Ken McPeek | Horse Racing Free Tips

Oaks Runner-Up Swiss Skydiver ’50-50′ To Join Preakness Field

Trainer Ken McPeek is considering racing talented 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver against males for the second time this season, reports the Daily Racing Form. She was second to Art Collector earlier this year in the G2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, and after finishing second in the G1 Kentucky Oaks, Swiss Skydiver may take on male rivals once again in the G1 Preakness Stakes on Oct. 3.

The decision hinges on which other 3-year-olds plan to show up Pimlico, McPeek said. Currently expected to be in the starting gate are Kentucky Derby winner Authentic, Art Collector, Pneumatic, and Mr. Big News, while Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law may pass on the Preakness to wait for the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Swiss Skydiver's major goal will be the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland, so other next-race options include the G1 Spinster at Keeneland on Oct. 4, or even the G1 QEII Challenge Cup on Keeneland's turf course on Oct. 10.

“I'd say we're maybe 50-50 at this point,” McPeek told drf.com. “We'd have to run against Midnight Bisou in the Spinster, and trying turf for the first time obviously would be outside the box… I mean, I'm still not sure I want to run against the very best 3-year-old colts right now, especially Tiz the Law. We've got a very interesting decision to make.”

Oaks Winner Shedaresthedevil Caps ‘Unbelieveable Day’ For Cox, Geroux

It was a thrilling Friday for the team of Brad Cox and Florent Geroux as the duo teamed up for their second Longines Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) victory in the last three years with Qatar Racing, Flurry Racing and Big Aut Farm's Shedaresthedevil.

“It was such an unbelievable day,” Cox said. “This filly has a ton of heart and Flo gave her the perfect ride.”

Cox had an eerily similar morning Saturday as he did in 2018 following Monomoy Girl's Kentucky Oaks victory. The Louisville native continued his regular routine with 10 of his horses recording published workouts.

“It's the life of a trainer,” Cox said. “Horses like Monomoy Girl and Shedaresthedevil make this job all worth it.”

SWISS SKYDIVER – Trainer Kenny McPeek reported that “all is good” with Peter J. Callahan's Kentucky Oaks runner up Swiss Skydiver despite exiting the race with a few cuts on a front ankle. Next race plans are “undecided” for the multiple stakes winner as of Saturday morning, according to McPeek.

Following the race, the trainer made a case for bringing the stallion Daredevil, who was sold to Turkey late last year, back to the U.S., noting he sired both Swiss Skydiver and the Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil.

“They need to get him back here,” McPeek said. “He's a good stallion.”

GAMINE – Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert reported that Michael Lund Petersen's Gamine “looked great” and was in good order the morning after finishing third as the favorite in the 146th edition of the Longines Kentucky Oaks.

Gamine set the pace in the 1 1/8-miles Oaks before being collared in the stretch by winner Shedaresthedevil and runner-up Swiss Skydiver. The loss marked the first time the daughter of Into Mischief had been beaten on the square in her five career starts as her only prior blemish was a loss via disqualification for a medication overage at Oaklawn Park.

SPEECH – Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Madaket Stables and Heider Family Stables' Speech is scheduled to return to her Southern California base Monday morning according to trainer Michael McCarthy.

“She had a tough trip all the way around,” McCarthy said of Speech, who finished fourth. “She got bumped at the break by Gamine and hit at the 7 ½ pole by Donna Veloce and checked by Donna Veloce at the six-furlong pole. She never got a chance to run her race.”

TEMPERS RISING – Mark and Nancy Stanley's Temper's Rising was back in Dallas Stewart's Barn 34 Saturday morning and doing well following her fifth-place effort in Friday's Kentucky Oaks.

“I thought she ran a great race,” Stewart said.

BAYERNESS – Belladonna Racing's Bayerness was back at Trackside Louisville – Churchill Downs' training facility – Saturday morning. Her next race plans are still to be announced.

