Kentucky Oaks prep: In stakes debut, Occult wins Busanda

Occult made her stakes debut a winning one in Saturday’s $100,000 Busanda, a 1 1/8-mile test for sophomore fillies at Aqueduct.

Owned by Alpha Delta Stables, trained by Chad Brown and piloted by Dylan Davis, the Into Mischief dark bay secured the maximum allotment in the qualifying event for the Kentucky Oaks (G1). The race offered 20-8-6-4-2 points to the top-five finishers.

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Occult broke alertly from post 2 and tracked from second position as longshot Sweetest Princess led the field through splits of 23.88 and 48.77 seconds over the good main track with Affirmative Lady and Gambling Girl, the second- and third-place finishers in the Demoiselle (G2) at Aqueduct on Dec. 3, settled in third and fourth, respectively.

The Kendrick Carmouche-piloted Gambling Girl advanced along the rail to the inside of Affirmative Lady up the backstretch, and Sweetest Princess continued to lead the way over Occult through three-quarters of a mile at 1:14.22.

Davis gave Occult her cue late in the final turn, and the filly obliged with a smart turn of foot to take command in upper stretch, drawing off comfortably down the lane to win by 3 3/4 lengths at a final time of 1:54.78.

Gambling Girl completed the exacta by 3 1/4 lengths over Affirmative Lady. Sweetest Princess and Aniston, who was off a step slow and eased to the wire, rounded out the order of finish.

Brown said the initial plan was for Occult to dictate terms, but he credited Davis for taking hold when Sweetest Princess demanded the lead.

“I thought Dylan used great judgement to just secure that second stalking spot out in the clear,” Brown said. “From there it seemed like she was always traveling well, and she had the jump on the other two main competition in the race right behind her. I think that was really the key that she was able to, once we got by the pacemaker, run strong and steady and get there and win by a decent margin.”

Davis said Occult was traveling comfortably throughout and needed only a couple reminders turning for home.

“She must’ve seen something into the turn, she started lugging in,” said Davis, the leading rider on the New York Racing Association circuit in 2022. “I just pulled the left hand out and gave her a couple of flags, and she went on her way again. She just needed some help and encouragement to get back to task and focus.”

Occult finished an even fourth in her September debut, sprinting six furlongs in the Belmont at the Big A meet, but she entered from an impressive second-out graduation traveling a one-turn mile Dec. 18 over the same track.

“After her first start, where she was a bit green and needed the race, she’s put two really nice races together,” said Brown, who won the 2021 Busanda with The Grass Is Blue. “When you have horses developing like this, all you can ask is that they do what you train them to do, and she’s certainly done that.”

Brown said the $625,000 Keeneland September yearling-sale purchase could target the Gazelle (G3) at nine furlongs on April 8. The race offers 100-40-30-20-10 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points to the top five finishers.

The next stop at the Big A on the road to the Kentucky Oaks is the one-mile $250,000 Busher Invitational worth 50-20-15-10-5 points March 4.

“I’ll see how she comes out of this and go from there. She’s a work in progress, and I know it wasn’t a fast time racing like that, but to her credit she’s got two wins in three starts, and it was her first start around two turns, and she handled it fine,” Brown said. “The water’s going to get a lot deeper, and she’s going to have to get faster, but I’m really proud of her. I don’t know that I would cut her back (in the Busher).”

Carmouche said the graded-stakes-placed, New York-bred Gambling Girl, winner of the state-bred Joseph A. Gimma in September at Aqueduct, performed admirably.

“I got the inside trip. I think she still might be a little green and may need blinkers, but she ran awesome,” Carmouche said. “If she had some blinkers on her, she could have leveled off and taken me the last quarter, and we could’ve seen a different result.”

Occult, a half-sibling to multiple stakes winner Exulting and stakes winner Magical, is out of the graded-stakes-winning Empire Maker mare Magical Feeling, who captured the 2012 Barbara Fritchie Handicap (G2) at Laurel Park.

Bred in Kentucky by Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, Occult banked $55,000 in victory while improving her record to 3: 2-0-0. She returned $4.80 for a $2 win wager.