ZATT's Star of the Week, is ... Daddys Lil Darling!
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Photo:
Reed Palmer Photography
A classy and proven performer on the dirt, Daddys Lil Darling demonstrated today that she might be even better on the turf. The occasion was Sunday’s $200,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs, and the daughter of Scat Daddy absolutely swamped her overmatched competition. She was so impressive, in fact, she has been named ZATT"s Star of the Week.
Ridden by Julien Leparoux, the Normandy Farm homebred won the 1 and 5/16 mile race, over the unique turf course at Kentucky Downs, as easy as she pleased. She won by 4 1/4-lengths, but it was much easier than the final margin may look. Adding to the quality of the winning performance was the final time of 2:10.97, which set a new course record at the Franklin, Kentucky course. It was also more than half a second faster than the males ran one race later in the Dueling Grounds Derby.
After the race, the winning rider verbalized what was very apparent to all who watched today's co-feature. "She did it on her own, I never really asked her for anything," said Leparoux.
"This was the first time I rode her on the grass," added Leparoux, who had ridden Daddys Lil Darling to a second-place finish to Abel Tasman in the Kentucky Oaks earlier this year. "She traveled very good, all the way on the bridle. When I got her outside, she just cruised to the leaders, did it very easy and kept on going very nicely. She did it very impressive today."
Though she had finished second in a number of Grade 1 races, the Kenny McPeek-trained filly had not visited the winner's circle since winning last fall’s Grade 2 Pocahontas at Churchill Downs. Coming in off a disappointing fifth-place finish in Saratoga’s Coaching Club American Oaks in her last, the three-year-old filly was ready to roll this afternoon, earning her first victory of 2017 in high style.
With the victory, Daddys Lil Darling raised her career record to 12-3-4-0, with $839,400 in the bank. Now a stakes winner on both turf and dirt, she looks primed for bigger and better things. With her versatility, and obvious class, there's no telling how far she can go in the future. For now, she is ZATT's Star of the Week.
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