HOPEFUL GROWTH – Trainer Anthony Margotta reported via text message that his St. Elias Stable's Monmouth Oaks (GIII) winner Hopeful Growth, sixth in the Oaks, came out of the race in good shape and would be leaving to go back to her Monmouth Park base at 5 p.m. Saturday.

DONNA VELOCE – Kaleem Shah. Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's Donna Veloce is scheduled to return to her Southern California base Monday morning following a disappointing run in Friday's Kentucky Oaks.

“She came back good,” said Carlos Santamaria, assistant to trainer Simon Callaghan. “We will try to get her as good as we can for the Breeders' Cup.

Making her first start in six months, Donna Veloce “had a lot of problems” in the race Santamaria said.

“Out of the gate, the five (Gamine) came in and hit the four (Speech) and she hit us,” Santamaria said. “She dropped the bit and ran off going into the first turn. He (jockey Ricardo Santana Jr.) took her to the outside to get her settled and going down the backside he could feel the field pushing him further outside. He ended up being wide all the way around.”

DREAM MARIE – Miracle's International Trading Inc.'s Dream Marie was scheduled to leave Churchill Downs Saturday morning following her ninth-place finish in the Oaks.

“She came out of the race OK,” trainer Matthew Williams said of Dream Marie, who trailed the field throughout. “We were hoping for a better result, but it was still a great experience.”

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Déjà Vu: Shedaresthedevil Springs 15-1 Upset For Cox, Geroux In Kentucky Oaks

Nothing is quite the same in 2020, and horse racing has been no exception. Churchill Downs' cavernous, nearly empty grandstands stood watch over Friday's Kentucky Oaks, delayed from the first Friday in May to September by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Fans may not have been present this year, but trainer Brad Cox must have felt a strong sense of déjà vu when he saddled Staton Flurry and Qatar Racing's Shedaresthedevil to post a 15-1 upset in the 3-year-old fillies' classic. Just one race prior, Cox had sent out his 2018 Kentucky Oaks winner Monomoy Girl to win the Grade 1 La Troienne.

“This is why you wake up every morning to get to win races like this,” Cox said. “This filly has been really impressive coming into the race and when she breezed with Monomoy Girl a couple weeks ago, we knew how well she was training. There were some tough fillies in the Oaks this year with Swiss Skydiver and Gamine. We are so thrilled to win a race like this, again, in our backyard. This has been a phenomenal day with Monomoy Girl winning the La Troienne then winning the Oaks with Shedaresthedevil. These are the days you dream of.”

Jockey Florent Geroux rode both champion Monomoy Girl and Shedaresthedevil to victory on Friday, and booted home a total of four winners on the Kentucky Oaks card.

“She had a great trip,” said Geroux. “She broke very sharp and I was able to stalk Gamine all the way. That was the plan, but sometimes plans don't always work out. Perfect plan today. The only question was whether or not I was going to be able to run her down. My filly ran an amazing race. It's been an amazing day.”

Shedaresthedevil came into the Oaks with wins in three of her five starts this year, but her long odds reflected the fact that she hadn't been successful against the division's top contenders. Her wins came in the G3 Indiana Oaks, an allowance race, and the G3 Honeybee, while she'd been beaten 13 1/4 lengths by Kentucky Oaks rival Swiss Skydiver in Oaklawn's G3 Fantasy Stakes back in May.

“We've taken the conservative route with this filly, kind of dodged the bullets,” Flurry explained. “We did that with the hope that we'd have a fresh horse for this.”

The strategy seems to have worked out, as Shedaresthedevil pulled away to win the Kentucky Oaks by 1 1/2 lengths. It was also the fastest Kentucky Oaks in history as Shedaresthedevil ran 1 1/8 miles over the fast main track in 1:48.28, besting Bird Town's 2003 time of 1:48.64.

