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Four Graces Wins Beaumont At Keeneland, But Unlikely To Stretch Out For Kentucky Oaks

Whitham Thoroughbreds' homebred Four Graces set a track record by winning the 35th running of the $100,000 Beaumont Stakes (G3) by 4¾ lengths over Sconsin at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Friday. She covered the Beard Course of 7 furlongs, 184 feet over a fast main track in 1:24.90 for a stakes and track record.

Jockey Julien Leparoux put Four Graces on the lead with second choice Wicked Whisper just to her outside as the two raced through early fractions of :22.29 and :44.37.

At the head of the stretch, Four Graces put Wicked Whisper away, opened a daylight margin and cruised to the finish line well clear of Sconsin. For Leparoux, it is his third Beaumont victory with previous wins coming in 2009 with War Kill and 2016 with Lightstream.

“She's a fast filly,” said Leparoux. “The track is pretty quick today too. But she was doing it very nicely for me in a good rhythm. That's the way she likes to run – free – and she makes that big kick at the end.

“I'm surprised we broke the track record, really,” he added. “But she's getting much better right now and she's doing very good.”

Trained by Ian Wilkes, Four Graces picked up 20 points toward the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) on Sept. 4 and hiked her total to 40, a figure that ranks 12th. The Oaks is limited to the top 14 point earners to pass the entry box.

The victory was worth $60,000 and boosted Four Graces' earnings to $194,450 with a record of 5-4-0-0. It was her third consecutive victory and second Grade 3 having won the Dogwood at Churchill last month.

Wilkes said he was not inclined to stretch out Four Graces around two turns to the Oaks distance.

“I'll talk to (owner) Mrs. (Janis) Whitham and (most likely) we'll point to the Test (G1, going 7 furlongs on Aug. 8 at Saratoga),” he said.

Four Graces is a Kentucky-bred daughter of Majesticperfection out of the Seeking the Gold mare Ivory Empress. She returned $3.40, $2.40 and $2.10. Sconsin, who picked up her initial eight Oaks points, paid $3.20 and $2.40 under James Graham. Turtle Trax, who finished 4¾ lengths back in third under Brian Hernandez Jr. and paid $3 to show. Wilkes also trains Turtle Trax, who picked up four Oaks points to raise her total to six.

Wicked Whisper (12 Oaks points) finished fourth followed by Slam Dunk.

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Four Graces Sets Track Record in Beaumont Romp

Hammered into heavy favoritism with a recency edge over the come-backing ‘TDN Rising Star’ Wicked Whisper (Liam’s Map), Whitham Thoroughbreds’s Four Graces proved the easy winner of Friday’s GIII Beaumont S., stopping the clock in a stakes and track-record clocking of 1:24.90 for the extended seven-furlong distance.

Ridden for speed by Julien Leparoux over a track that had been playing kindly to front-end types, the homebred half-sister to McCraken (Ghostzapper) set a pressured pace from last year’s GI Frizette S. winner Wicked Whisper, as they whistled through an opening half-mile in :44.37. Four Graces stiff-armed the challenge of Wicked Whisper, having won the battle, and managed to win the war as well, coming home well clear of Sconsin. Brereton C. Jones’s Turtle Trax completed the trifecta for stallions who stood/stand at Jones’s Airdrie Stud. The aforementioned McCraken also stands at Airdrie.

“She’s a fast filly,” Leparoux said. “The track is pretty quick today too. But she was doing it very nicely for me in a good rhythm. That’s the way she likes to run–free–and she makes that big kick at the end… I’m surprised we broke the track record, really. But she’s getting much better right now and she’s doing very good.”

Four Graces was registering her second straight graded win, having posted a 2 1/2-length victory in the GIII Dogwood S. at Churchill June 6. She was a debut winner at Gulfstream Mar. 1, but settled for fourth attempting a one-turn mile there Apr. 10. She bounced back with a Churchill optional claiming tally over a strong group that included Sconsin, subsequent GIII Iowa Oaks runner-up Aurelia Garland (Constitution), and two other next-out allowance winners.

