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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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Heider’s Pricey Spur-Of-The-Moment Buy Eyes Opening Day Schuylerville At Saratoga

When owner Scott Heider of Heider Family Stables attended the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale in upstate New York last August, he was strictly there to sell a Curlin colt, but a certain Tapit filly at the Gainesway consignment barn was just too enticing to pass up.

That filly, Thoughtfully, is a top contender for the Grade 3, $100,000 Schuylerville on July 16, Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course.

She showcased a strong display of talent in career debut on June 11 at Churchill Downs winning by 8 ¾ lengths for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. In the 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight over the main track, Thoughtfully broke sharply under Ricardo Santana, Jr. but allowed two runners to her inside to dictate the early pace. By the quarter pole, Thoughtfully was in command and all it took was a few shakes of the reins by Santana for her to draw off in style.

The promising dark bay filly was hammered down for $950,000 at the yearling sale and could prove to be well worth the investment.

“I was up there selling a Curlin colt out of [Grade 1 winner] Taris and that's all I was there for. I had no intention of buying anything,” Heider said. “[Bloodstock agent] Donato Lanni reached out to me and told me there was a filly that I should look at. That Monday afternoon, I texted Steve and asked him to look at her for me and later that day he said 'I've seen the filly. She is special'. When she walked into the sales ring, I was sitting next to John Sikura [of Hill n Dale Farm] and just stepped on the gas.”

The pressure of buying a horse for such a large sum of money was relieved when Thoughtfully won so emphatically on debut.

“There are not a lot of Tapit fillies that are ready to go as early as June,” Heider said. “She has a great mind and is really classy. She got mentally ready very early. When she won like that Steve called me up and my response was, 'That's what a good Asmussen filly looks like'.”

Heider praised Asmussen for his ability to condition progeny of Tapit, who are sometimes known for being hard to handle.

“The Tapits can be complicated and tough to handle but Steve knows how to work with them,” Heider said. “If you ask Steve or the help around the barn about the filly they would smile and say that she doesn't act like a typical Tapit. She's very sweet. After the race, before she went into the winner's circle, she just kind of stood there and stared at the big screen. It was pretty neat because Ricardo was just letting her do it. She had to have stood there for about 15 seconds.”

Thoughtfully, bred in Kentucky by Gainesway, is the seventh progeny out of the Seeking the Gold broodmare Pension who has produced all winners including graded stakes winner Annual Report and dual turf stakes winner Giant Payday. Her granddam is Grade 1-winner Furlough and she comes from the same family as champions Heavenly Prize and Dancing Spree as well as Grade 1 winners Dancing Forever, Fantastic Find and Finder's Fee.

As far as the Curlin colt Heider sold? He is named King Fury, and was bought by Kenny McPeek for $950,000, which is exactly what Heider paid for Thoughtfully.

“The irony was that we paid the same amount for the filly that we sold the colt for,” said Heider.

Heider could be getting off to a rocket start to the Saratoga meet as he also will have Please Flatter Me entered in the $85,000 Shine Again on July 17.

The Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Munnings made her 4-year-old debut finishing a distant second to Grade 1-winner Guarana in a seven-furlong Churchill Downs allowance race. This was her first start since finishing seventh to eventual Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Covfefe in the Grade 1 Test last August at Saratoga.

“Hopefully we have a nice weekend,” Heider said. “We brought her back after the winter and she chased Guarana around. Her only bad effort was in the Test. She got really nervous in the paddock that day and was all washed out. All the people there made her a little on edge and mentally she wasn't right. Her race was pretty much over in the paddock.”

A winner of four of eight career starts, Please Flatter Me is a three-time stakes winner on the Mid-Atlantic circuit where she was previously conditioned by Mark Reid. She acquired graded stakes black type when finishing second to Covfefe in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness last May at Pimlico.

