Stonestreet Stable's Samantha Nicole, a full sister to 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, is set to make her career debut Feb. 16 in the fourth race at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
The sophomore daughter of Medaglia d'Oro is out of the Roar mare Lotta Kim and is a bay like her elder sibling—now an 8-year-old mare retired from racing at Stonestreet Farm near Lexington. Samantha Nicole most recently breezed a half mile in :51 flat Feb. 10. Before that she drilled a bullet five-furlongs Feb. 3 in 1:00 flat.
Samantha Nicole, who arrived at Fair Grounds Jan. 23, was purchased for $700,000 by Stonestreet out of the Gainesway consignment at the 2012 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She is conditioned by 13-time Fair Grounds champion trainer Steve Asmussen and will be ridden in Sunday's mile and 70-yard test for 3-year-old maiden fillies by three-time defending jockey champion Rosie Napravnik.
Rachel Alexandra is one of five of the last nine winners of the Fair Grounds Oaks (gr. II) to go on and capture the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) at Churchill Downs. Following her Oaks win, recorded under the tutelage of trainer Hal Wiggins, Rachel Alexandra was sold by owner-breeder Dolphus Morrison to Stonestreet Stable, who moved her to the care of Asmussen and stepped her up successfully against male rivals in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I). Morrison also bred Samantha Nicole.
Following her Preakness tally, Rachel Alexandra won the Mother Goose (gr. I) at Belmont Park and then successfully challenged male rivals two more times in the Haskell Invitational (gr. I) at Monmouth Park and in the Woodward Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course to conclude her sophomore season. She earned Horse of the Year honors.