After winning the $100,000 race Jan. 15 at Oaklawn Park, jockey Channing Hill said his share of the purse "helped pay for Christmas." Winning the $100,000 Martha Washington on Saturday should take care of Valentine's Day.
Trainer Ingrid Mason likes a confident rider almost as much as she appreciates a fast horse. With Hill riding 3-year-old filly Marquee Miss, she has both. A half-length win over Grade 1 winner Nickname in the Martha Washington makes Cowboy Cal's daughter the local favorite for the Grade 3 $400,000 Fantasy April 9.
Hill said after the six-furlong Dixie Belle, which the filly led from gate to wire, that Marquee Miss "can go two turns." Put to the test in the one-mile Martha Washington, the bay filly, two months from her actual third birthday, stalked the pace and outfought Nickname, the 1-2 favorite, in the short stretch run to the sixteenth-pole finish line.
"I thought she ran fantastic. I couldn't ask anything more for her," said Mason, completing a training double after Great Way Lady ($33.40) scored in the fourth race under Quincy Hamilton.
"I thought Channing did an awesome job riding her and put her in an awesome spot that she needed to be in. She obviously has a lot more run in her than we thought. She ran really well and we are happy with how she has developed this year."
Owned by Joe Ragsdale of Tulsa, Okla., Marquee Miss stumped Oaklawn bettors for a second time, paying $26.20, $7 and $5 after a fast-rated mile in 1:39.18. Nickname, breaking from the rail, had some traffic problems around the turn but briefly led in the stretch after an inside path opened. The 122-pound co-high weights (same as previously unbeaten stakes winner My Master Plan) fought to the wire before Marquee Miss pulled away.
Nickname finished a length and a half in front of the Ken McPeek-trained Dorodansa. Durango, going off at 9-1 after a last-out second in the Dixie Belle at 3-5, led into the far turn before pinched back to fourth. Ready to Confess and My Master Plan, both trained by Donnie Von Hemel, and Red Fern Doll completed the order of finish in the 38th Martha Washington. Loveable Lyss was scratched.
Jockey Corey Nakatani said Nickname should benefit mightily from her first race in more than three months.
"She ran a dynamite race the other horse had just a little bit more today," said Nakatani, winning twice on the card. "She'll be looking forward to the next race. She's a really nice filly that didn't get the win today but ran a great race."
Mason understood the significance of beating a Grade 1 winner, this one bred by Michael Hui of Little Rock, trained by Steve Asmussen and sold for $350,000 as a Keeneland yearling.
"I really had a lot of respect for Steve's filly, being a Grade 1 winner," Mason said. "I knew she would run well."
Marquee Miss brought a comparatively meager $20,000 at a 2015 sale of 2-year-olds in training but showed her class immediately, winning the $75,000 Arlington-Washington Lassie in Chicago by three lengths. The Dixie Belle marked the filly's first victory since her August debut, coming after she developed a soft-palate ulcer before an October route race at Keeneland.
Winning the Martha Washington, Marquee Miss earned 10 points for a possible start in the May 6 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
"We always thought she could go long," said Mason, pointing to Oaklawn's Grade 3 $150,000 Honeybee March 12. The trainer can only hope that Marquee Miss goes on to greater glory as did the 2008 and 2009 Martha Washington winners, Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles and Horse of the Year/Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra.
Sports on 02/07/2016