Key Race for Turnerloose in Fair Ground Oaks

It's a tough spot, going up against Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks, but as owner Ike Thrash puts it, it's not every day that you get to take on the Eclipse Award-winning champion 2-year-old filly.

So Ike and his wife Dawn are eager to make the two-hour trip from their home in Mississippi to Fair Grounds on Saturday to watch their filly Turnerloose (Nyquist) go up against a talented field of sophomore fillies vying for points on the road to the Kentucky Oaks. Thrash is confident in his filly's potential upside.

“It wouldn't surprise me if she improved in her second time on dirt,” Thrash said.

The Brad Cox-trained dark bay pulled the upset in the GII Rachel Alexandra S. last month, stalking along the inside with Florent Geroux aboard and digging in down the lane to win by half a length.

Turnerloose was successful on the grass as a juvenile. After winning on debut, she claimed the Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies S. and placed third in the GII Jessamine S. Following an unplaced finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and a brief layoff, she returned to the racetrack for her sophomore campaign in the Rachel Alexandra.

“Of all the crazy stuff we've tried, running for the first time on dirt after a layoff in a Grade II is not the recommended path, but it worked out this time,” Thrash joked. “She had to tap on the breaks a few times and I was just sitting there the whole time with one eye closed hoping that she would like the dirt, but she ran really well.”

Ike and Dawn Thrash have been involved in horse racing for 35 years. They've made it to the winner's circle with several Grade I winners, including GI Arkansas Derby winner Line of David (Lion Heart), who took them to the 2010 GI Kentucky Derby, 2015 GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. winner Her Emmynency (Successful Appeal) and 2010 GI Debutante S. victress Tell a Kelly (Tapit).

Ike and Dawn Thrash | Hodges Photography

Today, the Thrash racing stable includes eight horses at the track and another nine 2-year-olds training with Paul Sharp in Ocala . While the Thrashes were prominent owners in California for many years, they have since relocated their stable to circuits closer to home.

The couple takes pride in the fact that they pick out all of their racing prospects themselves, attending the various sales and making up their short lists together.

“I always say that I know a lot about horse racing and Dawn knows more about horses,” Thrash explained. “She zeros in on a couple and I just try to get a short list and pick the ones that the universe lets you have. For us, 99% of it is how they are physically. I'm sure that is the opposite of what other people with good sense do, but the last thing we look at is the page. I'm happy if they have a good family, but I'd rather buy a nice individual.”

Turnerloose was the exception to this rule. At the Keeneland September Sale, the Nyquist filly had a nice physical but also an impressive female family as the granddaughter of GISW Game Face (Menifee). They were expecting that she might be out of their budget, but were surprised when they had the winning $50,000 bid.

“You always think that you're paying too much or that the world knows more than you do, but this was one of those times where I looked at my wife when they brought the hammer down and thought that we must have missed something,” Thrash recalled.

Turnerloose was never a standout during her early training, so it wasn't until she made her debut that her connections realized her potential.

“Some of them just don't jump out of you,” Thrash said. “We had another Nyquist filly who we thought was prettier than Turnerloose, so every time we had a conversation [with Cox], it was about the other Nyquist filly. Now Turnerloose could beat her for fun, so it's funny how it worked out.”

As the daughter of an A.P. Indy mare, debuting the filly on the turf was far from the original plan.

“When she got to Ellis Park, the only choices we had were five furlongs on dirt or a mile on the grass,” Thrash explained. “People ask us why we ran her on grass, well it was the only thing there. Then when they had the race with the big purse at Kentucky Downs [the Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies S.], you feel silly not to go there.”

Rolling the dice to let the filly try the dirt paid off, and now Turnerloose could take her owners to their third Kentucky Oaks. Their first was with Dawn After Dawn (Successful Appeal), who ran fourth in the 2007 edition, and in 2018 they were represented by Kelly's Humor (Midnight Lute).

“The year before Dawn After Dawn ran in the Oaks the horse paid like $40 to win, but of course we picked to run our first Oaks when Rags to Riches was there and I don't think I could have beat her with my car,” Thrash said with a laugh. “I've always said that if we are going to win one of these, it's more likely to be the Oaks because we buy 10 fillies for every colt.”

