Arlington International Racecourse Barn Notes: Thursday, July 26, 2018

By Ryan Martin —-

DIVISIDERO WORKING TOWARDS POSSIBLE MILLION START NEXT MONTH

Trainer Kelly Rubley indicated that Grade III Arlington Handicap winner Divisidero is still under consideration to return to Arlington International Racecourse for the Grade I $1,000,000 Arlington Million on Aug. 11, which is one of five stakes carded for the Arlington International Festival of Racing. The $100,000 Bruce D. Memorial Stakes, Grade III $100,000 Pucker Up Stakes, Grade I $600,000 Beverly D. and Grade I $400,000 Secretariat Stakes will also highlight the turf festival.

Owned by Gunpowder Farms, the 6-year-old son of Kitten’s Joy has logged one breeze since the Arlington Handicap when working a half-mile in 48.60 on Saturday, July 21 over the all-weather surface at Fair Hill Training Center.

“He’s working again (Friday) and he’s been doing great,” Rubley said. “We’re also nominated to the (Grade I $500,000) Fourstardave (at Saratoga on Aug. 11) as well so we’re still not positive on which direction we’re going just yet.”

Should he race in either spot, Divisidero would be attempting his third Grade I victory. He scored back-to-back wins in 2016 and 2017 in the Grade I Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

Divisidero was bred in Kentucky by Hinkle Farms and is the fourth foal out of the Lemon Drop Kid broodmare Madame Du Lac. He was purchased for $250,000 by Margaux Farm from the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2015 where he was consigned by his breeders.

Sire Kitten’s Joy is also likely to be represented by Oscar Performance in the Million. Owned by Amerman Racing and trained by Brian Lynch, he took last year’s Grade I Secretariat Stakes at the Chicagoland oval. He will look to join Awad (1993-1995), Marlin (1996-97), Kicken Kris (2003-04) and Beach Patrol (2016-17) as the only horses to score the Secretariat-Million double. Oscar Performance is out of Theatrical (IRE) mare Devine Actress and is a full brother to three-time graded stakes winner Oscar Nominated, who was eighth in last year’s Million.

Other possible Million contenders include Spring Quality, Deauville (IRE), Almanaar, Robert Bruce (CHI), Catcho En Die (ARG), Manitoulin, Va Bank (IRE), Twenty Four Seven, Circus Couture (IRE) and Stormy Antarctic (GB).

The Arlington Million is a “Win and You’re In” event for the Grade I $4,000,000 Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.

GRADED STAKES PLACED DELICATE LADY RETIRED

Following her one-length allowance victory over the Arlington International Racecourse synthetic surface on July 22, Delicate Lady has been retired.

Owned by Town and Country Racing and trained by Chris Davis, the 5-year-old Illinois-bred daughter of Thunder Gulch won four of her 17 lifetime starts. All four of her triumphs took place over the all-weather surface at Arlington. Throughout her career, she had passed through the hands of four different trainers. She won her career debut by 6½ lengths on July 2, 2015 at odds of 22-1 when trained by Carlos Silva before being privately purchased by Eclipse Thoroughbreds and transferred to Todd Pletcher. In her first start for Pletcher, she earned black type by finishing third in the Grade III Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga behind Just Wicked. She remained under Pletcher’s care for the next couple of years before being transferred to trainer Jonathan Thomas’ barn in 2017.

When racing for Thomas, she earned a victory against winners at Arlington on June 3 of last year. In November of that year, she went through the ring at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale and was purchased by Town and Country Farm for $82,000 from Taylor Made Sales Agency’s consignment barn. She remained under Thomas’ care for one start before transferring to trainer Chris Davis’ barn. Davis trained her to a third place effort behind Puntsville in the Isaac Murphy Handicap on June 2, which she followed with two allowance victories

“She was really maturing,” Davis said. “She had been really sound for a five-year-old horse and she relishes the Poly. She loves it. The added distance seemed to be the difference. She’ll knock on the door going five eighths or five-and-a-half, but she just never could quite get there. In her last few races she picked up nicely, settled nicely and finished strong. I wish her a happy retirement. There are lot of options, it’s a very diverse family. Hopefully she produces nice babies that bring a lot of money and go on to do some nice things.”

Delicate Lady was bred in Illinois by William and Dianna Schaeffer. She is out of the Broken Vow mare Love and Lies who also produced Hope N Wishes – a homebred two-time winner in the state of Illinois.