122, f, 2, by Frosted
1st Dam: Swingit, by Victory Gallop
2nd Dam: Free Ransom, by Our Native
3rd Dam: Pay the Ransom, by J. O. Tobin
($850,000 Ylg ’19 FTSAUG). ‘TDN Rising Star’ O-OXO Equine
LLC; B-Mr. & Mrs. Bayne Welker Jr. & Denali Stud (KY); T-Brad
H. Cox. $35,000.
Margins: 6 1/4, 1 1/4, 4 3/4. Odds: 2.20, 2.00, 4.20.
Also Ran: Thoughtfully, Oliviaofthedesert, Xtrema, Gramercy.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Away on top from her outside draw, Simply Ravishing worked her way to the lead and rail and doled out splits of :24.43, :48.59 and 1:12.94 with Crazy Beautiful in nearest pursuit. She spun for home still well within herself, and ran up the score with bounding strides to emerge as the main challenger to West Coast-based divisional leader and ‘Rising Star’ Princess Noor (Not This Time).
McPeek will need one more win in the Alcibiades to tie Lukas.
“I don’t think we know how good she is,” his assistant Alan Shell said. “She’s won on turf, dirt, going short, going long. It’s just real exciting. We’re just so thankful we have owners like Mr. [Harold] Lerner and Jack Cohen and Magdalena Racing that are behind us. They made a commitment when they bought this filly. They buy the best horses. Kenny did a great job picking her out. It’s all a team effort.”
Pedigree Notes:
Simply Ravishing, who became the first stakes winner for freshman sire Laoban when she captured the P. G. Johnson S. at Saratoga Sept. 3, upped the ante considerably with the New York stallion’s first Grade I win as a sire in the Darley Alcibiades. The stallion son of Uncle Mo has one other black-type horse from his four winners to date in GII Adirondack S. third-place finisher Ava’s Grace. Uncle Mo has gotten off to a stellar start as a sire of sires, with other freshman sires Nyquist and Outwork making a big splash in the division. Simply Ravishing is the only foal to race out of the More Than Ready mare Four Wishes, who was bred to Speightster for 2021. Simply Ravishing contributes the first black-type in three generations to her dam’s side, with only her granddam’s half-sister Valid Affect (Valid Appeal) marking up the page with a black-type win and a graded placing, both in 1997. Four Wishes was purchased by Meg Levy of Bluewater Sales for just $500 in 2017 after she had been abandoned at a boarding farm.
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