Daddys Lil Darling 5-2 Morning-Line Favorite in Saturday’s Central Bank Ashland
By Amy Owens —-
Daddys Lil Darling 5-2 Morning-Line Favorite
in Saturday’s Evenly Matched $500,000 Central Bank Ashland
LEXINGTON, KY (April 4, 2017) – Normandy Farm’s homebred Daddys Lil Darling was made the 5-2 morning-line favorite in a field of eight 3-year-old fillies entered Tuesday for Saturday’s 80th running of the $500,000 Central Bank Ashland (G1) at Keeneland.
The 1 1/16-mile main track test offers 170 points toward the $1 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) to be run May 5 at Churchill Downs with 100 points going to the winner, 40 to the runner-up, 20 to third place and 10 points to fourth. The Oaks is limited to the top 14 point earners that pass the entry box, and currently the cut line is 11 points.
The Central Bank Ashland, one of two Grade 1 races Saturday, will go as the ninth race on the 11-race program with a 5:40 p.m. ET post time. First post time Saturday is 1:05 p.m.
Trained by two-time Central Bank Ashland winner Kenny McPeek, Daddys Lil Darling won the Pocahontas (G2) at Churchill Downs in September prior to finishing second in the Darley Alcibiades (G1) here, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and second in the Golden Rod (G2) at Churchill Downs to close 2016.
Robby Albarado will have the mount on Daddys Lil Darling for McPeek, who won in 2002 with Take Charge Lady and 2014 with dead-heat winner Rosalind. Daddys Lil Darling will break from post position six. Albarado is seeking his second Central Bank Ashland victory to go with the 2003 score on Elloluv.
Trainer Mark Casse will send out two starters in John Oxley’s Grade 1-winner Pretty City Dancer and Gary Barber’s graded stakes-placed Summer Luck.
Pretty City Dancer, dead-heat winner of the Spinaway (G1) to complete her 2-year-old campaign, comes into the Central Bank Ashland off a sixth-place finish in the Davona Dale (G2) at Gulfstream Park on March 4.
Joel Rosario has the mount on Pretty City Dancer and will break from post position three as the 7-2 co-second choice.
Summer Luck enters the Central Bank Ashland off a fast-closing third-place finish in the Davona Dale. Fourth in the Forward Gal (G2) prior to that, Summer Luck debuted at Keeneland last fall with a runner-up effort before breaking her maiden at Churchill to close 2016.
Florent Geroux has the mount on Summer Luck and will break from post position five as the 4-1 co-fourth choice.
Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider’s Elate is also 7-2 on the morning line.
Elate, who debuted with a 12½-length victory at Aqueduct in November, enters Saturday’s race off a third-place finish in the Honeybee (G3) at Oaklawn Park on March 11. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, who won the 2013 race with Emollient, Elate will be ridden by Jose Ortiz and break from position two.
Invading from California is LNJ Foxwoods’ Tapped.
Listed at 4-1 on the morning line, Tapped enters Saturday’s race off a runner-up finish in the California Oaks at Golden Gate on an all-weather track on Feb. 11. Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Tapped will break from post position eight and be ridden by David Flores.
The field for the Central Bank Ashland, with riders and morning-line odds, from the rail out is: Someday Soon (Jose Lezcano, 15-1), Elate (Ortiz, 7-2), Pretty City Dancer (Rosario, 7-2), Meanie Irenie (Julien Leparoux, 30-1), Summer Luck (Geroux, 4-1), Daddys Lil Darling (Albarado, 5-2), Sailor’s Valentine (Corey Lanerie, 12-1) and Tapped (Flores, 4-1). All starters will carry 121 pounds.
CENTRAL BANK ASHLAND POST POSITION DRAW QUOTES
Davant Lathan, representing Tommy Ligon, breeder and owner of Someday Soon; post 1, 15-1 morning-line odds
“(The rail) is not what we wanted. But you take the hand you’re dealt and do the best you can with it. (She has a lot of speed), but we think she’ll rate. Ideally, that’s what we wanted to do: be out a little further and be able to take back a little behind the first wall of horses, and then come late. We may still try to do that. No matter what your plan is, everything changes when that gate opens.”
Walker Hancock, president of Claiborne Farm, owner of Elate; post 2, 7-2 morning-line odds
“I like our spot. We’ll be saving ground going into the turn. That’s always a plus. I just hope we get out of the gate good. We kinda got slammed leaving the gate in Arkansas (in the Honeybee-G3 on March 11) and kinda threw her off her game. She didn’t really get into the race until the end when it was too late. I hope she breaks well and we’ll be in a good spot.”
David Carroll, assistant to Mark Casse, trainer of Pretty City Dancer, Post 3, 7-2 morning-line odds; and Summer Luck, Post 5, 4-1 morning-line odds
“They are excellent. (Trainer) Mark (Casse) texted an OK sign to me. They both just came in to Keeneland a few days ago and looking from the outside I think both will improve going two turns for the first time. Summer Luck made her debut here last fall and ran well, and I know (jockey) Florent (Geroux) really likes her.”
Nancy Polk, whose Normandy Farm bred and owns Daddy’s Lil Darling; post 6, 5-2 morning-line favorite
“She doesn’t like to be way out there, so we’re in a good spot. We like the post position, and she’s been training well so hopefully she’s going to be ready. She likes this track.”
KEENELAND CARDS 11 RACES SATURDAY
Post time for the first race on all 15 days of Keeneland’s 2017 Spring Meet is 1:05 p.m. ET. On Saturday, Keeneland will run 11 races with the final race post time of 6:50 p.m. Approximate post times for the day’s stakes are Commonwealth (G3) at 3:53 p.m., Shakertown (G2) at 4:28 p.m., Madison (G1) at 5:03 p.m., Central Bank Ashland (G1) at 5:40 and Toyota Blue Grass (G2) at 6:17 p.m.
The Spring Meet concludes Friday, April 28, with racing on Wednesdays through Sundays. Keeneland will be closed on Easter Sunday, April 16.
WAGERING OPPORTUNITIES
All-Stakes Pick 4 Presented by TVG. A $400,000-guaranteed Pick 4 featuring races 7-10: the Shakertown (G2), Madison (G1), Central Bank Ashland (G1) and Toyota Blue Grass (G2).
All-Stakes Pick 5 Presented by TVG. A $300,000-guaranteed Pick 5 featuring races 6-10: Commonwealth, Shakertown, Madison, Central Bank Ashland and Toyota Blue Grass.
Cover Photo: Daddy’s Lil Darling; Coady Photography
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For more than 80 years, the Keeneland Association has devoted itself to the health and vibrancy of the Thoroughbred industry. As the world’s largest Thoroughbred auction company, Keeneland conducts sales every January, September and November. Its sales graduates dominate racing across the globe at every level. In April and October, Keeneland offers some of the highest caliber and richest Thoroughbred racing in the world. In 2015, Keeneland hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Uniquely structured, Keeneland is a private, for-profit corporation that returns its earnings to the industry and the community in the form of higher purses, and it has donated millions of dollars in charitable contributions for education, research and health and human services throughout Central Kentucky. To learn more about Keeneland, visit Keeneland.com.