When the racing world last saw Argentine-bred star La Renoleta, she was crushing allowance opponents early last year at Oaklawn in an audition for one of the country's biggest two-turn races for older fillies and mares.
Then, there was an injury. Now, there's a comeback.
Unbeaten La Renoleta (5 for 5) is scheduled to make her first start in over a year in Saturday's seventh race at Oaklawn, a 1-mile allowance, for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
After winning her first four career starts in Argentina, including the Estrellas Distaff (Gr. 1) in June 2019 – her last race in South America – La Renoleta was privately purchased by Kentucky bloodstock agent Peter Bradley III (Bradley Thoroughbreds) and sent to Asmussen in the United States.
La Renoleta resurfaced in a Feb. 8, 2020, allowance race at 1 1/16 miles and was a 9 ¾-length winner under perennial Oaklawn riding champion Ricardo Santana Jr., earning a solid 89 Beyer Speed Figure in her American debut. Bradley said La Renoleta was being considered for Oaklawn's $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) when a minor soft-tissue injury was discovered, prompting a lengthy break from racing.
“While it wasn't career ending, it was one of those things that took a long time to come around,” Bradley said Thursday morning. “We gave her every bit of time she needed, so it looks like she's back on top of her game and we can't wait for her to run this weekend.”
Bradley assembles racing partnerships, or racing ventures, focusing primarily on fillies. After dipping into South America to privately purchase Chilean-bred filly Dacita, who became a multiple Grade 1 winner in the United States for four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, Bradley said he began tracking La Renoleta in June 2019 before finalizing a deal roughly three months later.
A 6-year-old daughter of grass standout Treasure Beach (a Grade 1 winner in the United States and Group 1 winner in Europe), La Renoleta will again be running at Oaklawn following a lengthy layoff. Bradley said retirement was never seriously considered following her injury, adding four months of recovery stretched to seven out of caution.
“There was a hemorrhage along with it, that made it look worse,” Bradley said. “Essentially, we just wanted to be extra careful and we took some time. Knock on wood, it's paid off. We may have even overreacted a little bit, but that's OK. We wanted to make sure she's 100 percent. That's what we have right now.”
Bradley said La Renoleta resumed training around New Year's Day. The mare has seven published workouts at Oaklawn since March 10 in advance of her 2021 debut.
“We figured she would be ready for a spring/summer campaign,” Bradley said. “We hoped we could have been ready early in the Oaklawn meet and could have made a decision on the Apple Blossom. There's two ways you find out if a horse is ready to run. The horses tell you and then Steve tells you.”
Mexican champion Letruska won last Saturday's $1 million Apple Blossom (G1), nosing out two-time Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl. La Renoleta's allowance race is an “extra,” meaning it wasn't in the condition book and is a substitute race written by Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope. Bradley said Saturday's comeback spot isn't a prep for something specific, just a gateway to, hopefully, graded stakes events this summer.
“We always hope to do that with them, if they look like they've got this type of talent,” Bradley said. “Again, one step at a time. We've got this race Saturday. After that, we'll see. If she runs up to our expectations, we'll most probably look for a stakes race. If it turns out that she needs a race, we'll go to Plan B. I would hope that some races at Saratoga would be in her future this summer, some of their top races.”
Co-owners of La Renoleta are Swift Thoroughbreds Inc. (Mark Mache), Paul Braverman and Tim and Anna Cambron. Bradley, in partnership, won the $200,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares in 2019 at Oaklawn with the Asmussen-trained She's a Julie.
La Renoleta is the 8-5 program favorite for Saturday's seventh race at Oaklawn, which carries a $107,000 purse. Probable post time is 4:04 p.m. (Central).
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