Wicked Whisper Set for Season Debut in Beaumont

JoAnn and Alex Lieblong's grade 1 winner Wicked Whisper is set to make her sophomore debut July 10 at Keeneland. The daughter of Liam's Map  will face five other fillies in the $100,000 Beaumont Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G3) over about seven furlongs.

Wicked Whisper impressed on debut at 2, winning by 6 1/4 lengths going six furlongs at Saratoga Race Course last summer. She then took the one-mile Frizette Stakes (G1) by 2 3/4 lengths at Belmont Park before finishing fifth in the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Santa Anita Park.

Wicked Whisper has worked twice on the Keeneland main track in recent weeks for trainer Steve Asmussen, breezing five furlongs in 1:01 June 29 and three furlongs in :38 July 6.

Joel Rosario, aboard for the Frizette and Breeders' Cup, will be back aboard Wicked Whisper from post 4. The chestnut filly will carry 123 pounds, and the rest of the field was assigned 118 pounds.

Breaking one spot inside Wicked Whisper will be Whitham Thoroughbreds' homebred Four Graces. The Majesticperfection filly, a half sister to betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) runner-up McCraken , has won three of her four starts. Her victories came at seven furlongs, including the June 6 Dogwood Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs where she led wire to wire. The Ian Wilkes trainee worked five furlongs in 1:01 4/5 July 3 at Churchill. Julien Leparoux retains the mount.

Wilkes also trains a Beaumont entry for Brereton Jones, whose homebred Turtle Trax is still looking for her first stakes win. The Cairo Prince  daughter was second May 25, finishing behind Frank's Rockette—who won the July 4 Victory Ride Stakes (G3)—going six furlongs at Churchill in her most recent effort. She earned black type in February, finishing second in the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Madaket Stables' Speech ships in from Michael McCarthy's West Coast stable and cuts back to one turn. The Mr Speaker  filly broke her maiden by nine lengths in December at Los Alamitos Race Course and has finished second in all four of her starts this year, including the Santa Anita Oaks (G2), Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3), and an allowance-level race won by Longines Acorn Stakes (G1) winner Gamine.

Magic Cap Stables' Slam Dunk is another Frizette runner back in the Beaumont. The Rodolphe Brisset-trained Into Mischief  filly was a maiden when she finished six lengths behind Wicked Whisper but won her next start in the slop at Churchill. She was a distant seventh in her one start this year after setting fractions of :23.23 and :46.69 around two turns at Gulfstream Park.

Lloyd Madison Farms IV's Sconsin rounds out the field and enters off a five-length allowance optional claiming win June 13, when the daughter of Include  rallied from ninth going 6 1/2 furlongs at Churchill. The Beaumont will be the first stakes race for the Greg Foley trainee.

Entries: Beaumont S. Presented by Keeneland Select (G3)

Keeneland, Friday, July 10, 2020, Race 7

• Grade III
• About 7f
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 4:24 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Slam Dunk (KY)	Luis Saez	118	Rodolphe Brisset	15/1
2	2Speech (FL)	Javier Castellano	118	Michael W. McCarthy	7/5
3	3Four Graces (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	118	Ian R. Wilkes	3/1
4	4Wicked Whisper (KY)	Joel Rosario	123	Steven M. Asmussen	3/1
5	5Sconsin (KY)	James Graham	118	Gregory D. Foley	9/2
6	6Turtle Trax (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	118	Ian R. Wilkes	12/1