Dickinson Upsets Lady Eli to Win Grade 1 Coolmore Jenny Wiley

By Amy Owens —-

Dickinson; All photos provided by Keeneland

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Dickinson Upsets Lady Eli to Win Grade 1 Coolmore Jenny Wiley

LEXINGTON, KY (April 15, 2017) – Dickinson capped off a banner day for Godolphin Racing and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin by nipping 1-2 favorite Lady Eli by a head at the wire to win the 29th running of the $350,000 Coolmore Jenny Wiley (G1) for fillies and mares before a Saturday afternoon crowd of 30,782.

It was the fourth victory of the day for Godolphin and McLaughlin, matched the Keeneland record set by Bill Mott and Todd Pletcher for most wins on a single program.

Other Godolphin-McLaughlin winners were Watershed in the Ben Ali (G3), Zennor in an allowance race and Tasteful in a maiden race.

Ridden by Paco Lopez, who earlier won his first Keeneland stakes on Watershed, Dickinson covered the 1 1/16 miles on a firm turf course in 1:41.98.

Catch a Glimpse led the field of eight through fractions of :23.74, :48.05 and 1:12.63 with Illuminant and Dickinson in closest pursuit and Lady Eli racing sixth along the inner rail.

In the stretch, Lady Eli swung to the outside and surged to the front near the eighth pole and appeared to be home free in her first start in more than five months only to be denied by Dickinson.
The victory was worth $210,000 and increased Dickinson’s earnings to $604,316 with a record of 14-7-1-2 that includes three consecutive graded stakes scores.

Dickinson is a Kentucky-bred daughter of Medaglia d’Oro out of the A.P. Indy mare Little Belle.
Dickinson returned $14.40, $4.40, $3.60. Lady Eli, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., paid $2.40 and $2.10 with Quidura (GB) finishing 1¼ lengths back in third under Junior Alvarado and paying $5.40 to show.

Kitten’s Roar finished another nose back in fourth and was followed in order by Goodyearforroses (IRE), Time and Motion, Illuminant and Catch a Glimpse.

Keeneland is closed on Easter Sunday. Racing will resume Wednesday with an eight-race program beginning at 1:05 p.m. ET.

Quotes for the $350,000 Coolmore Jenny Wiley (G1)

Kiaran McLaughlin (winning trainer of Dickinson)
“For Godolphin, it’s a great day, and she’s just a nice filly. We had trouble – and it still worked out. Just unbelievable to win four at Keeneland, especially ending on a Grade 1.”
On tying Keeneland’s single-day record of four wins with Bill Mott and Todd Pletcher
“That’s great company to be in. It’s been a great day. We’ll probably look at New York on Belmont Day, a mile (in the $700,000 Just A Game-G1). She’s doing great.”

Paco Lopez (winning rider)
“I had a little trouble. I wanted to go through on the rail and it opened up a little bit but I couldn’t get through. When the other horse (Lady Eli) passed me, we got room and I still had a lot of filly.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. (rider of runner-up and beaten favorite Lady Eli)
“It was a perfect trip; I just got beat. She might have been waiting on horses. Maybe she moved a little too early.”

Chad Brown (trainer of Lady Eli)
“Hats off to the winner. Both ran well but we just got beat right on the wire just like we did in the Breeders’ Cup (Filly and Mare Turf-G1 in November). It’s tough but it was her first start of the year so hopefully she will move forward off of it. We’ll get her back to Belmont Park and then pick out a race up there. She is a neck and two noses from being undefeated. She is a great horse and I am really proud of her effort today. The horse that beat her is a very good horse as well. She had been training terrific; no excuses today.”

Junior Alvarado (rider of third-place finisher Quidura [GB])
“I had a great trip. I stuck behind, in third or fourth or so. Great position. When I tipped her out in the clear at the quarter pole, she didn’t quicken up like I was expecting, probably because she’s coming off a layoff (unraced since October 2016). Then Lady Eli went through and my filly wasn’t quick enough to keep up with her. My filly started picking it up and grinding away more than quickening at that point. After that she kept grinding and grinding. I thought she ran a great race coming off the layoff. We’re very happy with the way she ran. It was a great third and we know she’ll move forward from this race.”

Joel Rosario (rider of fourth-place finisher Kitten’s Roar)
“(Trainer Mike Maker) told me to let her settle wherever she was. She was a little farther back than I wanted to be, but it looked like they were going nice up front and she was very comfortable and very happy. She put in a very nice run at the end. The first two, they were really running at the end. My horse put in a tremendous run at the end. Too bad we didn’t get there.”

John Velazquez (rider of finisher Time and Motion)
“She just did not show up today.”

Jimmy Toner (trainer of sixth-place finisher Time and Motion)
“No excuse.”

Florent Geroux (rider of eighth-place finisher Catch a Glimpse)
“Great trip. She broke super sharp and made the lead nice and easy. She was just having fun out on the lead I was pretty excited turning for home, but when they came, they just outran her in the end.”

David Carroll (assistant to Mark Casse, trainer of Catch a Glimpse)
“She had a perfect trip. No excuses on the day. Florent Geroux commented how easy she was doing things. At the quarter pole, he said she felt like he had a lot of horse but they quickened up and she just couldn’t go with them today.”

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