Champions Battle in Apple Blossom

Saturday's GI Apple Blossom H. at Oaklawn Park features a clash between champions Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil).

Named champion 3-year-old filly off a sparkling 2018 campaign, Monomoy Girl returned from a year and a half on the sidelines to win all four starts in 2020, including Churchill's GI La Troienne S. followed by a successful title defense in the Nov. 7 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland. After realizing $9.5 million from Spendthrift Farm at Fasig-Tipton in November, the 6-year-old mare marked her debut sporting the MyRacehorse silks when taking Oaklawn's GIII Bayakoa S. Feb. 28. The Brad Cox trainee has shown signs of readiness for her step back up to Grade I company with a swift four-furlong breeze in :47.60 at Oaklawn Apr. 11.

Looking to stand in the two-time champion's way is Swiss Skydiver, who enters Saturday's test off a confident victory in the GI Beholder Mile at Santa Anita Mar. 13. Trained by Ken McPeek, the chestnut bagged five graded stakes victories in 2020, highlighted by the GI Alabama S. and the GI Preakness S., when she was seen defeating subsequent sophomore champion colt and Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief). Despite finishing seventh behind Monomoy Girl on Breeders' Cup day, she earned a divisional title for a season that saw her win five of 10 starts while earning over $1.6 million for owner Peter Callaghan. Robbie Albarado, aboard for her three latest starts, returns to the irons Saturday.

Swiss Skydiver arrived at Oaklawn Wednesday afternoon and galloped over a muddy surface after the second renovation break Thursday morning. She has registered three workouts since the Beholder, including a five-furlong move in 1:00.40 at Churchill Downs Apr. 10.

“It's scary,” Albarado said. “She might be better than last year. She's doing so good right now.”

Swiss Skydiver can collect a $60,000 bonus for winning the Apple Blossom for racing Lasix-free.

“She doesn't need it,” McPeek said. “She's never really needed it. We took her off Lasix for her last start because she's going to be running the rest of the year without it, anyway.”

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Monomoy Girl Splashes Home First In Bayakoa, Winning For 14th Time In 16 Starts

Two-time Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl registered her 14th victory in 16 career starts on Sunday at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., dispatching five filly and mare rivals on a sloppy track to win her seasonal debut by two lengths under regular rider Florent Geroux.

Trained by Brad Cox for Spendthrift Farm, My Racehorse and Madaket Stables, the 6-year-old mare by Tapizar out of Drumette, by Henny Hughes, took the overland route most of the 1 1/16 miles, stopping the teletimer in 1:45.92.

Our Super Freak edged Finite by 1 1/4 lengths for second place, with Chance to Shine fourth, Istan Council fifth and Another Broad trailing the field. Sent off the heavy favorite, Monomoy Girl paid $2.40 as a heavy favorite.

Steve Asmussen-trained Finite jumped out to an early lead under Ricardo Santana Jr., setting fractions of :24.60 for the opening quarter mile and :49.41 for the half. Our Super Freak applied pressure to Finite approaching the far turn after six furlongs in 1:14.13, with Monomoy Girl biding her time just behind the top pair and well off the rail.

Our Super Freak and David Cohen passed Finite, who fought back gamely to her inside, but Geroux and Monomoy Girl had them both measured, and the champion moved to the lead at the top of the stretch, sailing past the mile marker in 1:39.04 en route to her victory.

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‘Not Another One Like Her’: Monomoy Girl Begins 2021 Campaign In Bayakoa

If Monomoy Girl were a boy and a prospect for the 2015 NFL Draft, the evaluation probably wouldn't have been overly flattering.

Monomoy Girl was by Tapizar, not Tapit, purchased at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $100,000 not $1 million and debuted on the grass in September 2017 at Indiana Grand, not Saratoga.

But her story mirrors that quarterback from the University of Michigan, deemed too skinny and slow to make it big in the NFL. Tom Brady was a sixth-round selection in 2000, the 199th player overall, and the seventh quarterback taken. Brady, 43, recently won his seventh Super Bowl and now has more rings than any NFL franchise.

