Eye on the Oaks: Lovely Maria

Lovely Maria giving Kerwin Clark his first Grade 1 victory in the Ashland. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
The sister race to the Kentucky Derby, the $1-million, 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks is held annually at Churchill Downs on the Friday before the Derby and restricted to 3-year-old fillies (young female horses). Eye on the Oaks, which will run through the 2015 edition of the race, takes a closer look at fillies who have won important races and could make an impact as we move toward the first Friday in May.
This week we take a closer look at Lovely Maria, winner of Saturday’s Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland.

A winner of one of her four starts as a 2-year-old, Lovely Maria is two-for-three this year and likely heads into the Oaks as one of the top contenders after winning the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland in convincing fashion. The tally earned her 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks and moved her into fifth on the Oaks leaderboard.
Racing Résumé
Lovely Maria got her career off to a winning start, breaking her maiden in her first try last September at Delaware Park. She followed that effort up with a pair of seconds, including a 4 ¼-length loss to eventual graded stakes winner Sarah Sis at Keeneland, before wrapping up her season with a disappointing fourth-place finish in Remington Park’s Trapeze Stakes as the favorite.
Her 3-year-old season has been considerably more successful. She began with a victory over highly regarded Shook Up in a Fair Grounds allowance and ventured into her first graded stakes with her next start in the Grade 3 Rachel Alexandra Stakes. There she finished second to stablemate and potential Kentucky Oaks favorite I’m a Chatterbox after jockey Kerwin Clark lost his whip during the race.
Trainer Larry Jones decided to separate his two star sophomore fillies for their next starts, and Lovely Maria’s final Kentucky Oaks prep came at Keeneland in Saturday’s Ashland. She went off as the favorite and did not disappoint her fans and backers.
Under Clark for the seventh time in as many starts, Lovely Maria stalked Temper Mint Patty and Angela Renee throughout much of the race before pouncing on the far turn. The pair was four-wide turning into the final stretch and took off once they straightened away. Lovely Maria defeated Angela Renee and Silverpocketsfull by an easy 3 ¼ lengths. The win marked Clark’s first Grade 1 victory in 40 years as a jockey.
2015 ASHLAND STAKES

Video courtesy Keeneland
“It's been 40 years in the making. I thank God for (owner) Mr. Brereton Jones and (trainer) Larry Jones – I wouldn't be here if not for them," Clark said. "(Lovely Maria) is a nice filly just coming into her own, and you can pretty much put her wherever you want her to be. She relaxed nice. Down the backside she's laying third and her ears are flicking back and forth, and I thought 'Boy, this is pretty good.' When I called on her she just accelerated.”
Lovely Maria has improved steadily throughout her career and really came into her own as a sophomore. Her three 2015 Equibase speed figures were 100, 98 and most recently a career-high 106 with her win in the Ashland, putting her right with the best fillies in her class.
Running Style
Lovely Maria is a stalking filly who does her best running when she sits just off the pace. Five of her six first- or second-place finishes came when she used that style, though she was versatile enough to win her first start as a 3-year-old when she set the pace. The only race she tried to come from far off the pace resulted in her worst career finish and the only time she’s finished out of the money, though it was still good for fourth of 11, in the Trapeze Stakes. Her stalking running style should prove to be a good one in this year’s Kentucky Oaks as there looks to be a lot of speed in the race to set the early pace.

Previous Editions ofEye on the Oaks 
Seduire
Take Charge Brandi
I'm a Chatterbox
Birdatthewire
Callback
Overprepared
Angela Renee
Condo Commando
Stellar Wind
Sarah Sis
Birdatthewire

Pedigree
Lovely Maria was offered at Keeneland as a weanling but did not change hands, with the $5,000 final bid not meeting her reserve. That bargain bid pales compared to her $402,600 current career earnings, but the filly was a member of stallion Majesticperfection’s first crop from a family a little light on class, as she is out of the Thunder Gulch mare Thundercup.
Majesticperfection’s first foals are 3-year-olds this year and though he was a sprinter, Lovely Maria has already shown her ability to go a distance. Including her, Majesticperfection has three stakes winners and 27 total winners from his 45 foals to start, putting him in third place in the 2015 second-crop sires list.
Lovely Maria’s dam Thundercup was unraced, but each of her four foals that have raced have done so successfully with wins to their credit. Second dam Buttercup threw eight winners from 10 starters, including multiple graded stakes winner Rare Blend, who in turn produced multiple graded stakes winner Rare Gift.
One has to go back to Lovely Maria’s third dam, Butter Fat, to find most of her pedigree’s class. Butter Fat herself was a black-type placed winner, but she produced a pair of Norwegian champions in Butterfly Rose and Missy Baldski plus multiple graded stakes winner Stacie’s Toy. Butter Fat is also a half-sister to graded stakes winner Wichita Oil.
Lovely Maria’s owner Airdrie Stud and trainer Larry Jones have teamed up to win the Oaks twice before, with Proud Spell in 2008 and Believe You Can in 2012. With an improving filly like Lovely Maria in the barn, they have a good chance to capture a third Oaks to give jockey Kerwin Clark his second Grade 1 win.