Ohio racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

Amadevil (Dominus) backed up her 24 1/4-length victory in maiden company when winning her second career start Monday at Thistledown, running away from seriously overmatched rivals in an Ohio-bred allowance race. She paid $2.10 in what was maybe the biggest overlay of the year.

Racing for owner-trainer David Wolochuk, the 3-year-old filly debuted June 21 at Thistledown, winning by nearly a sixteenth of a mile while earning a 94 Beyer figure. That number indicated that she has the ability to win graded stakes, but, having won nothing more than a five-furlong state-bred maiden race run in the mud, Amadevil still had plenty of questions to answer. Could a horse from such humble beginnings go on to win at racing's highest levels?

That's still an unknown, but Amadevil, despite the lack of competition, took some steps forward Monday. She “stretched out” from five to six furlongs and proved she can run just fine over a fast track. This time, she won by “only” 11 3/4 lengths, but was under wraps through most of the stretch and clearly wasn't asked for her best by jockey Chelsey Keiser. The running time was 1:10.46 and she got an 85 Beyer, but it may have been faster if Keiser let her mount run in the stretch.

“She makes it look easy, doesn't she?” Wolochuk said.

Wolochuk bought Amadevil and another horse from their breeders, Marne Fauber and Heidi Cecil, in a package deal that cost him $30,000. She had some shin problems that keep her away from the races as a 2-year-old, but was more than ready to go when debuting last month. Afterward, Wolochuk let it be known that he would have no problem selling a piece of Amadevil and did just that last week. He sold a 50% interest to Blue Snow Racing. Wolochuk declined to reveal the name of the individual who races under the Blue Snow banner.

“He told me whatever my highest offer was he would beat it by 25% and buy half of the horse,” Wolochuk said. “He's an owner of mine, a guy from Omaha. He came to me the day before we were going to enter for this race. I showed him in writing what the best offer was and he wired me the money.”

Wolochuk could have gone in a number of different directions with Amadevil for her second start, including choosing a local stakes race or heading to a top-tier track. Instead, he picked the easiest option, a first level allowance race for Ohio-breds, a race that amounted to little more than a public workout.

“I want her to get a little more seasoning,” he said. “She can get a little funny, but she was good today. I didn't want to give her too much too soon. There was no speed in there, so we wanted her to get to the front, cruise around there and not pull up before the wire. It was just an educational race, to teach her something. I wanted to see her gallop out and she did. She took off around the turn [in the gallop-out] because we will eventually have to go a route. We're just trying to bring her along the right way. Luckily, I'm not under any pressure.”

Wolochuk said a piece of Amadevil can still be had and that both he and the Blue Snow owner will be happy to listen to offers. With the win Monday, the price has gone up.

“A lot of people called after the first race,” he said. “Aron Yagoda is a good friend of mine and he's got Mark Casse [as a trainer]. He's been calling. So I have a lot of guys from Kentucky. But a lot of them wanted to see a six-furlong race first. Now, they got to see it. Now, they're going to have to pay more. I'm in a good position.”

Wolochuk said he will look to get Amadevil into another allowance race for Ohio-breds. After that, there are three $100,000 Ohio-bred stakes races remaining on the 2021 calendar that she will be eligible for and those will be a target. Waiting for her in those spots could be Esplanande (Daredevil), a 3-year-old Ohio-bred filly who was runner-up in last year's GI Spinaway S. She's won three straight, including a pair of stakes for Ohio breds.

“Her and Esplanande, they're on a collision course,” Wolochuk said. “I won't have to go to Saratoga to run against a graded horse. I can stay in my own back yard.”

A win over a filly of that caliber would really prove something. Until then, Amadevil is a bit of a mystery, a fun mystery. Another chapter of this story awaits.

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David Wolochuk understands that there's only so much a horse can prove in a five-furlong maiden race for Ohio-breds run over a sloppy track. Then again, he's excited about a horse named Amadevil (Dominus). And who could blame him?

“Now I see why they say no one has ever died when they have a good horse in the barn,” he said. “She makes it real easy to get up in the morning.”

On a quiet Monday afternoon earlier this month at Thistledown, the horse owned by and trained by Wolochuk named Amadevil ran so fast and won so easily that it seems perfectly plausible that the 3-year-old filly, despite her humble beginnings, will be heard from in graded stakes company before her career is over. Under wraps in the June 21 maiden, she won by 24 1/4 lengths, covering the five furlongs in :57.48. The track record at the distance is 57.40 and it has stood since 1978. Her Beyer figure was a 94 and her Thoro-Graph number was a 2 1/2. Those are the sort of numbers that win graded stakes races for 3-year-old fillies.

“We knew she had some ability, but, of course, I was surprised by what she did,” said Wolochuk, who divides his year between Turf Paradise and the Ohio tracks. “We thought she was a really nice filly but I can't tell you I thought she'd be a tick off the track record geared down.”

Wolochuk came across Amadevil when she was a yearling. The stallion, Dominus, stands at Spendthrift for $5,000 and the dam, Preachette (Pulpit), was unraced. Amadevil was her second foal and the first to make it to the races. Still, Wolochuck liked Amadevil from the start and began talking to her breeders, Marne Fauber and the late Heidi Cecil, about a possible purchase. Wolochuk said the breeders were inclined to sell because Cecil was ill with cancer and they wanted to cut down on their numbers to “lighten the load.”

When the Ocala-based breeders offered Amadevil and another horse in package for $30,000, Wolochuck pounced.

“They texted me and asked if I would give them $30,000 for the package,” he said. “I didn't argue. As fast as I could type the word 'yes', that's how fast I answered them.”

Already anticipating he might have a good horse, Wolochuk named her after another over-achieving state-bred. The first Amadevil was a fast Nebraska-bred sprinter born in 1974 who won 20 stakes races, including the Count Fleet H., the Paumonok H. and the Phoenix H. The first Amadevil ran 93 times, won 33 races and set three track records.

This Amadevil had some shin problems that kept her out of the races as a 2-year-old, but she's healthy now and ready to tackle bigger challenges. While Wolochuk believes she can win at the graded level, he said the immediate plan is to keep her home and race in Ohio-bred stakes races. The Ohio-bred stakes program offers plenty of options and the purses range from $75,000 to $100,000, which could be easy money for a horse with this much talent. He could see her going from there to an allowance race at a major track.

“With the way the bigger tracks write their allowance races, state-bred wins don't count against you in the allowance conditions,” he said. “We can get her some more seasoning and see how it goes. Then maybe go to a place like Keeneland or Churchill in the fall.”

That's if Wolochuk keeps her.

Since starting his career, he has been a steady winner at tracks in Ohio, Arizona and New Mexico, but has never won a graded stakes as a trainer, let alone as an owner. He'd like nothing more than to win a major race at a top track, but is well aware that the right move might be to sell. He said he has heard from a number of agents and is still deciding what to do.

“My dreams are for sale,” he said. “That's going to be the case as long as I have kids who are ready to go off to college. If I were a little older it might be a different story. This is something I have to think about. I am a businessman and if there is a fair offer I will have to listen.”

Looking far down the road, Wolochuk, a native Californian, said he might take his filly to Santa Anita. If she continues to thrive in lesser spots, a race like the GI La Brea S. in late December could be in the offing. But is that too much to ask of a filly who has done nothing more than beat Ohio-bred maidens at five furlongs? Maybe. Maybe not. For Amadevil, the next several months should be interesting ones.

The post From An Ohio-Bred Maiden to Stardom? For Amadevil, It Could Happen appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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