A total of nine 3-year-old fillies lined up for the nine-furlong contest, including the supremely talented Gamine, who'd won her last two races by a combined total of over 35 lengths. Gamine went off at odds of 3-5, while G1 Alabama winner Swiss Skydiver, who'd also earned 40 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby by facing males in the G3 Blue Grass Stakes, was the second choice at 5-2.

As expected, the speedy Gamine went straight to the lead from post position five, and Swiss Skydiver pushed through from her position on the rail to try to be second. Shedaresthedevil broke to her left, and muscled her way over to keep pace pressure on Gamine through the early stages, keeping Swiss Skydiver boxed in on the inside.

Hall of Famer John Velazquez kept a tight hold on Gamine through a first quarter in 23.39 seconds, but Geroux also had Shedaresthedevil under a good hold just a length off the leader. Swiss Skydiver and Tyler Gaffalione were at the rail in third, while Donna Veloce tried to push her way into contention between rivals in fourth.

Just after the half-mile in :47.92, Velazquez left the rail open for a few strides and Gaffalione tried to send Swiss Skydiver on through. He didn't make the gap and Velazquez aimed Gamine back at the rail, causing Gaffalione to check and wait for the overland route along the outside.

That veteran move by Velazquez gave Geroux an opportunity with Shedaresthedevil, and he took full advantage, getting first run on Gamine around the far turn. Swiss Skydiver ended up swinging three-wide at the head of the lane, but Shedaresthedevil had already set her sights on the passing Gamine and hitting the wire first.

Shedaresthedevil dug in to put away Gamine by the three-sixteenths pole, then held of the late bid from Swiss Skydiver on her outside to win by 1 1/2 lengths. Gamine checked in third, while Speech got up to finish fourth. The remaining order of finish was: Tempers Rising, Hopeful Growth, Bayerness, Donna Veloce, and Dream Marie.

Trainer Ken McPeek wasn't displeased with the effort from runner-up Swiss Skydiver.

“She ran super,” McPeek said. “That other filly (Shedaresthedevil) has been training extremely well. I've been watching her. Tyler (Gaffalione) rode her good. That's horse racing. There's no guarantees. She's been training super. I actually wasn't as worried about Gamine as I was about another filly running a bang-up race. That's what happened.”

Meanwhile, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert had been hoping for a stronger return to two-turn racing for the super-talented Gamine.

“She hadn't gone long and we can always second guess ourselves,” Baffert lamented. “Maybe I should have run her longer or whatever. But the winner was tough, you have to give her credit.

“(Gamine) just didn't have it. Turning for home, she was in a good spot and she was late switching leads and she never does that. I don't know if she just got tired or whatever. But down the backside he couldn't have been any better, he was in the perfect spot. She just didn't have it there.”

Shedaresthedevil (center, maroon cap) out-finishes both Swiss Skydiver (left) and Gamine (right) to win the Kentucky Oaks

Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, Shedaresthedevil is out of the winning Congrats mare Starship Warpspeed. Initially sold for $100,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland November sale, the filly returned and did not meet her reserve when bidding stopped at $20,000 at the following year's Keeneland September sale.

Entered in race training with Norm Casse, Shedaresthedevil won on debut and was the first winner for her freshman sire, Daredevil, in June of 2019 at Churchill Downs. Qatar Racing purchased an interest in the filly and she was sent to west coast trainer Simon Callaghan, for whom she ran third in the G2 Sorrento, fourth in the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf, and second in the Anoakia Stakes.

Sent back through the Keeneland November sale at the end of her juvenile season, Shedaresthedevil brought a final bid of $280,000 from Staton Flurry, and Qatar Racing stayed in for the ride. The filly was sent to trainer Brad Cox, and kicked off her sophomore year with a second-place finish to stablemate Bonny South in an allowance at Oaklawn Park. She added the pair of graded stakes wins to her resume over the course of 2020, and the Kentucky Oaks win improves her overall record to 5-2-2 from 10 starts for earnings of over $1.2 million.

