VanMeter Victory at Oaklawn a Family Affair

Will VanMeter's sixth career victory as a trainer was one for the family. 

 

VanMeter co-owns Remember Lucy—a dazzling debut winner March 21 at Oaklawn Park—with father Tom, a prominent Kentucky sales consigner. The filly was named for his late aunt, Lucy Elliott Bryans VanMeter, who died of a brain aneurysm in July 2010 in Lexington. She was only 49.

 

"She was a very beautiful person, inside and out," VanMeter said the morning of March 22. "She was in great health—very vibrant, very active in the community. She just woke up one morning, was walking to the bathroom, and just fell over dead."

 

VanMeter, 31, said he and his girlfriend, Kristin Fischer—who is also his assistant—chose the name for Remember Lucy, a 3-year-old from the first crop of Tale of Ekati  , as a tribute.

 

"Our family is very close," VanMeter said.

 

Remember Lucy was making her career debut Saturday, and like many first-time starters breaking from the rail in six-furlong races at Oaklawn, was off slowly. She only had one horse beaten after a quarter-mile, but began to advance toward the leaders on the turn. Remember Lucy rolled six-wide into the stretch and took command in the final furlong under jockey Terry Thompson to win by 4 1/4 widening lengths.

 

"Our filly can really kick," VanMeter said.

 

Remember Lucy ran six furlongs over a good track in 1:12.69. She paid $22.20 as a 10-1 shot in the nine-horse field. VanMeter said he believed Remember Lucy would run well because she outworked stablemate Radiant Ruby "a couple of times." Radiant Ruby, a 4-year-old Tale of the Cat   filly, won her Jan. 30 career debut at Oaklawn.

 

"It really flattered what Lucy was doing in the morning," VanMeter said. "We were like, 'We've got a really nice horse here.'"

 

Remember Lucy is one of 10 horses VanMeter, a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, has at Oaklawn. The trainer saddled his first career winner March 14, 2014, at Oaklawn (Pearl Turn) and has 4-0-1 record from 10 starts at the 2015 meeting.

 

"It's a fun game, as long as I have two nickels to rub together," VanMeter said.

 

Remember Lucy, bred in Kentucky by Liberation Farm and Brandywine Farm, is out of the winning Mr. Greeley mare Faraway Legend. Tom VanMeter bought the filly as a weanling for $23,000 at the 2012 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.