The Green family’s D. J. Stable has plenty of rooting interests in the $225,000 Debutante for 2-year-old fillies on Sunday at Churchill Downs.
D. J. Stable co-owns Americathegreat, a well-bred maiden who figures to take a step forward with added distance in her second start. But D. J. Stable also co-bred and sold Light Won Up and is still involved with the dam of the filly who ships in from California with the top Beyer Speed Figure in this field.
“We have some rooting interests,” Jonathan Green said. “If we’re not going to win, we really hope for the mare’s sake that Light Won Up wins and continues to fulfill her destiny as well.”
D. J. Stable bred Light Won Up in partnership. The group sold her for $200,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale, and she was then purchased for $265,000 at this year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale by Mark Davis and Purple Rein Racing.
Light Won Up debuted going 4 1/2 furlongs on May 16 at Santa Anita, pressing the pace before winning by 1 1/4 lengths over La Ville Lumiere, a next-out winner. She stopped the clock in 51.90 seconds – a hair faster than her Doug O’Neill-trained stablemate Saul Elliott, who goes in Sunday’s $225,000 Bashford Manor and went 51.96 in his debut. Both juveniles were awarded Beyer Speed Figures of 78, tied for the sixth best nationally among 2-year-olds to date and giving Light Won Up the best number in this field.
“She was one we were very excited about and thought we could get it done first time out,” O’Neill said. “It took a fast time to get it done, it wasn’t an easy one at all. Fortunately, she came out of it in good shape.”
Going from 4 1/2 furlongs to the six furlongs of the Debutante is an early challenge for Light Won Up.
“She definitely has a mind like she wants to leave the gate first and go as fast as she can for as long as she can,” O’Neill said. “She’s got a very racy, precocious mind, and trying to work on that and get her to mature. I think being by City of Light really gives you hope that farther shouldn’t be a problem. But going 4 1/2 to six is a pretty big jump, and we’re hoping she can relax early and finish.”
Conversely, distance does not figure to be a problem for Americathegreat. She closed from eighth after a slow start to finish second to Debutante entrant Color Comin’ In going five furlongs May 15 at Churchill. Americathegreat, by noted stamina source Curlin, is out of the Grade 3-winning A.P. Indy mare America, who was multiple Grade 1-placed. Americathegreat, a full sister to Pimlico Special winner First Captain, is from the immediate family of Coaching Club American Oaks winner Paris Lights.
Americathegreat was a $1.2 million private purchase by D. J. Stable, in partnership with Gary Barber, at the Keeneland September yearling sale. The filly is trained by Mark Casse, who sent out D. J. Stable’s Nitrogen, now a multiple graded winner this year, to be Grade 1-placed as a juvenile while still a maiden.
“One of the things I’ve learned from working with Mark and his team over the years is that we don’t take the first race of a horse’s career as the be-all end-all,” Green said. “The easy thing to do would be to run her in a maiden race, but we feel like that her ability transcends right now the normal path of running her in a maiden race and then maybe an allowance and then stepping up to stakes races. We’re not even really sure that the six-furlong distance in the Debutante is the best distance for her, either – she’s really going to be a two-turn horse. This is just the farthest race we could find, distance-wise, and have a chance to get some black type and some good experience for us. She checked a lot of the boxes with a lot of room to grow, and now we’re hoping she’ll check the box of picking up some black type and enjoying that extra furlong on her path.”
Essential Coffee drew off in a May 30 maiden race at Churchill Downs to cross the line first by 8 1/2 lengths. However, she was disqualified to second for interference. That effort came on a sloppy, sealed track; there is a chance for thunderstorms this weekend in Louisiville.
Jaboss and Lilies N Paradise, like Color Comin’ In, are debut winners at Churchill. Percy’s Bar won at Keeneland, while Mine Strike was a debut winner at Gulfstream.
◗ The Debutante is the second leg of a mandatory-payout jackpot pick six. The wager had a carryover of $1,265,688 going into Friday’s card.
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