By Alan Carasso
The beast of the Bayou is now a queen in Kentucky, as Brittlyn Stables' homebred Ova Charged (Star Guitar) overcame a slow break and managed to gut it out late in Friday's GIII Unbridled Sidney S. It was her fifth consecutive victory, 13th from her 16 lifetime starts and fourth from as many appearances in turf sprint events.
The 3-5 jolly off a 12 1/2-length dusting of her fellow Louisiana-breds in the Mar. 24 Page Cortez S.–for which she earned a massive 113 Beyer Speed Figure–Ova Charged was off a beat slowly from gate two beneath Florent Geroux and was under a ride early, but picked up the beat and slid through underneath the well-backed Stone Silent (Adios Charlie) to wrest command before getting the opening couple of furlongs in a pressured :21.91 over turf labeled as yielding. That pair engaged in a tooth-and-nail battle into and around the turn and they continued their duel into the stretch, where Ova Charged finally got the better of the tussle three-sixteenths from home. Secret Money (Good Samaritan) had crept into it and split rivals to lay down her challenge one off the inside in the final furlong and Run For The Hills (Runhappy) was motoring down the grandstand side, but Ova Charged stuck her neck out and flat out refused to lose.
Originally trained by Jose Camejo, Ova Charged was runner-up in the GIII Victory Ride S. on the dirt in 2021 and made a successful turf debut in the 2022 renewal of the Page Cortez. Sixth in a 6 1/2-furlong dirt allowance at Keeneland in her final start for Camejo last April, Ova Charged was victorious in a pair of restricted dirt stakes at the Fair Grounds in December and January before taking out the Feb. 13 Mardi Gras S. on the grass, her first black-type success in open company. Sent away at a dime on the dollar when last seen Mar. 24, the 6-year-old ran them off their feet, stopping the clock in 1:01.90 for the 5 1/2 panels on firm turf.
“She's so easy to train, she's so smart,” said trainer Shane Wilson, who saddled Mocito Rojo (Mutadda) to an 8-1 upset in the 2019 GIII Lukas Classic at Churchill. “When [jockey Florent Geroux] came back, I asked him, 'It got kind of tight there, didn't it?' And he said, 'Naw, I had a lot. She just did enough to stay in front.' She's a very, very talented filly, and we figured out that it's better if we don't waste her time getting bullet workouts every morning. I train her every day, she's very sound. We put her on the turf because her mother was actually a stakes winner on the turf. So she'll stay on the grass.”
Pedigree Notes:
Brittlyn's Evelyn Benoit bred and raced Star Guitar to 24 victories from 30 starts. A remarkable 22 of those occurred in stakes and he was the odds-on favorite in 19 of them. Star Guitar was third in the 2009 GIII Alysheba S. at Churchill.
Benoit retired Star Guitar to Louisiana and committed considerable resources to acquiring well-bred and accomplished racemares at breeding stock sales in Kentucky. One of three such purchases at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale, through agent James Keogh, was Maryland-bred Charged Cotton, a stakes winner on the grass, who fetched a final bid of $150,000 in foal to Street Sense. That produce, Sethamee Street, was stakes-placed as a 5-year-old in 2021 and the pedigree received a further boost earlier this season when Ova Charged's full-sister Manama Gold capped a productive three-race campaign in Dubai with success in the G3 UAE Oaks, becoming the second graded/group winner for Star Guitar. Manama Gold breezed a half-mile at Churchill on Apr. 26 in advance of a potential start in the Kentucky Oaks, but was ultimately not entered.
Charged Cotton is the dam of a yearling filly by Not This Time, but was barren to Star Guitar for 2024.
Friday, Churchill Downs
UNBRIDLED SIDNEY S. PRESENTED BY RESOLUTE RACING-GIII, $332,000, Churchill Downs, 5-3, 3yo/up, f/m, 5 1/2fT, 1:03.71, yl.
1–OVA CHARGED, 123, m, 6, by Star Guitar
1st Dam: Charged Cotton (SW, $162,741), by Dehere
2nd Dam: Lightning Lydia, by Broad Brush
3rd Dam: Bye the Bye, by Balzac
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O/B-Brittlyn, Inc. (LA); T-Shane
Wilson; J-Florent Geroux. $180,420. Lifetime Record:
16-13-1-0, $789,200. *Full to Manama Gold, GSW-UAE,
$197,690. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Secret Money, 121, f, 4, Good Samaritan–Awesome Humor,
by Distorted Humor. ($35,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $40,000 2yo '22
EASMAY). O-Fortune Farm LLC (Richard Nicolai), Robert G.
Hahn and Matthew Hand; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY);
T-Brendan P. Walsh. $78,200.
3–Run for the Hills, 123, m, 5, Runhappy–Fast Resource,
by Bob and John. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
($40,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $125,000 Ylg '20 FTKFEB; $95,000
RNA 2yo '21 OBSMAR). O-Gary Barber; B-Peter A. Berglar
Racing Interests, LLC (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $39,100.
Margins: NK, NK, HF. Odds: 0.74, 9.79, 24.79.
Also Ran: Medalla Match, Elm Drive, Tony Ann, Stone Silent, Miss Speedy. Scratched: Ag Bullet, Charriere.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
#2 Ova Charged holds off several late chargers to win the Unbridled Sidney Stakes @ChurchillDowns as the 3/5 favorite!
Jockey: @flothejock
Trainer: Shane Wilson
Owner: Brittlyn Stable Inc🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/AM2Qj91qmM
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) May 3, 2024
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