Michael Hernon's Takntothecleaners — winner of an off-the-turf maiden race by 9 1/4 lengths and a grass allowance race by 1 1/4 at Indiana Grand — tries to go to 3 for 3 as she steps into stakes company in Saturday's $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks at 1 1/16 miles at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky. She has never trailed a horse, but also faced only four horses in her first race. Rodney Prescott, aboard for her first two races, has a family conflict and will be replaced for this race by Adam Beschizza, said trainer Ethan West.
“She broke like a shot. Went out there with her ears pricked the whole time,” said the Indiana Grand-based West. “The jockey just kept her at her task. The second start, she's got tremendous gate speed. She shot out there, and they pressed her around there, with her ears pricked again. When Rodney asked her, she went.
“We wanted to give her a shot. She hasn't given us a reason not to try her in stakes company.”
As far as being in front, he said, “I think her ability put her there. We've had her since Turfway (over the winter), and we've always worked her in company, being a younger horse. She's always rated just fine. She's actually more relaxed by another horse than by herself. I think she just out-footed her early. I don't consider her a one-dimensional horse by any means.”
Takntothecleaners, a $15,000 2-year-old auction purchase, is 10-1 in the morning line. She breaks from post 7 among the nine 3-year-old fillies entered in the 1 1/16-mile grass race.
“I think she ranks somewhere in the middle,” West said of the competition. “Obviously she's not a standout. But I don't think she's going to be the longest shot.”
And off only two starts, there should be a lot of upside to Takntothecleaners.
“I've liked her since she came in,” West said. “She was very, very high strung when we got her. She still is a very high-energy filly. But her maturity is starting to come through. It's going to be tough. It's the first time she shipped, so we'll see how she handled that.
“We really didn't know what kind of filly she was when we got her. She just kept stepping up her game. She's gone a lot farther a lot faster than I thought.”
The Preview Oaks winner gets a fees-paid spot in the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks at 1 5/16 miles on Kentucky Downs' Sept. 5 opening card.
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