Red Carpet Ready, Powerful Capture Sprints at Churchill

When Red Carpet Ready  splashed home an easy 10-length winner in her debut last month at Churchill Downs, trainer Rusty Arnold could already hear the pundits.

"We didn't think (the race) was a fluke, but she went fast, and a lot of people thought it was because of the slop," Arnold said.

The nearly black filly with a white eye resembling that of her sire, the multiple grade 1-winning turf star Oscar Performance  , vindicated her connections' high opinion of her with a 3 1/4-length score Nov. 26 in the $200,000 Fern Creek Stakes.

"You always worry it could've been (a fluke), but (she showed) it wasn't," Arnold said. "That's a big jump coming from a maiden effort. Brad (Cox)'s filly (Key of Life ) is a very good filly, and we (outran) her the whole way. I wasn't surprised she ran well I was surprised she won like she did."

Outgunned from the gate by Twirled , jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. kept Red Carpet Ready in second behind a :22.38 opening quarter and :45.63 half-mile before the filly loomed alongside the pacesetter around the final bend. Under steady encouragement, she surged ahead of that rival and widened her margin to the wire.

Racing for the colors of Ashbrook Farm and Upland Flats Racing, Red Carpet Ready ($16.84) was timed in 1:16.72 for the 6 1/2 furlongs on a fast main track.

Twirled held on for second by a neck over favored Key of Life, who was forced to steady on the turn when stalking the pace.

Bred in Kentucky by Lynn Schiff, Red Carpet Ready became the first stakes winner on dirt for first crop sire Oscar Performance. The Mill Ridge stallion sired his first stakes winner with Andthewinneris  in the Oct. 9 Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes (G2T) at Keeneland.

Red Carpet Ready is the first stakes winner produced from her dam, Wild Silk  (Street Sense  ), a half sister to grade 1-winning sprinter Joking . Picked up by Bo Bromagen of Ashbrook Farm for $180,000 in 2021 at Fasig-Tipton at The Saratoga Sale in upstate New York, Red Carpet Ready later failed to meet her reserve of $100,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds-in-Training.

Video: Fern Creek S. (BT)

Powerful Lands First Stakes Score

Taking command Saturday at Churchill was Steve Asmussen trainee Powerful , who prevailed over Mr Bob  to win the $200,000 Ed Brown Stakes.

Under Tyler Gaffalione, the 2-year-old son of Nyquist   broke second with Top Recruit  showing the way in :22.38 over a fast dirt track. Around the final turn, Powerful was up to lead by a half-length in :45.55 with Top Recruit, Mounsieur Coco , and Bourbon Bash  all dueling shortly behind.

In the stretch, Mr Bob moved into third and made a bid to close in on Powerful in 1:10.50 but could not get it done, with the frontrunner sailing past the wire one length ahead to take the 6 1/2-furlong event in 1:17.12. 

Favored Powerful ($7.16) improved his record to 2-1-0 from four starts and increased his earnings to $207,390 for Don Adam's Courtlandt Farms.

"I rode him in his debut, and he showed some early speed that day," Gaffalione said. "He sat a really good trip today, and even taking pressure on the lead, he was game to hold everyone off."

Inside-running Mr Bob was second, and Frosted Departure  got up for third.

Bred in Kentucky by Parks Investment Group, Powerful's last time out was a disappointing finish in the Oct. 8 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland where he came 11th in a 14-horse field.

"Nothing really went right last time in the Breeders' Futurity," said Asmussen, a Hall of Famer and North America's all-time winningest trainer. "We regrouped after that race and decided to cut back in distance. We thought highly of him early on, and he showed who we thought he was today."

Powerful was a $525,000 purchase for Courtlandt from the Paramount Sales consignment to the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He is out of the Pulpit  mare Antiquity , who has three winners from three foals to race.

Video: Ed Brown S. (BT)