Texas-bred Cupid's Music eyes the Kentucky Oaks trail at Oaklawn
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Danele Durham bred, owns and trains Cupid’s Music, who is pointing for the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Jan. 29 at Oaklawn. The hope, Durham said, is that the Texas-bred can follow in her father’s footsteps.
Cupid’s Music is from the first crop of millionaire Grade 1 winner Cupid, a gray son of Tapit who, fresh off a Santa Anita maiden victory, captured the $900,000 Rebel Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles in 2016 at Oaklawn for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
Barring a change in plans, Cupid’s Music will enter the 1-mile Martha Washington, Oaklawn’s first of three Kentucky Oaks points races, off an Oct. 20 maiden special weights victory at Remington Park. The mile race marked her two-turn debut and fifth start overall.
“You know me, when I own them, I don’t mind giving them a race,” Durham said as she watched Cupid’s Music train Tuesday morning at Oaklawn. “I don’t have to explain it to anybody. Until we went a mile, it wasn’t where she needed to be. When we ran her a mile, her breeding came out. The farther they went, the stronger she got. I mean, she reminded so much of her dad.”
Cupid’s Music is also gray and white splotches on her coat resemble a dyed Easter egg, Durham said, adding, “she’s just gorgeous.”
Cupid’s Music returned to the work tab Friday morning at Oaklawn, covering a half-mile in 49.6 just after the first surface renovation break under Kelsi Harr. The track was fast.
Cupid’s Music is out of Soft Music, who Durham purchased for only $1,700 at the 2015 Heritage Place Thoroughbred Mixed Sale. Soft Music has already produced multiple stakes winner Bling On the Music, who also finished third in the $200,000 Pocahontas Stakes (G2) for 2-year-old fillies in 2016 at Churchill Downs, and stakes-placed full-brother Lullaby Bling, another Durham homebred. Bling On the Music and Lullaby Bling are by Too Much Bling.
But watching the 2016 Rebel near the finish line, Durham and her daughter Caroline, then 16, quickly decided to go in another (matchmaking) direction after Cupid captured the major Kentucky Derby prep. Soft Music, they agreed, would eventually go to Cupid, who now stands at Coolmore America’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky.
“I love him,” Danele Durham said. “I have 10,000 pictures of him on my phone and Caroline went back to the barn afterwards. We loved him. When he won that day, Caroline goes: ‘Mama, can we please breed Soft Music to Cupid when he retires?’ So, the mating was decided. I said, ‘Of course.’ When he retired, the mare went to be bred to him. That was always the plan. The resulting foal is just really nice.”
Cupid’s Music was among 16 North American winners from Cupid’s first crop through Thursday, a figure that was tied for seventh for freshman sires. After Cupid’s Music broke her maiden by three lengths at 37-1, Durham said Coolmore contacted her regarding breeding plans for Soft Music in 2022. Durham said her initial thought was going to Caravaggio, a multiple Group 1-winning son of Scat Daddy who had relocated from Coolmore’s Ireland operation to Ashford in late 2020.
“They said they liked her so much under Cupid, because the foal is so nice, that I should really go back to him,” Durham said. “She’s booked back to him. That’s pretty much a compliment, when Coolmore calls and says we would like your mare to come back to our stallion. I was pretty happy.”
The Martha Washington will offer 17 points (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks May 6 at Churchill Downs. The 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks is the country’s biggest race for 3-year-old fillies. Oaklawn’s Kentucky Oaks series continues with the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) Feb. 26 and the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) April 2. Both races are 1 1/16 miles.
“That’s definitely my plan for her, unless she tells me otherwise,” Durham said of the Martha Washington.
Purchased for $900,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Cupid’s biggest career victory came at 1 1/4 miles in the $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita Stakes (G1) in 2017 at Santa Anita. His stud fee in 2022 is $5,000.
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