Like Brady, Monomoy Girl's draft grade would call for a total rewrite for scouts, too. She's a two-time Eclipse Award winner, two-time Breeders' Cup champion and destined for enshrinement in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Measurables, in both cases, were meaningless.

“I think that's a fair assessment,” said Brad Cox, who has trained Monomoy Girl throughout her nearly flawless career. “There's not another one like her, as far as how she came up and transferred to the dirt. She's a special horse.”

Monomoy Girl will begin authoring another chapter, possibly the final chapter, in her brilliant racing career Sunday at Oaklawn when she makes her 6-year-old debut in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. Probable post time for the Bayakoa, which goes as the ninth of 10 races, is 5:11 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at 1 p.m.

The projected six-horse Bayakoa field from the rail out: Chance to Shine, Ken Tohill to ride, 115 pounds, 12-1 on the morning line; Another Broad, Joel Rosario, 115, 6-1; Finite, Ricardo Santana Jr., 119, 9-5; Istan Council, Joe Talamo, 115, 6-1; Our Super Freak, David Cohen, 115, 6-1; and Monomoy Girl, Florent Geroux, 119, even money.

Two other stakes are on Sunday's card, the $150,000 Dixie Belle for 3-year-old filly sprinters and the $150,000 Downthedustyroad for female Arkansas-bred sprinters.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong of Conway, Ark., have the program favorites in both races – unbeaten Abrogate (5-2) in the Dixie Belle and multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Bye Bye J (3-1) in the Downthedustyroad.

But Sunday's unquestioned headliner is Monomoy Girl, among the most accomplished horses ever entered at Oaklawn.

Monomoy Girl has a 13-2-0 record from 15 lifetime starts and earnings of $4,426,818. One of her losses was a disqualification (stretch interference in the 2018 Cotillion), the other also self-inflicted (lugged in and out late and beaten a neck in the 2017 Golden Rod). Seven victories have come in Grade 1 company, including the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (2018 and 2020) and the $1 million Kentucky Oaks in 2018 at Churchill Downs. She has won at six tracks. She won her first two career starts on turf before switching, ultra-successfully, to dirt.

Monomoy Girl was the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2018 and after missing 2019 because of injury and illness was crowned champion older dirt female of 2020. She was unbeaten in four races last year, including the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff Nov. 7 at Keeneland in her last start.

“To me, she's one of the best fillies that's ever lived,” said bloodstock agent Liz Crow, who selected and purchased Monomoy Girl for her original owner, Sol Kumin. “I know that maybe sounds a little aggressive, but she did win the Breeders' Cup twice and she's one of only three fillies, I think, or four fillies to ever do that. She's the only filly in history to win the five Grade 1s she won as a 3-year-old, the Oaks, the Ashland, the Acorn, the Coaching Club and the Breeders' Cup. To me, she's done it all. She's really answered all the questions, and she deserves to be a Hall of Famer, I think, one day.”

The Bayakoa will mark Monomoy Girl's first start in Hot Springs. Cox said he's using the race as a prep for the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 17 at Oaklawn. Monomoy Girl had been under consideration for the Apple Blossom, among the country's signature two-turn events for older fillies and mares, in 2019 before being derailed and was “very, very close” to making her 2020 comeback, Cox said, in a late-season allowance race at Oaklawn. Instead, it came in mid-May at Churchill Downs.

“When we brought her back in the allowance race at Churchill, that was a lot of pressure, having been off 18 months, whatever it was,” Cox said. “Here, it's not as if we ever took her out of training. We backed off of her after the Breeders' Cup, but we never shut her down. We continued to train her lightly throughout November and December. I feel confident that she's pretty tight and pretty much ready to go. I'm excited to bring her up here. It's a great racing town and they appreciate good horses.”

Monomoy Girl arrived Wednesday night in Hot Springs after being based this winter at Fair Grounds.

