Shedaresthedevil scores another Oaks card win in La Troienne
Louisville, Ky.
Shedaresthedevil, upset winner of the 2020 Kentucky Oaks, scored a 2021 Oaks card triumph Friday in Churchill Downs’ Grade 1, $500,000 La Troienne Stakes.
Trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux repeated victories in the La Troienne. They took the race’s 2020 edition with Monomoy Girl.
Shedaresthedevil set fractions of 23.99 and 47.94 seconds under Geroux in the 1 1/16-mile event for older fillies and mares. She was challenged down the lane from a rail-running Envoutante but held on by one length to score her seventh win over 13 lifetime starts.
“She loves to race at Churchill," Geroux said. "She showed it again today.
"They made me work hard for this. When we turned for home, she kept her head up and I could tell she was digging in. Those other fillies came to her but she showed a lot of heart and a lot of grit and I knew she wasn’t going to let them by.”
The 4-year-old Daredevil filly Shedaresthedevil covered the 8½ furlongs in 1:42.69 and paid $5.40 as the 8-5 favorite.
Finishing behind runner-up Envoutante were Finite in third and Bajan Girl in fourth.
A partnership of Flurry Racing Stables, Qatar Racing Limited and Big Aut Farms campaign Shedaresthedevil, who improved to 13: 7-2-3 with more than $1.8 million earned.
Friday’s La Troienne Stakes marked Shedaresthedevil’s fifth graded victory. She scored last year in Oaklawn Park’s Honeybee Stakes (G3), Indiana Grand’s Indiana Oaks (G3) and Churchill’s Kentucky Oaks, then started 2021 in March with an Azeri Stakes (G2) win at Oaklawn.
Cox could have raced Shedaresthedevil last November in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. He chose to instead rest her after a third-place finish a month prior in Keeneland’s Spinster Stakes (G1).
“It was definitely the right move,” Cox said. “I do think she’s moved forward at 4. She showed that in her two starts. She really shows a lot of fight and determination down the lane. She showed it again today and got a Grade 1 win at 4.”
After bypassing the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Cox said that event is Shedaresthedevil’s primary goal for 2021. The trainer said he would work backward from the Distaff in plotting the rest of her schedule for the season.
Cox has so far managed to keep Shedaresthedevil racing separately from his two-time Eclipse Award champion and two-time Breeders’ Cup Distaff heroine Monomoy Girl. He hopes to continue targeting different races for them but said they could eventually tangle.
“If they happen to meet up and there’s a Grade 1 out there that they both deserve the right to run in,” Cox said, “it’ll happen.”
Envoutante finished behind Shedaresthedevil for the second time this season in as many starts. The Kenny McPeek-trained 4-year-old was fourth in the Azeri.
The La Troienne marked Envoutante's first defeat in three starts at Churchill. She won an allowance race and the Falls City Stakes (G2) last year under the Twin Spires.
"She ran hard," Envoutante jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. said. "Turning for home when it opened up, I thought 'Oh good, I'm going to get through and win.' She spurted for me but the other filly just had more.
"On paper it looked like there would be a little more speed than they showed. I thought for sure somebody was going to press (Shedaresthedevil), but the one filly that tried just wasn't good enough. She went for a half but that was it. The winner is a fighter and she got a breather out there and that made it tough."