Morticia takes Franklin County...on Friday the 13th
Morticia required a shoe repair before Friday’s running of the Grade III, $300,000 Buffalo Trace Franklin County Stakes at Keeneland, and she ran a race worth the wait, taking a stalking trip to a win in Friday’s featured race.
Really, how’s that for a hunch play?
“It’s Friday the 13th, and she’s named for a character from ‘The Addams Family,’” said trainer Rusty Arnold. “That’s their lucky day, Friday the 13th. Can’t get any better.”
At 5-2 odds, the daughter of Twirling Candy — out of, yes, mare Halloween Party — completed 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf in 1:03.92 for owner G. Watts Humphrey Jr.
Turns out the shoe repair did little good.
"She got beat here in the spring, but it was at a mile," Arnold said. "Jose (Lezcano) knows her so well, I don't even say anything to (him). She threw a little bit of a fit in the paddock. She got a shoe off. We couldn't get it back on. She ran with three, believe it or not.
"We were a little nervous, but she handled it well."
Nonetheless, the win was the filly's fourth in her last five tries, though this was marked her first victory in graded stakes company.
Justa Lady rallied late for second with Lull, another of the favorites, third.
Morticia took control when pace-setting Kasuga faded in mid-stretch on her way to fourth.
Speaking of the winner, her jockey, Lezcano, said, "She'll do what you ask her to do."
Arnold and Humphrey Jr. also teamed to win Keeneland's Grade 1 Spinster on Sunday, a victory that will send their horse to next month's Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar.
By Jonathan Lintner