Edgewood winner Concrete Rose a contender for inaugural Turf Tiara
Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing's Concrete Rose stamped herself a major contender for the inaugural Turf Tiara, after capturing the Grade 3 Edgewood on Kentucky Oaks day at Churchill Downs, providing Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Newspaperofrecord her first career loss.
Sent to post at odds of nearly 6-1 in the 1 1/16-mile test over a Churchill turf course rated good, Concrete Rose stalked from fourth position as Newspaperofrecord, the prohibitive 1-5 favorite, sped through a half-mile in 47.87 seconds. Julien Leparoux asked Concrete Rose to make her move late in the turn, took dead aim at the leader at the eighth pole and drew off to win by 3 ¾-lengths.
Concrete Rose arrived at the Edgewood from a half-length score on March 9 in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks, while Newspaperofrecord was making her seasonal debut following her November 2 Breeders' Cup win.
Trainer Rusty Arnold said his filly trained well into the race, but he was cautiously optimistic about her chances against the Chad Brown-trained Newspaperofrecord.
"Did I think she would beat Newspaperofrecord? I don't know. She [Newspaperofrecord] had not come out this year and run yet and we didn't know what she was going to do. Our filly had trained well so you're hoping for that [to win]," said Arnold. "I have nothing but respect for Newspaperofrecord. She was the best 2-year-old filly in the country last year on the turf. She had never been challenged and won all her races very easily. Chad's horses are very hard to beat, but our filly had trained good and she had only been beat one time."
The 3-year-old fillies start their path on the Turf Tiara with the Grade 1, $750,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational, at 1 1/4-miles on the Belmont turf on July 6.
Arnold said the first jewel of the Turf Tiara is a strong possibility for Concrete Rose.
"It will be considered," said Arnold. "We haven't sat down to talk with the owners yet about our next move. We'll get her back to the racetrack this week and see how she came out of it, but when they have a 3-year-old filly race that's $750,000, it's obviously going to be under consideration."
The Turf Tiara continues August 2 with the inaugural $750,000 Saratoga Oaks, held at 1 3/16-miles. The final jewel of the Turf Tiara, the first-ever $750,000 Jockey Club Oaks slated for September 7 at Belmont, will be contested at 1 3/8-miles on the turf, and will air live on NBC as part of an action-packed weekend of racing to raise the curtain on the Belmont fall meet.
Arnold said a step up in trip shouldn't be an issue for the dark bay daughter of Twirling Candy.
"She's getting her distance from her dam's side. She's out of a Powerscourt dam [Solerina], and he was a mile and a half horse. I don't think the distance will be any problem," said Arnold.
Concrete Rose has won four of five starts, launching her career with a rallying score in a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint at Saratoga. She followed up with a victory in the Grade 2 Jessamine at Keeneland before a troubled eighth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
"She started out at Saratoga in a maiden race going five and a half, but all of her races have been two-turn races since then and she's developed into a pretty nice filly," said Arnold. "She's moved forward from her 2-year-old year to her 3-year-old year and hopefully she keeps improving."
For more information on the Turf Triple Series, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/
A day earlier at Churchill, Arnold saddled the ultra-consistent Morticia, with Jose Ortiz up, to a second-place finish, defeated just a neck, to A Little Bit Me in the grassy 5 ½-furlong Unbridled Sidney.
"She shows up. She's run 21 times and has 18 on the board. It was a tough loss. It looked like she had it won at the sixteenth pole, and she just got caught at the wire," said Arnold.
The 5-year-old Twirling Candy mare won the seven-furlong Soaring Softly by a nose over the Christophe Clement-trained millionaire Lull in 2017, and Arnold said a return trip to the Big Apple may be in the cards.
"There's the Intercontinental on June 6 [Grade 3, $200,000] that she may run in. She's won at seven-eighths at Belmont before. If not, we'll wait and run in the Caress [July 20, $200,000 over 5 ½-furlongs] at Saratoga.
"I don't think she wants two turns," added Arnold. "But I think the one-turn seven-eighths at Belmont might be her best race when she beat a filly of Chris's [Lull] that was a really good filly."