Zipse: Future looks bright for Kentucky Oaks hopeful Nest

Less than 12 weeks out from the most prestigious race of the season for 3-year-old fillies, Nest gave her connections plenty of reason to look forward to the 2022 Kentucky Oaks.

Overshadowed in the headlines by an impressive performance by Kentucky Derby hopeful Classic Causeway in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis as part of a strong card at Tampa Bay Downs, the well-bred daughter of Curlin continued her steady improvement with a stylish 6-length victory in the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes.

Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., Nest was a big favorite in the seven-horse field, and she did not disappoint in her seasonal debut. After gaining a good spot on the outside early in the mile-and-40-yard affair, the Todd Pletcher-trained bay swung out for the stretch drive and easily took over in mid-stretch before powering clear a very easy winner. Coasting home in the late stages, she was still able to stop the clock in a stakes record final time of 1:39.30.

“She made it look easy,” Ortiz said. “I was in a great position in the first turn, and after that I just sat on her and enjoyed the ride. I just let her go all the way through the stretch.”

The competition obviously will get much tougher on the first Friday in May, but Nest gives all indications of a filly with a future. A daughter of one of America’s top sires – one who himself was a champion who only got better with maturity and distance – the bay filly also inherits plenty of class from her female side.

Out of the A.P. Indy mare Marion Ravenwood, Nest was purchased for $350,000 in 2020 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Her dam not only was a stakes winner on the track, but she became a Grade 1 producer when her son, Idol, won the Santa Anita Handicap about six months after the purchase of his full sister Nest.

With both a champion and classic winner as a sire, and a broodmare sire, plus a Grade 1 winner as a full brother, expectations were high for Nest before her career even began.

Owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Repole Stable and Michael House, she made her racing debut last September at Belmont Park. In winning the 8 1/2-furlong debut, Nest looked both like a filly with a future but also one who needed time to mature to fulfill potential. That was true for her second start as well.

It came in Belmont Park’s Tempted Stakes, and despite not breaking smoothly or finding her best running early enough, she finished full of run to be beaten less than a length behind a pair of stakes-experienced fillies.

Taking a step forward in her third career race, Nest again finished with plenty of energy to earn a victory in the Demoiselle Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct. Still, the neck victory in the 1 1/8-mile race left plenty of room for improvement.

After going 2-for-3 as a 2-year-old, it was clear that the graded-stakes winner was getting better and wanted to run a distance, but it was also evident that she was not yet in the same zip code as the undefeated juvenile filly champion Echo Zulu.

2022 is a new year, though, and it’s time for the more late-developing types to play catch-up as we get closer to the spring classics. Speaking of the classics, Nest is a filly who has been nominated for the Triple Crown against the boys.

It remains to be seen whether she has the ability to run against the best males of the crop in any of the series, but the nomination does demonstrate that her highly successful connections have quite a bit of belief in her potential and her ability to get a distance of ground.

After Saturday’s winning performance in the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, I have more belief in her future as well. As a 2-year-old, she looked like a talented filly who had not yet put it all together. Despite her Grade 2 win in the Demoiselle, I needed to see more from Nest.

Saturday, she looked more like a professional racehorse, one who could put herself in the race early and have different gears for her jockey to utilize. It seems with Nest, potential is quickly becoming reality.

While Echo Zulu is still some time away from her 3-year-old debut, the well-bred daughter of Curlin might just keep improving right up and through the Kentucky Oaks. And in that race, I now believe Nest could become one of the horses to beat.