Ky. Downs: Kathynmarissa, Limited Liability win on final day

Trainer Rick Dutrow was at Kentucky Downs for the first time. Kathynmarissa didn’t disappoint him, closing through the stretch Wednesday for a 2 1/2-length victory under Frankie Dettori in the $1.6 million Dueling Grounds Oaks Invitational on closing day at Kentucky Downs.

Dettori also won riding Limited Liability in the $440,000 Nashville Gold Cup.

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“Ever since we put her on the grass, and every time she’s run, she just kept getting better,” Dutrow said of Kathynmarissa, who went off the favorite at just under 3-1 in the capacity field of a dozen 3-year-old fillies. “Her last race we were absolutely thrilled with, and we were thrilled training her up to this race, and we were thrilled coming in here, because every time she’s run on the grass, she’s run huge. Don’t know why she wouldn’t have done it today.”

Kathynmarissa toured the 1 5 1/6 miles in 2:06.40, paying $7.90 to win.

“I always liked her, going long even better,” said Dettori, who also was on Kathynmarissa when she won a Santa Anita maiden race in April and again when she was second in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G2). “She played up a little bit in the gate. I had a good spot. She relaxes halfway into the race, which is good. Then when I asked her to get closer at the quarter pole, I know she stays well.”

When she made the lead, Kathynmarissa “started to look around a bit,” Dettori said. “So I went to give her a tap. I got one in, but the second one the stick went up in the air. I resorting to my shouting, and I was slapping her with my hand on her neck, because I was wanting her to concentrate. But she knuckled down and won.”

The daughter of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah is 8: 3-1-2, the $914,900 payday ballooning her earnings to $1,147,185 for Michael Caruso and Michael Dubb. Kathynmarissa also owns a Churchill Downs allowance race and was a close third in Churchill’s Tepin Stakes.

“Irad (Ortiz) told us she’d like this course when he breezed her the other day,” Dutrow said. “Frankie said when he jumped off her last time, ‘You’ve got to take her to Kentucky Downs.’ So we were very excited, yes, and especially when they were turning for home.”

Dutrow indicated Kathynmarissa would train up to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.

“Two months break. She just ran a huge, huge race,” he said. “I think it’s only proper that we just prepare her for a huge race again.”

“I just listen to the boss,” Dubb said. “All I can do is sign the checks and put the horses in the best hands I can possibly put them in. And Rick is the best hands. ... I was in Saratoga when she ran in the Oaks. The first thing (Frankie) said to me was ‘Kentucky Downs.’ I said that’s the plan.”

Waves of Mischief, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione and trained by Brendan Walsh, held off late-running Irish invader Siege of Troy by a head for second. Shiloh’s Mistress, who pressed the pace set by Charlene’s Dream, settled for fourth. She was followed by Yatta, Pin Up Betty, Charlene’s Dream, Dancing N Dixie, Sakura Blossom, Sanctify, Kalispera and Mo Fox Givin in that order.

Limited Liability sets pace, wins Nashville Gold Cup

Limited Liability led all the way through the 2 1/16 miles of the Nashville Gold Cup for an 8 1/4-length victory over his nemesis The Grey Wizard.

A 5-year-old gelding owned by Stuart Janney, Limited Liability had been second last out in Delaware Park’s 1 1/2-mile Cape Henlopen and before that was third by only a neck in the two-mile Belmont Gold Cup (G2) at Saratoga. The Grey Wizard won both races. 

“He ran really well at Saratoga going two miles,” said Reeve McGaughey, son and assistant to winning trainer Shug McGaughey. “We thought maybe he just hung on the horse in front of him. I think today, giving him the lead and letting him go his pace, he liked it. When they came around the first turn, and he looked like he was just in Frankie’s hands, I was pretty confident it would take a good horse to come catch him.”

A good horse came after him, but it was too little too late. Limited Liability had a five-length margin over The Grey Wizard and jockey John Velázquez with an eighth of a mile to go. Limited Liability finished the distance in 3:23.86, now the track standard as the first time the distance has been run, certainly since hand-timing was replaced by the current GPS system in 2021.

“I’ve been watching his replays,” Dettori said. “I thought the last time going slow, and he had no turn of foot, so I didn’t want a sprint finish. I jumped to be forward, and he let me have that. He was going nicely with the fractions in his own rhythm, and then I let him free and stretched him, and he found a little bit more, and I knew he would be hard to catch.”

As for The Grey Wizard, trainer Graham Motion did not say Wednesday night whether the loss derailed the 5-year-old gelding from possibly making a November trip to Australia for the Melbourne Cup (G1). The invitation came with a June victory in the Belmont Gold Cup (G2) at Saratoga.

A Kentucky-bred son of Kitten’s Joy, Limited Liability paid $6.06 to win as the second choice in the field of seven, the all-gray exacta paying out at 5-1. Limited Liability is 18: 4-2-6, earning $805,199 with the winner’s purse of $301,900.

Cyber Ninja was another 1 1/2 lengths back in third followed in order by Six Minus, Duvet Day, Conglomerate and U.K.-bred Ireland invader Familiar Dreams.