Ky. Downs: Crown Imperial, Vote No win final 2023 stakes

After running closer to the pace in the first four races of her career, Crown Imperial charged from well back Wednesday to win the $500,000 Untapable Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, the final stakes of the 2023 season at Kentucky Downs.

The change of running style worked well for the 4 G Racing’s homebred daughter of Classic Empire who is trained by John Ortiz. The fast early fractions took a toll on the pacemakers, and she prevailed by 1 1/4 lengths.

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“This is the biggest win for us,” said Sharilyn Gasaway, who with her husband Brent and their two children are 4 G Racing, based in Arkansas.

It was the family’s first win at the track since All Right won the 2016 Kentucky Downs Juvenile at 44-1 odds. Remembering that, Gasaway said, “My husband and I had a horse that ran here and broke its maiden in a $350,000 stakes race in his second start. We weren’t even here, because we thought there’s no way. It’s so exciting to be here, and we’re just so proud for her.”

The Gasaways have been sending horses to Ortiz since he opened his business.

“I couldn’t be happier for a group of owners,” Ortiz said. “Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway, I’ve known them for many years, almost 13 now. They’ve become like family. They’re one of my biggest supporters. When I went on my own with four horses, they owned three of them. They’ve been with me through the highs and the lows, so to see this happen for them, it’s something long overdue, and I’m happy for them.”

When Candi Girl and Song of Norway led the field through a first quarter mile in a smoking 20.79 seconds, Crown Imperial was ninth, 7 1/4 lengths off the pace. The half-mile was run in 44.32 seconds, and Crown Imperial and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. were eighth, 5 1/4 lengths back.

At the top of the stretch Santana and Crown Imperial had surged and were right in the midst of the action on the move in second, a head behind Buttercream Babe and a half-length in front of Copper Em. Crown Imperial took the lead, splitting horses near the three-sixteenths pole and went on to beat Copper Em at a time of 1:16.33. Buttercream Babe finished a head back in third and a neck in front of the favorite Hidden Class.

There is a deep connection between Crown Imperial and Sharilyn Gasaway.

“She has a heart that you wouldn’t imagine,” Gasaway said. “Every time she gives us a 125 percent, and this is my homebred. I bred her myself. Her mom (Mi Fiori) was a wonderful horse, and I loved her personally, but then she got claimed away from us. It took me a year to find her. I claimed her back just to ride her at home. Then people started calling me, because her half-brother won a graded race, and they wanted to breed her. I thought, ‘If they’re going to breed her, I’ll breed her.’ So I bred her, and this is her first baby. Randy Gullatt, who’s a partner of ours in other horses, helped me pick out the stallion. When she was born she was a little small, so we really didn’t have any expectations. But she has the heart like you wouldn’t believe.”

Ortiz is a big fan of the gritty Crown Imperial.

“She is what we call tiny but mighty,” he said. “She’s a small filly with the biggest heart. She got started in Ocala with (Grade 1 Spinaway winner) Brightwork. They were partners, stablemates down there. I think they were doing a little planning in the paddock I guess. They knew they wanted to be the best, so here we are.”

What’s next for Crown Imperial has yet to be decided, but he mentioned the possibility of the Jessamine (G2), a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf qualifier on opening day Oct. 6 at Keeneland.

“Obviously it’s early, but Keeneland has a win-and-you’re-in,” Ortiz said. “I guess you consider taking her straight there. We’ll just see what happens in the next three weeks.”

Vote No makes turf debut, wins Juvenile Sprint

Vote No was an emphatic yes in his turf debut Wednesday, finishing fastest of all from off the pace on a Kentucky Downs turf course that was kind to speed to win the $500,000 Juvenile Sprint.

Joseph Morey’s 2-year-old gelding by first-crop sire Divisidero caught and passed pacesetters Hedwig and Bledsoe inside the sixteenth pole to win a race into which he had been supplemented. He finished three-quarters of a length in front of Hedwig, reaching the wire in the 6 1/2-furlong stakes at 1:16.44. Please Advise was third.

Sent off at odds of 12-1, Vote No paid $27.22 to win.

Vote No has a strong turf pedigree and proved to be well-suited for Kentucky Downs. Divisidero, a graded-stakes winner on grass in each of his five seasons of racing, is a son of prominent, grass sire Kitten’s Joy. His dam Sistas Ready is a daughter of the late More Than Ready, who sired good dirt and turf runners. Vote No began his racing career with a 1 1/2-length victory on the synthetic track at Presque Isle Downs on Aug. 23.

Joseph Morey of Atherton, Calif., and trainer Billy Morey, friends with the same last name, had not nominated Vote No for the Juvenile Sprint but opted to pay the supplemental fee of $12,500 to enter the stakes. It was a mighty good investment: Vote No earned $298,800 for the victory.

“The way I looked at it was we were 12-1 for $500,000. So if we do that a few times, we’ll get lucky once in a while. Joe is just like an uncle to me, but surprisingly enough we’re not related. But he’s as close as an uncle to me for sure,” Billy Morey said.

Everything about Vote No’s young but so far successful career is less than standard procedure.

“Actually my wife (Elizabeth Morey) picked this horse out off the videos at (an Ocala Breeders’ Sale),” Billy Morey said. “Alistair Roden helped us bid on him down there at the sale on behalf of Joe, kind of a last-minute thing. We brought him up to Turfway to train him. He started training really forwardly. I’m a synthetic guy. I train on the synthetic at Turfway, so I debuted him on the synthetic at Presque Isle on purpose. I didn’t even nominate to this race originally because it was back in about 2 1/2 weeks. But as good as he was doing, we went on and supplemented him and took our chances.”

When Hedwig and Beldsoe engaged soon after leaving the gate, it looked like it would be a two-horse race. They were in front through fractions of 21.79 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 45.17 second for the half-mile. Entering the stretch Vote No and jockey Gerardo Corrales were third, 2 1/2 lengths back but on the move about four paths off the rail.

At the eighth pole, Hedwig, the even-money favorite, and Bledsoe seemed safely in front. But Vote No closed the gap in the next sixteenth and surged to a lead he kept at the end.

Billy Morey said Vote No’s future was yet to be determined.

“We hadn’t even looked at this race,” he said, “let alone past this race.”