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Monmouth To Cap General Admission Tickets For Haskell Day At 500

Monmouth Park is putting 500 general admission tickets on sale for the July 18 TVG.com Haskell Stakes starting at noon on Saturday, July 11, on the track's web site at www.monmouthpark.com.

Tickets cost $100 apiece and include admission, a Haskell hat, a program and parking. Ticketholders will also have access to limited seating.

At the present time, these will be the only tickets available to the general public for the $1 million, Grade 1 Haskell, the centerpiece of the Monmouth Park meet. Attendance at the track is limited by a state mandate in the ongoing effort to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

“In meeting our commitment and obligations to our sponsors, horsemen and season box holders we're limited to offering 500 tickets to the general public at this time,” said Dennis Drazin, Chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, which operates the track. “We're grateful for Gov. Phil Murphy's leadership during these difficult times and appreciate his willingness to work with us in allowing fans on site. It's imperative we do our part, in what has become the new normal, to help slow the spread of the virus.”

General admission tickets will only be available online. There will be no ticket sales on Haskell Day.

Presently, there are no plans for additional tickets to be made available to the general public. Should Gov. Murphy issue any revised executive orders which allow Monmouth Park to increase attendance capacity for Haskell Day those tickets will then be put on sale.

Those purchasing general admission tickets will be able to enter the track through the Main Grandstand entrance.

Gates open at 10:30 a.m. on Haskell Day, with a first race post time of noon.

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Remembering Harriet Sue, The First Filly To Contest The Blue Grass Stakes

Peter Callahan's multiple graded stakes winner Swiss Skydiver is the first filly to race in Keeneland's most famous race, the Toyota Blue Grass (G2), since 1944 – long before corporate sponsorship entered Thoroughbred racing but a year similar to 2020 because of adjustments to Keeneland's Spring Meet.

That first Blue Grass filly was Harriet Sue, a daughter of the legendary Bull Lea who was bred and owned by Hyman Friedberg of Louisville.

The 1944 Blue Grass was part of Keeneland's Spring Meet, which in 1943-1945 was held at Churchill Downs because of World War II. In March 1943, Keeneland had been deemed a “suburban” plant and placed in the classification of race tracks that were asked not to operate because of shortages in rubber. The Keeneland Association leased the Churchill facilities for the three spring seasons. No Keeneland Fall Meets were held during that time.

Scheduling of the day allowed Harriet Sue to run in both the 1944 Ashland and Blue Grass, which since 2014 have been held the same day.

On April 10, Harriet Sue defeated four rivals in the $5,000-added Ashland and recorded an impressive victory for trainer John Hanover and jockey Jesse Higley.

According to Louisville's Courier-Journal (thanks to research provided by the Keeneland Library), “Bet confidently and ridden confidently, the speedy Harriet Sue didn't betray the confidence of Jockey Jess Higley or the faith of most of the bettors in the gathering of 7,000 race fans at Churchill Downs Wednesday afternoon. 'Sue' pulled away from four other fillies to capture the seventh running of Keeneland's Ashland Stakes by three and one-half lengths.”

That performance led some Turf writers and Harriet Sue's connections to speculate about the filly competing in the Kentucky Derby – something that had not occurred since 1936.

Harriet Sue returned 16 days later to face males in the $10,000-added Blue Grass. She led her seven rivals for most of the race and “gave way near the end,” according to the chart. She finished fifth behind winner Skytracer. He and four other Blue Grass rivals next competed in the Kentucky Derby, but Harriet Sue returned to the filly division. Favored in the Kentucky Oaks, she finished second, 1½ lengths behind Abe Hirschberg's Canina.

In July of that year, Harriet Sue captured the Arlington Matron at Washington Park. By the time she retired, she had made 80 starts with 19 wins and earnings of $64,175.

In 1949, her stakes-winning full sister, The Fat Lady, was second to Calumet Farm's Wistful in the Kentucky Oaks. Wistful would be the year's champion 3-year-old filly.

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