By Joe Bianca
One was bought for $510,000, the other for $17,000, but they appear to be evenly matched and equally promising, as Wesley Ward trainee Delphinia (The Factor) is set to knock heads with Jerry Hollendorfer pupil Darkwingsoverdubai (Raven's Pass), along with 10 other 3-year-old fillies, in Saturday's GIII Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway Park.
Bought by Stonestreet Stables for over 20 times her sire's stud fee after breezing a quarter-mile in :21 3/5 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale, Delphinia was second as the favorite in her debut last fall at Keeneland before breaking her maiden sprinting on the Gulfstream turf Dec. 17. Making her local debut Feb. 4, the gray aired by seven lengths in the Cincinnati Trophy S. The Bourbonette Oaks will be the first two-turn try for the speedy filly, who shows a strong local interim worktab, including an eye-popping six-furlong breeze in 1:11 flat (1/3) Feb. 27.
KMN Racing's Darkwingsoverdubai was off last in her career bow Jan. 20 at Golden Gate, but passed every horse to get up late. The chestnut leapt forward in her first try against winners Feb. 16, again breaking last, but showing more tactical speed and unleashing a huge, wide sweep on the turn to score going away by 4 1/2 lengths. The Fasig-Tipton October grad, who also will be attempting two turns for the first time, got a feel for the Turfway polytrack with an easy half-mile breeze in :49 flat (4/10) Mar. 21.
Slight morning-line favoritism lies with Katherine Ball's China Grove (City Zip), who earned her first stakes victory in the Wide Country S. Feb. 18 at Laurel. The bay will make her synthetic-track debut in the Bourbonette for trainer Ben Colebrook. She was off the board in a pair of turf tries last summer.
Mike Maker sends out Tracy Farmer's Gilded Lily (Speightstown), a $210,000 Keeneland November buy who has won her first two starts, both at Turfway, by open lengths. Greg James's Jenna J (Archarcharch) is also two-for-two and will try to stretch out her speed after a pair of local front-running sprint tallies for trainer Jason Cook. Ken McPeek, who captured this event last year with Wonderment (Cosmonaut), will be represented by Living the Dream Racing 2015's Purely a Dream (Pure Prize).
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
