Kimari right on time in Oaklawn's Purple Martin

Jockey Channing Hill, left, guides Kimari (1) across the wire in front of Martin Garcia and Frank's Rockette (8) to win the $100,000 Purple Martin Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths at Oaklawn Park Saturday, April 4. - Photo courtesy of Coady Photography
Jockey Channing Hill, left, guides Kimari (1) across the wire in front of Martin Garcia and Frank's Rockette (8) to win the $100,000 Purple Martin Stakes by 1 3/4 lengths at Oaklawn Park Saturday, April 4. - Photo courtesy of Coady Photography

If ever a horse could be called fashionably late, it is the filly Kimari, who if a human would do her holiday shopping on Christmas Eve and routinely push the April 15 tax deadline.

Kimari is a racehorse along the lines of supermare Zenyatta, one who does her best running from "off the TV," as the saying goes, and, however tardy she might be early, is often punctual at the wire.

In her 3-year-old debut Saturday, the well-traveled bay filly added another sticker to her suitcase -- this one from Oaklawn Park -- with a stretch kick for a 1 3/4-length victory in the $100,000 Purple Martin.

Kimari treated her rail post like an after-dinner mint left on one's table. Zenyatta had the same swagger and won 19 of 20, the 2009 Breeders Cup Classic and two runnings of Oaklawn's Apple Blossom Handicap included.

Giving her sire, Munnings, his third win on the 10-race card, Kimari scored her fourth victory from six starts for trainer Wesley Ward. With two fillies beaten down the backstretch, Kimari gobbled up ground when prompted by jockey Channing Hill. Moving up two spots to third before turning for home, the Kentucky-bred took the center lane to victory while her two nearest rivals dueled inside.

"I'll be honest with you, at the top of the lane, I wasn't 100 percent sure how much horse I had, especially compared to how much (jockey Martin Garcia) had because Martin hadn't gotten after (Frank's Rockette) yet," Hill said. "Once I started reeling her in, and once my filly got to her, it was over from there.

"This filly has a lot of class. Obviously, she's got a ton of talent, but she also has the class to match."

With six furlongs in 1:10.57 over a track rated sloppy, Kimari paid $7.80, $4.20 and $3.20. Frank's Rockette, a multiple Grade 1-placed daughter of Into Mischief, held second by a neck over last-out maiden winner Edgeway, who led into the stretch before the favored Frank's Rockette went by. It was almost five lengths farther back to fourth-place finisher Wasabi Girl, at 67-1 the longest price on the board, while Ring Leader, an early-season Oaklawn stakes winner for trainer Mac Robertson, finished eighth of nine.

Hill picked up the mount in place of the absent Mike Smith, who rode Kimari when she circled the field against eight rivals in Keeneland's $200,000 Indian Summer last fall. Kimari has been off the board only once, when fourth, beaten 2 1/4 lengths under Hall of Famer John Velazquez, in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Nov. 1 at Santa Anita.

Kimari shows a different dimension now than when she won her debut race at Keeneland by 15 lengths on the lead last April 15. After the Indian Summer, Hall of Famer Smith shared with reporters the scouting report on Kimari he received from Ward.

"'Listen, although she's extremely fast, she breaks horribly ever time,'" Smith said. "I thought that could be bad. But he said, 'She'll be OK if that happens, don't worry about it, just ride her with confidence."

A stakes winner now at Keeneland, Saratoga and Oaklawn, Kimari raced on dirt Saturday for the first time in almost a year. Ward thought enough of owner David Mowat's filly, whose actual third birthday is April 20, to ship overseas for the Grade 2 Queen Mary in June at Royal Ascot. Placing second in a 25-horse field going five furlongs on the grass stamped Kimari as an international contender.

Her career earnings up to $351,646, Kimari recouped at 2 the $152,000 spent in her behalf at the July 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling sale. In this most unconventional of racing years, with the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks pushed back until September because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kimari might have more surprises in store. She could learn to run long or take Covfefe's route to championships last year within her division and among filly sprinters.

"I was really, really super confident going into this race," Ward said by phone. "I'm kind of a positive guy, anyways, but after seeing those two works in March (at Gulfstream Park West), I knew it would take a really, really tough filly to beat her. Take nothing away from the others in there, but I was really confident.

"The owner and Ben McElroy, who bought her and manages her, they were a little apprehensive when we drew the one hole because she always gets away just a little slow. I kind of laid it all out there and assured them, 'Don't worry about anything.' I was a little nervous that I might have stuck my foot in my mouth, but thank God I didn't."

• One of the few major tracks not closed Saturday because of the COVID-19 precautions, and despite no fans permitted to experience racing onsite during this time, Oaklawn handled more than $10.1 million from sources including simulcast racing and advanced-deposit wagering (including its own Oaklawnanywhere.com). ... With 15 days left in the 57-day season, Oaklawn has moved up its first race daily to 1:05 p.m. through Saturday, May 2.

Sports on 04/05/2020

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