Wet Paint Leaves Her Mark in Martha Washington

Godolphin homebred Wet Paint  hung her competition out to dry Jan. 28 at Oaklawn Park when she completed a last-to-first move and powered down the middle of the track to capture the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes. The victory gave her 20 qualifying points toward the May 5 Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs. 

With Flavien Prat in the irons, the 3-year-old daughter of Blame   traveled at the back of the pack at nearly every marker in the 1 1/16-mile race, with Olivia Twist  and Defining Purpose  setting off to lead through fractions of :23.96 and :48.18. With the final turn in sight, Prat edged Wet Paint up from the rear and the filly started to make up ground while Taxed  challenged the leaders from the outside in 1:13.28. As Defining Purpose and Taxed dueled down the wet fast track, Wet Paint found her best stride and powered away to get the victory by two lengths in a final time of 1:44.62.

"(Brad) told me before the race that she was a filly which didn't have much speed in the first part of the race and to try to ride her to get a place and if it was a good trip she could do better. That's what she did today," Prat said. 

Taxed finished second, three-quarters of a length in front of Defining Purpose. They earned eight and six points, respectively, toward Kentucky Oaks eligibility, while Take Charge Briana  took four points for fourth, and Olivia Twist earned two points for her fifth-place finish. The Kentucky Oaks is limited to 14 starters and qualifying points are used to determine which horses make the field if it oversubscribes.

Last year's edition of the Martha Washington was captured by D. Wayne Lukas trainee Secret Oath  who went on to another win at Oaklawn in the Honeybee Stakes (G3) a month later before she galloped to victory in the Oaks ahead of eventual 2022 champion 3-year-old filly Nest .

Wet Paint ($8) increased her earnings to $162,500 from a record of 2-1-0 from four starts for trainer Brad Cox. She broke her maiden second out at Horseshoe Indianapolis in late October, finishing 2 3/4 lengths ahead of her competition. Most recently, she put in a clear runner-up effort in a Dec. 14 allowance optional claiming event at Turfway Park, where she was bested by 1 1/2 lengths by Michael Trombetta trainee Bulsara  with the rest of the field 12 3/4 lengths back. 

Wet Paint is the only foal to race from two others out of the grade 3-placed Street Cry  mare Sky Painter , who also has a yearling Medaglia d'Oro   filly. The dam was bred back to Not This Time   for this year.