Cox's go-to rider, Florent Geroux, has ridden Monomoy Girl in her last 14 starts. Geroux said Monomoy Girl has flourished because of a “big heart” and the resolve to reach the finish line first.

“She's a very gifted, talented mare,” Geroux said. “She takes her track with her. It's not like's only good at Churchill or Keeneland. She goes anywhere, East Coast, Midwest, and does great everywhere she goes. I think that's one of the main assets for her.”

The Bayakoa also will mark Monomoy Girl's first start since Spendthrift Farm purchased her for $9.5 million in November at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale. Monomoy Girl will join Spendthrift's broodmare band upon retirement, but that figures to be in 2022 after the famed racing/breeding operation of founder B. Wayne Hughes opted to keep her training with Cox this year.

Spendthrift stallion sales manager Mark Toothaker said his affinity for Monomoy Girl began after a conversation with Arkansas horseman Dan White in the fall of 2017, shortly before the horse, then 2 for 2, made her stakes and dirt debut in the $80,000 Rags to Riches at Churchill Downs.

Toothaker said White was struck by Monomoy Girl's efficient action and believed she had a “big chance” to win. Monomoy Girl delivered, by 6 ½ emphatic lengths.

“That was really the first time I got her on my radar,” said Toothaker, who grew up in Van Buren, Ark., about 130 miles northwest of Hot Springs. “Boy, who would have ever dreamed she'd go on and do what she did. Just incredible. I think it goes back to the first time that I ever had a chance to see her, just as a fan. Just the efficiency that she moved with and the amount of ground that she covered. She's got what all the champions have got. Just got the killer instinct and she's going to beat you. She's going to run right by you and break your heart. She's got that 'it' factor. No doubt about it.”

In addition to Spendthrift, Monomoy Girl is now campaigned by MyRacehorse, which offers fractional ownership to investors, and Kumin, who bought back into the mare. Crow co-owns ELiTE Sales, which consigned Monomoy Girl to Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale and is an integral part of Kumin's racing team.

“I think this is just the cherry on top, this year,” Crow said. “I think Hot Springs is one of the best places in the country for racing fans and I really hope everybody enjoys getting to watch her run live. I think that's what this year is all about. Hopefully, she gives a lot of fans an opportunity to enjoy her.”

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Monomoy Girl Makes Highly Anticipated Return in Bayakoa

Dual champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) makes her highly anticipated seasonal debut–albeit two weeks later than planned–Saturday in the delayed GIII Bayakoa S. at Oaklawn.

Named champion 3-year-old filly after a sensational 2018 season, the chestnut was a perfect four-for-four last term after spending all of 2019 on the sidelines due to colic and a hamstring injury. Returning from an 18-month layoff at Churchill May 16, Monomoy Girl scored a decisive victory in a sloppy optional claimer and captured Belmont's GII Ruffian S. next out July 11. A facile winner of the GI La Troienne S. at Churchill Sept. 4, she clinched her second Eclipse award with another victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland Nov. 7. Sent through the ring across town at Fasig-Tipton the very next day, Monomoy Girl was the star of the show, topping the sale on a $9.5-million bid from Spendthrift Farm and was returned to the Brad Cox barn for a 2021 campaign. In the interim, original owner Sol Kumin of Madaket Stables bought back in as co-owner and My Racehorse has also joined in as a lease partner.

This event will likely be bet as a one-horse affair, but the second best horse on paper is Finite (Munnings). Winner of the GII Rachel Alexandra S. last term, the chestnut was shelved after finishing fourth in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks in March. Trying turf in her return to action in the Music City S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 15, the $200,000 EASMAY buy showed the grass was not for her, finishing 11th. Missing by a neck to another daughter of Munnings in Venetian Harbor in Keeneland's GII Raven Run S. Oct. 17, Finite made amends with a win in the GIII Chilukki S. at Churchill Nov. 21 and rallied to be fourth in the GI La Brea S. at Santa Anita Dec. 26.

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