LEXINGTON, Ky. — It wasn't really imagined that Imaginationthelady would be a first-time-out winner. The filly, an April foal, was a slower developer who didn't get on the work tab until July – and, according to trainer Brendan Walsh, she will need to continue growing and learning to show her best self.
Considering the filly is expected to get even better, there’s plenty to imagine for the future with what she has shown so far. Imaginationthelady not only won that debut last month but stepped up in a big way in her second start to upset the Grade 2, $400,000 Jessamine Stakes on Friday's opening-day card at Keeneland. The victory, for which she returned $22.16, earned her an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
“We were even maybe a little pleasantly surprised first out that she won,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “Physically, she’s a very nice filly. She’ll improve. She’ll turn into a very good 3-year-old. But she’s obviously a very nice 2-year-old.”
Imaginationthelady, a Not This Time filly bred by Ashview Farm and Colts Neck Stables, was a Keeneland September yearling purchase about a year ago and is trained by Walsh for Mark Dobbin. Walsh said the New York-based owner has several horses racing in Europe, but only has a few in the U.S. thus far.
Walsh praised Dobbin for displaying patience as Imaginationthelady prepared to race, and for allowing the trainer to call the shots on whether she was ready for stakes company.
“He put no pressure on me,” Walsh said.
In her debut going a mile on the esoteric Kentucky Downs course on Sept. 4, Imaginationthelady pressed the pace through the opening quarter, put her head in front at the halfway point, and kicked clear for a 1 1/2-length win. She wasn't necessarily on the lead by design – and the plan wasn’t to gun her out of the gate in the Jessamine, but to let her find her own rhythm.”
“She put herself there,” Walsh said of the debut. “Today, it seemed like there was plenty of speed in there, or at least three or four, and I didn’t want to force her. I said we’ll just let her find her own feet.”
Indeed, Imaginationthelady, who broke from post 9 in the field of 11, was fifth after the opening half-mile under Frankie Dettori. Lit Ship, who broke from the rail with her fuse lit, zipped through an opening quarter-mile of 22.43 seconds on very firm turf on an unseasonably warm day before Jose Ortiz was able to relax her through the half of 47.70.
Lit Ship still led by a length approaching the straightaway, with Carolyncaroline in hot pursuit, a head in front of Soloist, who drew in off the also-eligible list. Red Beretta had made a middle move after racing in 10th early, attempting to get something going in fourth. The early moves of some momentarily relegated Imaginationthelady back a few positions, and Walsh praised Dettori for his patience.
Dettori tipped Imaginationthelady out four wide for clear sailing in the final furlong. She was up in deep stretch and won by a handy length, finishing the 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.61.
“I thought, ‘I’m just going to ride a positive race,’ ” Dettori said. “I knew there was a bit of speed, and I didn’t want to go four wide [early]. I managed to slot her in behind the leaders, and I got to teach her something – to relax. Then I crept my way through the bend and swung her out. She’s a big filly with a big stride, so I gave her an eighth of a mile to get organized and then she took off. She’s got lots of potential.”
Infinite Sky threw her head at the break and was also bothered by a horse to her inside breaking out, winding up last through the opening half. She rallied to be second by a nose over favored Time to Dream.
“I believe I had the best filly in the race today,” jockey Luan Machado said of Infinite Sky. “I was very proud of her performance and the way she tried for me.”
Time to Dream, the only prior stakes winner in the field with a win in the P. G. Johnson at Saratoga, broke from post 10 with only Soloist outside her. The filly came in the six-path in the stretch after encountering traffic and was third by a neck over Soloist.
“There was traffic,” jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said. “I waited a little too long, and it cost me the race.”
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Time to Dream will still be considered for the Breeders’ Cup.
Meanwhile, Imaginationthelady earned the automatic berth into the Juvenile Fillies Turf with her victory.
“I think she’ll improve a lot for it,” Walsh said of Friday’s race. “[Dobbin] has been great, and there was never any pressure to come here. It’s nice when you get that. There won’t be any pressure to go to Del Mar – but if everything goes right, then I can’t see why we wouldn’t go there, too.”
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