Take Charge Milady rebounded from a series of spring misadventures for a neck victory over heavy favorite Immersive, handing last year's champion juvenile filly her first defeat in the $175,000 Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes on Saturday at Churchill Downs. The results of the 1 1/16-mile race add additional intrigue to the 3-year-old filly division headed into the summer.
Immersive won all four of her starts last year, with three Grade 1s. That included the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies to secure the Eclipse Award champion 2-year-old filly title. However, in January, owner-breeder Godolphin announced that the filly would be sidelined for the spring with bone bruising, opening up the divisional picture. Take Charge Milady ($10.22), trained by Ken McPeek for his family's Magdalena Racing, James Ball, and Kenneth Rhodes, won the Martha Washington in January at Oaklawn Park to put her name forward among those emerging.
However, Take Charge Milady then finished 10th in the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes, and it was later discovered that loose tooth caps were bothering her. She was entered in the next race in Oaklawn's Kentucky Oaks prep series, the Grade 2 Fantasy, but was scratched when she developed a quarter crack. Rerouted to the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes the following week, she finished a good second to La Cara. Although dealing with an abscess that developed following the quarter crack, she trained toward the Kentucky Oaks, but finished 12th on the sloppy, sealed track on May 2.
Meanwhile, Godolphin homebred Good Cheer won the Kentucky Oaks to remain unbeaten to that point, and Immersive returned to the work tab that very morning at Churchill Downs, giving the outfit a strong hand headed in to the summer's major races. But jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. felt as though Immersive, breaking from post 2 in a short field of 4, could be vulnerable on the comeback in the Monomoy Girl.
"You have to have an idea of what you're going to do, plus what everyone else is going to do," Hernandez said. "It looked like [Immersive] didn't show much early speed, and had a good idea that [Anna’s Promise] would go to the front.
Hernandez, whose filly broke from the outside of that short field, took advantage of exactly that pace scenario. Anna's Promise, a claim earlier this year who had been a creditable fifth in the Kentucky Oaks as a supplement, set the early splits of 23.32 seconds for the quarter and 46.94 for the half on the fast main track. Immersive was well-held by Manny Franco inside and behind that one, while Hernandez placed Take Charge Milady on the champion's outside, keeping her in a pocket that she soon began to appear restless in, with Franco riding the brakes.
"Just kind of make them a little uncomfortable for as long as possible," Hernandez said. "I knew our filly was gonna be a little fitter than the other filly, just because she's been racing."
Turning for home, Immersive slipped through the slimmest of gaps inside of Anna's Promise, those two appearing to pinball a few times. Meanwhile, Hernandez pulled the trigger on Take Charge Milady. The top two threw down through the lane while well off the rail and, despite steady left-handed urging, Immersive could not get by, with Franco saying, "she was just steady."
It was 11 lengths back to Anna's Promise, followed by Princess Aliyah to round out the field. The final time was 1:43.17.
Take Charge Milady's resurgence, and Immersive's first defeat, add some additional intrigue going into the major summer races for the 3-year-old filly division: the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks and Grade 1 Alabama around two turns at Saratoga, plus the Grade 1 Test Stakes at seven furlongs there. La Cara, who handed Good Cheer her first defeat in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes last weekend, could get a rematch with that Godolphin filly there, with Take Charge Milady perhaps joining the fray.
"I’m really proud how much she fought down the lane today," McPeek said. "I always have so much trust in Brian, everyone knows that. He rode a great race, and I think the waters will get deeper now after this race."
Brad Cox, who trains both Good Cheer and Immersive, had previously mentioned that the Test could be an option for Immersive, who won the Grade 1 Spinaway at seven furlongs at Saratoga last year. Meanwhile, Mark Casse, who trains La Cara, also has the brilliant turf filly Nitrogen. She is pointing for the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks but could try the divisional leaders on the dirt after that, as her win in the off-the-turf Wonder Again at Saratoga opened up that option for her.
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