Army Wife Fends Off Crazy Beautiful in Lady Jacqueline
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Photo: JJ Zamaiko Photography, Inc.
Army Wife wins the Lady Jacqueline Stakes at Thistledown
In a skirmish to the wire, Army Wife fended off Crazy Beautiful to win her second start of the season in the $250,000 Lady Jacqueline Stakes June 25 at Thistledown.
The daughter of Declaration of War broke well from the gate and settled into runner-up position early behind fractions of :24.08, :48.28 and 1:12.68 set by Maliced . Rounding the turn for home, Maliced began to lose steam and Army Wife took over under Tyler Gaffalione to top the field of seven, hitting the mile mark in 1:38.42.
Determined to give the leader a run for her money was Kenny McPeek trainee Crazy Beautiful , who surged from the outside in an attempt to take control—but to no avail. Army Wife remained resilient, taking home the victory by three-quarters of a length in 1:50 4/5 for trainer Michael Maker.
She's Pure Silver , a 54-1 longshot, ran third, and Microcap was fourth. Maliced, Take Charge Lorin , Jlo Can Dance completed the order of finish.
Grade 1 winner Maracuja , the third choice at 3-1 odds, was eased by jockey Kendrick Carmouche and was vanned off, according to the Equibase chart. However, a positive report was provided to BloodHorse by Brittney Atras, wife and assistant to New York-based trainer Rob Atras.
"Maracuja is fine," she said. "She's coming back to New York tomorrow for further evaluation. There was nothing found on initial radiographs. We're very thankful for Kendrick for taking care of her."
#6 ARMY WIFE takes the Lady Jaqueline Stakes at Thistledown! Congrats to connections @TrainerMMaker, Jockey @Tyler_Gaff & Owners Three Diamonds Farm.
The G3 Ohio Derby is next! Watch & wager now at https://t.co/nBYFHj6ufh pic.twitter.com/T6CiDVGPks— TVG (@TVG) June 25, 2022
Army Wife returned $4.40 on a $2 win ticket and increased her earnings to $786,272.
Owned by Three Diamonds Farm, the filly earned her first win in graded stakes company last year in the May 14 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2). She went on to win the Iowa Oaks (G3) her next time out and placed in the Alabama Stakes (G1) and Cotillion Stakes (G1) during the 2021 season.
So far this year, the filly has only one other start in the Shawnee Stakes in which she came third. Her last start of 2021 was a fourth-place finish in the Falls City Stakes (G2). Both races were at Churchill Downs.
Leading up to the Lady Jacqueline, Army Wife recorded six breezes this year with five at Keeneland, and one around the Churchill Downs oval May 28.
Army Wife was initially a $50,000 purchase from the Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services consignment at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale for EQB agent Patrice Miller.
Hitting the sales ground again in 2020, the filly went to agent Ryder Finney for $190,000 from the Grassroots Training & Sales consignment at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training.
Bred in Kentucky by J D Stuart and AR Enterprises, Army Wife is out of the Arch mare Tread , who has two winners out of four foals to race. The dam also produced Trace , a winner of $103,728. Her last reported foal is a 3-year-old Jimmy Creed filly named Nice Is Free .