Like all of the horses in the Thrash racing stable, Turnerloose is named after a member of the family.

“Turner is my grandson,” Thrash explained. “We have four children and their spouses and then 12 grandchildren, so we don't run out of names.”

Thrash said that if they can break even in this business while having some fun, campaigning the occasional standout runner is an added bonus.

“When our horse Her Emmynency sold for over $1 million a few years ago, my CPA called and told me that I almost did it. After 30 years in the business, I was only $8,000 behind. I told him that was great; it was a lot better than I expected. It's a tough business and we try as hard as we can to break even, but it's been a lot of fun. You don't win many of those big races. We've done well over the years, but it's always exciting to get there.”

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Turnerloose, Tiz The Bomb Capture Juvenile Turf Stakes At Kentucky Downs

With the kind of results Joel Rosario was producing at Kentucky Downs on the second day of the short meet in Franklin, Ky., victory in The Aristocrat Gaming Juvenile Fillies came down to either his 2-year-old, Yin Yang, or her stablemate in the Brad Cox barn, Turnerloose, with Florent Geroux aboard.

Rosario finished the day by winning 5 of the 11 races, but he rode in just eight of them. Fortune did not smile on him in the $500,000 filly co-feature, as Turnerloose turned it on down the long stretch to cross the wire five lengths ahead of Yin Yang.

“Look at that, I beat Joel Rosario today,” said a joyful Geroux as he brought Turnerloose back to the winner's circle.

Closing out Monday's holiday program was another $500,000 stakes for 2-year-olds, The Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile, with 6-1 Tiz the Bomb also using the stretch to his advantage to score a three-quarters-length victory with Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard.

The filly race was more spread out. Behind the top two, sent off at very identical 2-1 odds in the field of nine, it was another 7 1/4 lengths until early pacesetter Verylittlecents and Joe Talamo finished.

“The break, she was very excited there, and didn't get out of there real quickly,” Rosario said. “But she did everything good, and she came running. She's nice, the other horse just got a jump on her. I'm very excited with the way she ran.”

Both of the Cox fillies had broken their maidens at Ellis Park in July. The victory pulled Cox into a tie with Joe Sharp atop the trainer standings, with three apiece.

“Both are very good fillies. I said last week that I liked both fillies, that I thought I'd go 1-2 in the race,” said Jorje Abrego, assistant trainer to Cox, about the pair who are part of the band he was supervising at Ellis this summer. “Turnerloose looked like 'turn her loose' today. She ran well. Yin Yang ran a very good second, so it was very good day for the team.”

Even more excited was Geroux after his first win at the meet, after missing Sunday's opener while riding at Saratoga.

“She was pulling on me pretty much all of the race, she wanted to go,” he said. “So, by the turn, she just kept on going. She was on a mission: she just wanted to take it to them, which was great.”

Turnerloose paid $6, $3 and $2.80, while Yin Yang returned $3.60 and $3. Verylittlecents paid $4 for show in a race timed in 1:36.19 for the mile on a turf course rated as firm.

It was a big win for Turnerloose, owned by Ike and Dawn Thrash, and now Team Cox has to look to her future – and to that of Yin Yang. Turnerloose was a $950,000 purchase at last year's Keeneland September sale, while Selective LLC's Yin Yang sold for $160,000 at the Fasig Tipton sale in October.

“This was big for her, now she's a stakes-winner,” Abrego said. “Now is the time to look for a graded stakes. We'll see how she is tomorrow, and if everything is good, maybe get her ready for Keeneland. Yin Yang just got beat by what, today, was a better horse.”

Not to be outdone, Phoenix Thoroughbred Ltd.'s Tiz the Bomb took a major step forward with his victory in 1:35.83 on the firm turf course.

Tiz the Bomb wins the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile

“He's got a license to be a good one,” said trainer Kenny McPeek about the colt, who sold for $330,000 at last year's Fasig Tipton yearling sale. “We're thrilled with the way he ran.”

