Monomoy Girl duels to Kentucky Oaks 2018 win
The type of plans formed last fall for Monomoy Girl don’t often pan out, not with this breed of horse, and not with so much time to wait before reaching the goal.
Win a stakes at Churchill Downs. Run a pair of prep races at age 3. Then return to take the track’s biggest race for fillies, the 2018 Kentucky Oaks.
On Friday, it all came together, but not until Monomoy Girl overcame two more obstacles.
Battling from the outside post position in a field of 14, then challenged in deep stretch by Wonder Gadot, the Brad Cox-trained daughter of Tapizar held on for a signature victory in the Oaks.
“Unbelievable,” said Cox, a Louisville native who grew up two blocks from Churchill Downs. “What a horse race. She really had to battle. Two really nice fillies hooked up at the quarter pole, and she dug in.”
The final time for Monomoy Girl under jockey Florent Geroux was 1:49.13 for 1 1/8 miles. And the final margin was a half length.
That hardly tells the story of a bravely run race, in which the filly used up some of her speed jockeying for position into the first turn, then spurned a top rival late.
"The filly was sharp early and I just hustled her out of the gate to get a good position," Geroux said. "From there I was pretty confident, but when I hit the quarter pole, her ears were flopping back and forth and she tried putting the brakes on me until she saw Wonder Gadot. When the other filly got head to head, I gave her a few slaps to keep her interested, but she can be quirky. You can get after her too much and she stops. I kept hand riding her and she pulled away at the end.”
Monomoy Girl entered off back-to-back stakes wins to open her sophomore campaign, one coming from the back (Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra) and another on the front end (Grade 1 Ashland). She would have been the betting favorite were it not for the outside draw; instead, West Coast invader Midnight Bisou was bet down to 2-1 and ran on for third.
The opening half mile went in 47.70 seconds with Monomoy Girl three-wide into the far turn, Sassy Sienna and Take Charge Paula to her inside. She moved ahead at the top of the stretch, and the battle with Wonder Gadot was on for there.
Wonder Gadot's Hall of Fame jockey, John Velazquez, claimed foul after the wire, arguing that Monomoy Girl bore out and squelched his filly's momentum. It was to no avail.
And so the party began in Louisville, Cox's hometown, with 113,510 on hand at Churchill Downs.
"The guy's just now stepping on to the big stage," said co-owner Sol Kumin.
More to come.