“As bad as 2020's been for everybody, this makes it a little bit better, for us,” Flurry said from the winner's circle.

Co-owner Staton Flurry celebrates with friends after Shedaresthedevil brings home the Kentucky Oaks trophy

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Goliath Versus Davids In the Kentucky Oaks

In this corner comes ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Gamine (Into Mischief), a filly by one of the world’s hottest and most fashionable sires who was purchased for a seven-figure price tag at public auction and has whitewashed Grade I rivals by a combined 25 3/4 lengths in her last two starts.

Sharing space in the other corner is Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), a much more modest auction purchase, who is perfect in her last four against her own sex; and Speech (Mr Speaker), not quite as accomplished as her two chief rivals, but who should in no way be ignored in Friday’s GI Longines Kentucky Oaks.

A $220,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, Gamine fetched a record-breaking $1.8 million at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale and nothing has finished ahead of her in four career starts. Bar one start, none of her rivals has come close. A maiden winner at first asking by open lengths, she crossed the line a neck better than Speech in a first-level Oaklawn allowance in what is her lone two-turn start to date. Subsequently disqualified for a drug positive, she earned a 110 Beyer for an 18 3/4-length jaw-dropper in the GI Longines Acorn S. going Belmont’s one-turn mile June 20 (by comparison, Tiz the Law was given a 100 for his Belmont score). Shortening up to seven furlongs for the GI Longines Test S., she set the pace from the fleet Venetian Harbor (Munnings) and ran away from her to hit the line seven lengths to the good.

The nine-furlong distance is the obvious question mark for Gamine heading into Friday, but if three-time Oaks-winning trainer Bob Baffert is feeling the pinch, he isn’t exactly showing it.

‘We know she’s fast and she’s done [two turns] before so it’s not like it’s new,” he said. “We’re just blessed we have a filly like this. We gave a lot of money for her and it’s worked out. A lot of times you do that and they don’t work out. We’re just enjoying her.”

Gamine is expected to be the speed of the Oaks, but Tyler Gaffalione should have Swiss Skydiver within shouting distance from the start. The $35,000 long-time Ken McPeek client Peter Callahan invested in the chestnut at Keeneland September two falls ago has proven to be money very well spent. While the margins of her victories have been less imposing than those posted by Gamine, the performances have been no less dominating.

The victims look the same–she defeated Venetian Harbor in a highly rated renewal of Oaklawn’s GIII Fantasy S. in May, then ventured to Speech’s home turf and took down her colors in the GII Santa Anita Oaks the following month. Hardly disgraced when second to Art Collector (Bernardini) in an audacious attempt at the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. July 11, she thrashed her rivals in the GI Alabama S. when last spotted Aug. 15. McPeek is looking forward to the challenge directly ahead.

“We ran on the same racetrack that weekend at Oaklawn and I don’t think there’s a lot separating them,” he said. “It’s going to be fun to watch. That’s what makes me confident. [Bob Baffert’s] filly is going to have to do something she hasn’t experienced and it’s something we’ve done over and over all year.”

Speech figures to sit a good trip in the Oaks, tracking the top two. The Florida-bred earned a richly deserved Grade I last time out in Keeneland’s Ashland S. July 11, earning a figure competitive with what Gamine and Swiss Skydiver have put up going two turns. A $65,000 short yearling at the 2018 OBS Winter Mixed Sale, Speech was bought back on a bid of $95,000 at Fasig-Tipton July that summer and fetched $190,000 at OBS March 18 months ago.

‘TDN Rising Star‘ Donna Veloce (Uncle Mo) was just touched off as the favorite in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in just her second career start and makes his first start since soundly defeating Speech in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. at Santa Anita Mar. 8.

It seems only fitting that in the town the late Muhammad Ali called home, a true heavyweight battle looms in the minutes just prior to 6 p.m. Friday afternoon.

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