Trainer Ian Wilkes, who saddled the first and third home, said the winner would likely be aimed for next month’s GI Longines Test S. at Saratoga.

Friday, Keeneland
BEAUMONT S. PRESENTED BY KEENELAND SELECT-GIII, $98,000, Keeneland, 7-10, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:24.90, ft.
1–FOUR GRACES, 118, f, 3, by Majesticperfection
1st Dam: Ivory Empress (GSP, $189,402), by Seeking the Gold
2nd Dam: Madame Pandit, by Wild Again
3rd Dam: Tuesday Evening, by Nodouble
O/B-Whitham Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Ian R. Wilkes;
J-Julien R. Leparoux. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 5-4-0-0,
$194,450. *1/2 to Bondurant (War Front), MGSP, $288,234;
McCraken (Ghostzapper), MGSW & GISP, $869,728. Werk Nick
Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Sconsin, 118, f, 3, Include–Sconnie, by Tiznow.
O/B-Lloyd Madison Farms LLC (KY); T-Gregory D. Foley.
$20,000.
3–Turtle Trax, 118, f, 3, Cairo Prince–Great Family, by Harlan’s
Holiday. O/B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-Ian R. Wilkes. $10,000.
Margins: 4 3/4, 4 3/4, 6 1/4. Odds: 0.70, 4.50, 10.80.
Also Ran: Wicked Whisper, Slam Dunk. Scratched: Speech.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Pedigree Notes:
Majesticperfection, now standing in Uruguay after beginning his career in Kentucky at Airdrie, will be represented Saturday at Keeneland by Bret Jones-bred MGSW Bell’s the One in the GI Madison S. Four Graces is one of five winners from as many foals to race and three graded performers out of Ivory Empress, who was second in the 2010 GIII Endine S. for these same connections. Ivory Empress is out of GSW and GISP Madame Pandit, making her a half to GISW Mea Domina (Dance Brightly). She has a 2-year-old colt named Milliken (Into Mischief) who has five published breezes at Churchill Downs and produced a full-sister to ‘Rising Star’ McCraken Mar. 31.

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‘Speech’-Less Beaumont Leaves Filly Quintet

Early Thursday, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners tweeted that Speech (Mr Speaker), second to GII Toyota Blue Grass favorite Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GII Santa Anita Oaks June 6, would be withdrawn from Friday’s GIII Beaumont S. in favor of Saturday’s GI Ashland S., leaving a competitive field of five 3-year-old fillies for the seven-furlong affair.

‘TDN Rising Star‘ Wicked Whisper (Liam’s Map) kicks off her sophomore campaign Friday afternoon and should vie for favoritism. Impressive in breaking her maiden by 6 1/4 lengths over future SW & GSP Highland Glory (Sky Mesa) on Saratoga debut last August, the $500,000 Keeneland September yearling defeated recent GIII Victory Ride S. heroine and fellow ‘Rising Star’ Frank’s Rockette (Into Mischief) and Slam Dunk (Into Mischief) in the Oct. 6 GI Frizette S. by 2 3/4 front-running lengths. The chestnut faces the starter for the first time since a distant fifth in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last November.

Janis Whitham’s Four Graces (Majesticperfection), a homebred half-sister to Airdrie Stud’s McCraken (Ghostzapper), is perfect in three starts at this tricky seven-furlong distance. A first-out winner at Gulfstream Mar. 1, she stubbed her toe when fourth over that track’s one-turn mile Apr. 10, but has since added a May 16 Churchill allowance and the June 6 GIII Dogwood S. Trainer Ian Wilkes also sends out Turtle Trax (Cairo Prince).

Should the two chief protagonists happen to cancel each other out on the front end, Sconsin (Include) could prove the chief beneficiary. A maiden winner at second asking off the turf at the Fair Grounds in February, the Lloyd Madison homebred was fourth in the aforementioned May 16 allowance in Louisville won by Four Graces and most recently belied odds of 19-1 to post a five-length victory from off the pace in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance beneath the Twin Spires June 13.

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