West Point Thoroughbreds’Fitz Just Right tops a field of 10 3-year-old fillies hoping to grab their first graded earnings and make a late splash on the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) trail in the $150,000 Bourbonette Stakes (gr. III) March 21 at Turfway Park.
Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Fitz Just Right enters the one-mile Bourbonette off a half-length score in the $100,000 OBS Championship Stakes for Florida-breds Feb. 16 at the Ocala Training Center. She set a course record in the Polytrack event, stopping the clock in 1:42.20 for 1 1/16 miles. It was the third win in four starts for the daughter of Seattle Fitz. She was undefeated in two starts as a juvenile, breaking her maiden at Meadowlands in October and taking an allowance test at Philadelphia Park the following month.
Fitz Just Right was bred by J&J Equine Investments and is out of the Line in The Sand mare Light Line. The bay filly has been working steadily at Palm Meadows for her Bourbonette try, which is also on Polytrack. Cornelio Velazquez will get the mount on Fitz Just Right, who will carry 121 pounds and is expected to be part of the early pace.
Also carrying 121 pounds is Donamire Farm’s homebred
Walloon, who enters the race off a convincing, 3 1/4-length victory in the Valdale Stakes Feb. 21 at Turfway. It was her second win in six career starts. Katherine Ball trains the
Alphabet Soup filly. Eibar Coa gets the mount.
G. Watts Humphrey’s homebred
Step Out Smartly is the other stakes winner in the field. Trained by Rusty Arnold, she won the six-furlong Gowell Stakes at Turfway to close out her 2-year-old campaign. The daughter of
Came Home was soundly defeated in the Davona Dale (gr. II) at Gulfstream earlier this month in her season debut. Julien Leparoux gets the call for the first time.
Entering off allowance wins are
Oculuna,
Hot Cha Cha, and Instrumentalist, who is undefeated in two starts for trainer Tom Drury Jr. Oculuna ships in from Florida, while Hot Cha Cha and Instrumentalist will make another start over the Turfway oval.
The Bourbonette is the first of two graded stakes on the Turfway program. The $500,000 Lane’s End Stakes (gr. II) for 3-year-olds goes to post two races later.
$150,000 Bourbonette Stakes (gr. III, Race 8, 4:39 p.m.), 3-Year-Old Fillies, 1 Mile (Polytrack)
PP. Horse, Weight, Jockey
1. Walloon (KY), 121, Eibar Coa
2. Fitz Just Right (FL), 121, Cornelio H. Velasquez
3. Step Out Smartly (KY), 115, Julien R. Leparoux
4. Super Poni (KY), 115, Leandro R. Goncalves
5. Foxy Bailey (KY), 115, Kent J. Desormeaux
6. Stone Legacy (KY), 117, Israel Ocampo
7. Oculuna (KY), 117, James Lopez
8. Honchis'n Ponchis (KY), 115, Edgar S. Prado
9. Instrumentalist (KY), 115, Garrett K. Gomez
10. Hot Cha Cha (KY), 117, Orlando Mojica