While Play Action Pass and Edgard J. Zayas were setting the early fractions in the field of 10, Tiz the Bomb was in the middle of the pack.

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“He ran well today, the first time on the grass,” said Hernandez. “He put us in the spot and traveled the whole way around there looking like a winner, and got the job done.”

Kiss the Sky, the 2-1 favorite ridden by Jose Ortiz, was just behind Tiz the Bomb, and both colts took a wide path into the stretch for their rallying efforts. But Kiss the Sky, who won a maiden race at Saratoga for trainer Mike Maker in his second start, came up short.

“He ran well, second best,” said Maker, who was leading the Saratoga trainer standings for a good portion of the New York track's summer meeting.

Tiz the Bomb paid $14.20, $5.40 and $4, while Kiss the Sky paid $3.60 and $2.80. Play Action, the 12-1 early leader, was another half-length back in third and returned $6.40.

“They've been bragging on him over at the barn about how well he's been working,” Hernandez said of Tiz the Bomb. “And they were kinda tipping their hand about this performance. Robby Albarado has been working this horse in the mornings. He said that all of a sudden he turned the corner going the right way, and he showed it today.”

McPeek said Tiz the Bomb, who has won two of his three initial starts, might return to dirt in Keeneland's Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity.

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Nyquist Filly Leads Home 1-2 for Cox in Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies

Turnerloose stalked the pace, took over heading for home and poured it on from there to streak home an impressive winner of this lucrative event. Fellow Brad Cox trainee Yin Yang was a clear-cut second under red-hot Joel Rosario after briefly looking like she could threaten her stablemate for the top spot, while Runhappy Ellis Park Debutante S. winner Verylittlecents (Goldencents) was third in her turf debut.

“Both are very good fillies,” said Cox's assistant Jorje Abrego. “I said last week that I liked both fillies, that I thought I'd go 1-2 in the race. Turnerloose looked like 'turn her loose' today. She ran well. Yin Yang ran a very good second, so it was very good day for the team.”

Florent Geroux said of his trip on the winner: “She was pulling on me pretty much all of the race, she wanted to go. So by the turn, she just kept on going. She was on a mission: she just wanted to take it to them, which was great.”

The winner employed similar pace-pressing tactics to take her Ellis unveiling July 16, and becomes the third black-type winner for her well-regarded second-crop sire (by Uncle Mo). Her second dam is GISW dirt sprinter Game Face, and her dam has a filly foal by Arrogate. Goaltending visited City of Light this past season.

ARISTOCRAT JUVENILE FILLIES S., $500,000, Kentucky Downs, 9-6, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:36.19, fm.
1–TURNERLOOSE, 120, f, 2, by Nyquist
                1st Dam: Goaltending, by A.P. Indy
                2nd Dam: Game Face, by Menifee
                3rd Dam: Galleon of Gold, by Gone West
($32,000 RNA Wlg '19 KEENOV; $50,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP).
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O-Ike & Dawn Thrash; B-William
Humphries & Altair Farms LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Florent
Geroux. $300,700. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $331,300.
*3rd black-type winner for second-crop sire (by Uncle Mo).
2–Yin Yang, 120, f, 2, Point of Entry–Gypsy Princess, by
Unbridled's Song. ($13,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $160,000 Ylg '20
FTKOCT). O-Selective, LLC; B-Mt. Brilliant Broodmares I, LLC
(KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $97,000.
3–Verylittlecents, 118, f, 2, Goldencents–Pinch Me, by Arch.
($50,000 Ylg '20 KEEJAN; $85,000 RNA 2yo '21 OBSMAR).
O-Randy Patterson; B-Kellie & Tim Holland & Ramon Rangel
(KY); T-Randy L. Morse. $48,500.
Margins: 5, 7 1/4, 1. Odds: 2.00, 2.20, 6.60.
Also Ran: Sol Dorado, Ring Me Darling, Miz Jameson, Stepper, Cypress Queen. Scratched: Roughly a Diamond, She Hit a Homer. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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