Fall City Win Caps Big Year for Oliver

 

Thanksgiving Day is a very special occasion in most years and in just about any circumstance, but it’s a safe bet that trainer Vicki Oliver has rarely had a better holiday or a greater reason for gratitude following the events of Thanksgiving 2014 at Churchill Downs.

 

Oliver’s joy was clearly evident in the winner’s circle celebration after she saddled 19-1 shot Frivolous for a half-length upset over odds-on favorite Don’t Tell Sophia in the 99th running of the $222,600 Falls City Handicap (GII), the traditional Thanksgiving feature at the Louisville track. The 1 1/8-mile race for older fillies and mares dates to the first race meet at the track then known as the Louisville Jockey Club.

 

With the victory, Frivolous improved her career record to 3-3-3 in 17 races and she has earned $333,498. Her 2014 campaign had included solid runs behind Falls City third-place finisher Molly Morgan in the Grade II Fleur De Lis (fourth) and Ellis Park’s Grade III Gardenia (third), along with a third-place run behind eventual Spinster (GI) winner Don’t Tell Sophia and Molly Morgan in Churchill Downs’ Locust Grove, and a runner-up finish to La Tia in the Arlington Matron (GIII) on synthetic Polytrack. Her most recent race had resulted in a solid fifth-place finish behind White Rose on turf in Keeneland’s Rood and Riddle Dowager Stakes.

 

Oliver has always held the 4-year-old daughter of Empire Maker out of the Belong to Me mare Sixty Rocketts in high regard and she expected to her to become a stakes winner at three. But she was thrilled to see Frivolous achieve that goal in her ninth attempt in stakes completion.

 

“I was so thrilled for the filly,” Oliver said. “She was always knocking on the door and didn’t have the greatest trips. She’s a big, huge filly and I just don’t think she ever got clear when she was running – she was either stopped, or checked or didn’t have a chance to run.”

 

It was also a big win for Oliver’s family. She is the daughter of G. Watts Humphrey Jr., a member of the Churchill Downs Incorporated Board of Directors who owns and bred Frivolous. Oliver is married to trainer Phil Oliver, and both train horses for Humphrey.

 

“I trained her mother, as well, and I also have Drama Drama, who is her (5-year-old) half-sister,” Oliver said. “It’s fun that we have the whole family.  It makes it more exciting.

 

“I’ve always believed that she had so much ability and I couldn’t believe we hadn’t won a stake with her. Now we’ve finally got it done.”

 

The Falls City triumph by Frivolous was Oliver’s first stakes win at Churchill Downs and is one of brightest moments of what she considers to be her best year as a trainer.

 

She has an overall record of 13-16-29 in 140 races with earnings of $1,107,421 following her Falls City victory. But the Thanksgiving win by Frivolous and a triumph in the Del Mar Oaks (GI) by the 3-year-old turf star Personal Diary, owned by her father and St. George Farm Racing LLC, have made 2014 a year to remember.

 

With a little luck, Personal Diary’s résumé could look even better. She finished second and fourth, respectively, following troubled trips in Churchill Downs’ Regret (GIII) and Mrs. Revere (GII), was third over a soft turf course in Keeneland’s Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup (GI).

 

“In total wins it might not be my best year, but when you consider the races we have won it’s been a huge year,” Oliver said. “We could have had an even bigger year, but the year we’ve had has been great.”

 

With the Falls City Handicap winner’s trophy as a reminder of the greatest win so far in the career of Frivolous, Oliver plans to ship the filly and her stable to Florida’s Payson Park early next week. She anticipates a race or two in Florida over the winter before she returns to Kentucky next year, but Oliver plans only a brief rest for her imposing filly.

 

“I don’t usually give her a huge break,” Oliver said. “Last year I gave her a little bigger break than I actually wanted to because she’d run hard as a 3-year-old. But it took me so long to get her back because she’s such a big, strong, heavy filly. 

 

“I think I’ll probably just give her a couple of weeks in the paddock when I get down to Payson and just train her light for the month of December and not take her totally out of training. I don’t know. She’ll tell us.”

 

Source: Churchill Downs Communications