Monomoy Girl

A live bugler played a first-race call to post that echoed and reverberated in front of a cavernously empty grandstand, and track announcer Travis Stone preceded his season-opening call with the declaration that "Better late than never, they're in the gate at Churchill Downs." But once the horses were off and running for Saturday's 11-race card, a sense of business-as-usual settled in--at least as defined by the new normalcy terms of spectator-free, pandemic-era racing in America. "It was surreal. I watched the first race of the season from the infield...

Champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) returned a winner after 18 months on the sidelines. Hammered down to 1-2 favoritism at the oval where she registered her two greatest triumphs, the chestnut was away in good order from the two-hole and was perched in a close-up fourth off the fence as Fashion Faux Pas (Flatter and Talk Veuve to Me (Violence) dueled through early splits of :22.87 and :46.33. Talk to Veuve to Me took control entering the far turn, but Monomoy Girl came roaring up behind her and was in front...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 4th-CD, $85K, Alw/Opt. Clm ($80K), 3yo/up, f/m, 1m, 2:32 p.m. ET Wildly popular champion MONOMOY GIRL (Tapizar) headlines a stacked opening day card at Churchill as she makes her long-awaited return in the day's fourth race. Unseen since locking up her 3-year-old filly title with a score in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff over this track in 2018, the chestnut has overcome a variety of issues and comes back with a snappy worktab in tow for trainer Brad Cox. Showing a half-dozen breezes at...

Ever since Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) surged past the Churchill Downs finish line to take the 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, fans have eagerly awaited her return. It's been a long road over the past year and a half, but the now 5-year-old Eclipse champion is slated to make her 2020 debut beneath the Twin Spires Sat., May 16. The five-time Grade I winner will be the star of Churchill Downs' opening day, facing six other fillies and mares in a one-mile $80,000 allowance optional claimer. Her competition includes dual stakes...

A total of 162 horses, headlined by returning champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), were entered Tuesday for Saturday's opening day card at the Churchill Downs spring meeting. Off since winning the 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, Monomoy Girl returns in the fourth race, a conditioned allowance event at one-mile on the main track with a purse of $85,000. "It's been a long time coming but we are thrilled for [Monomoy Girl] to return to the races," said trainer Brad Cox. "She's been working great down at Keeneland since late March and...

British Idiom (Flashback), last year's champion 2-year-old filly, has been sidelined by a chip in her right front ankle and has been sent to WinStar Farm for 60 days of recuperation, co-owner Sol Kumin confirmed Sunday. The story was first reported by Blood-Horse. Owned by Kumin's Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and Stuart Grant's The Elkstone Group and trained by Brad Cox, British Idiom won last year's GI Darley Alcibiades S. at Keeneland and the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita. She was second behind Finite (Munnings) while making...

In a Classic season blighted by the coronavirus pandemic, Oaklawn rounds out its winter meet with not one but two renewals of the GI Arkansas Derby. Facing a tough group of contenders in Saturday's second division of the Classic prep, including undefeated Nadal (Blame), winner of the GII San Vicente S. and GII Rebel S., and GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby hero King Guillermo (Uncle Mo), defending juvenile champion Storm the Court (Court Vision) will try to recover some of the sparkle from his 2-year-old season. This year, he...

Sent off a generous 7-1, Mr. Monomoy (Palace Malice) secured an easy lead, set incredibly steady fractions up front and pulled away late to easily defeat GIII Lecomte S. hero Enforceable (Tapit) in the first of two divisions of the GII Risen Star S. Saturday afternoon at the Fair Grounds. Silver State (Hard Spun), who completed the exacta behind Enforceable last time, rounded out the trifecta. Drawn gate nine and looking to improve on his useful third-place effort in the Lecomte, Mr. Monomoy hit the ground running and dropped down...

The comeback of Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) will enter a new phase next week when the Eclipse Award-winning mare returns to the racetrack. Trainer Brad Cox said Monomoy Girl will be sent shortly to his stable at the Fair Grounds on or about Jan. 15. Her appearance at the Fair Grounds will mark a major step forward for a horse that has not raced since winning the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff on Nov. 3, 2018. The connections had planned on running her in 2019, but a couple of relatively small problems...