Walter Wlodarczyk Photo

Muhimma steps up to graded ranks in G2 Demoiselle

by Mary Eddy

Shadwell Stable’s undefeated Muhimma will make her graded stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle, a nine-furlong route for juvenile fillies, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Demoiselle, slated as Race 8, will offer the top-five finishers 10-5-3-2-1 qualifying points, respectively, towards the prestigious Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on the first Friday in May at Churchill Downs. Saturday’s lucrative 10-race card is headlined by the Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile Handicap presented by TwinSpires in Race 9, and is supported by the Grade 2, $250,000 Remsen – a 10-5-3-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifier – in Race 7 and the Grade 3, $200,000 Go for Wand in Race 4. First post is 11:40 a.m. Eastern.

Trained by dual Eclipse Award-winner Brad Cox, Muhimma has won both of her starts in impressive fashion under Florent Geroux, beginning with a 7 1/2-length romp sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs on debut in September at Churchill Downs over My Lil Punky, who exited to win next out and finished seventh in the Grade 2 Golden Rod on Saturday at Churchill. Muhimma earned a field-best 83 Beyer Speed Figure in victory.

The daughter of Munnings enters from another dominant victory sprinting seven furlongs on November 1 at the Louisville oval, where she pressed the pace before taking a 4 1/2-length advantage at the stretch call. She kept on strongly down the lane to post the 5 1/2-length win over returning rival Liam in the Dust in a final time of 1:23.77. That effort received a 79 Beyer.

The talented gray has worked at Churchill three times since, including a sharp five-furlong breeze in 1:01.20 on Friday that ranked the second fastest of 15 efforts for the distance on the day.

Bred in Kentucky by Three Chimneys Farm, Muhimma was a $700,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the multiple graded stakes-placed Tapit mare Princesa Carolina. Her second dam is dual Grade 1-winner Pure Clan.

Geroux retains the mount from the inside post.

Storyteller Racing and Schroeck Racing’s Liam in the Dust [post 2, Flavien Prat] reopposes for trainer Rodolphe Brisset off her runner-up effort in the aforementioned Churchill optional claimer.

The daughter of Liam’s Map stalked the pace in sixth under Luan Machado after being squeezed leaving the chute and improved to third position while still 6 1/2 lengths back at the stretch call. She responded well to urging in the stretch to take second position near the sixteenth pole, but could not reel in Muhimma and settled for place honors.

Brisset said the effort was a welcome result after a troubled start in the October 4 Grade 1 Alcibiades saw her attend the pace and steady sharply in the far turn before fading to finish a distant last-of-7 in her lone effort around two turns.

“It was a very important race for me and for her to see if she can redeem herself. She broke clean and got into a tight spot where Luan had to check up pretty hard and we lost a lot of ground,” Brisset said. “Then she got the kickback for the first time and she had all the opportunity to quit and say she had enough, but she actually made a run in the turn. The winner was already gone, but she galloped out strong after the wire.”

The Alcibiades is the only blemish on the filly’s 3-for-4 on-the-board record, which includes a pacesetting debut win sprinting seven furlongs in August at Ellis Park, and a game runner-up effort to La Cara in the one-mile Grade 3 Pocahontas under Luis Saez in September at Churchill.

“The Pocahontas was a really good effort,” Brisset said. “She drew the far outside in a field of 14 and she never really traveled on the bridle. I think she kind of tricked Luis a little bit and I don’t think he thought he had much horse under him. When she switched to her left lead, you can see she took off and almost got to the lead a little early. We got beat by a very nice filly and that was a good effort.”

Brisset added he is pleased with what he’s seen in the mornings from Liam in the Dust, especially after her workmate Impulse Buy won Saturday’s Fern Creek at Churchill.

“She’s been breezing with Impulse Buy, so before giving her a small break, we just feel like we’ve got to give two turns another try,” Brisset concluded.

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown will send out Ballerina d’Oro [post 10, Dylan Davis, blinkers on] for her dirt debut off a closing eighth in the Grade 2 Jessamine on October 4 over the Keeneland turf.

Campaigned by Rodeo Creek Racing, the Medaglia d’Oro gray has made all three of her starts over grass, including a second-out graduation by a neck in a one-mile tilt in September at Kentucky Downs where she rallied impressively from 8 3/4 lengths off the pace.

Last out, Ballerina d’Oro again tracked well off the pace in last-of-11 in the 1 1/16-mile Jessamine after bumping with a rival at the start. She was angled four-wide in upper stretch and then eight-wide in the lane amidst traffic in the large field, finding her best stride late to finish eighth just three lengths back of the victorious May Day Ready.

“It was kind of a weird race,” Brown said. “She found herself far back and she was running very green in the race. She finished with some interest, but I left the race wanting to get home and put blinkers on her for that reason. She really picked it up on the dirt here versus what she was in the summer, so maybe she’s just matured and developed. I’m excited to see what she can do at a mile and an eighth on the dirt.”

Brown said he added blinkers in the filly’s training in anticipation of another start on turf in the Big A’s Tepin, but opted for the Demoiselle after she impressed on dirt in her recent works.

“This horse has been training really well over the dirt,” Brown said. “Now she has some racing experience and the addition of blinkers – I really just put the blinkers on pointing to the Tepin Stakes, but her gallop outs were so impressive on the dirt, I thought there was more upside going to this type of race.”

Ballerina d’Oro was a $320,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale and is out of the Tapit mare In the Moonlight, a half-sister to graded stakes-winners and sires Wilburn and Beethoven, as well as A.P. Sonata, dam of graded stakes-winning multimillionaire Grand Sonata.

Emily Bushnell and Pam Wygod’s Kentucky homebred Beauty Reigns [post 8, Junior Alvarado] steps up off a debut graduation sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs on November 8 here for Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott.

The Into Mischief gray was impressive when pressing the early pace set by Not the First Time before sticking her head in front in the turn and facing a challenge from My Sherrona. Beauty Reigns drifted out coming into the lane before she and My Sherrona fought gamely in the stretch, a battle that would go to Beauty Reigns by a half-length in a final time of 1:17.91.

Out of the unraced Tapit mare Ilsa, Beauty Reigns’ second dam is 2009 Broodmare of the Year Sweet Life, who produced multiple Grade 1-winners Sweet Catomine and Life Is Sweet.

Completing the competitive field are the multiple stakes-placed New York-bred Carmen’s Candy Jar [post 4, Irad Ortiz, Jr., blinkers on] for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher; stakes-placed Fortuna Mia [post 3, Eric Cancel] for trainer Linda Rice; and maiden winners Michelle [post 5, Katie Davis] for trainer Brittany Russell, Bless the Broken [post 6, Ramon Vazquez, blinkers off] for trainer Will Walden, Five a Side [post 7, Joel Rosario] for conditioner John Servis and Tip Line [post 9, Francisco Martinez, blinkers on] for owner/trainer Uriah St. Lewis.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct Racetrack fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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