Botanical Ready to Blossom in Bourbonette

LNJ Foxwoods and Clearsky Farms’ Botanical , the dazzling 6 1/2-length winner of the $150,000 Cincinnati Trophy Stakes March 4, headlines 11 3-year-old fillies racing in the $300,000 Bourbonette Oaks March 25 at Turfway Park.

The 1 1/16-mile Bourbonette Oaks will go as the 11th race on the stakes-laden 13-race program topped by the $700,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3).

The top-five finishers in the Bourbonette Oaks will receive points on a 50-20-15-10-5 scale towards the May 5 Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs if they are nominated to that race.

Trained by Brad Cox, Botanical is undefeated in three starts over the Turfway Park Tapeta surface. The daughter of Medaglia d'Oro   crushed a field of 11 on Nov. 30 to break her maiden by 10 3/4 lengths. Two starts ago, Botanical was tested against first-level allowance company and made quick work of her nine rivals by 4 1/2 lengths. In the Cincinnati Trophy, Botanical sat nine lengths behind a runaway pacesetter and easily defeated her six rivals as the heavy 4-5 favorite. Jockey Chris Landeros will have the return call and break from post 5.

“It was an interesting race shape in the Cincinnati Trophy where we had a runoff leader (B G Warrior ). She’s shown the ability to relax off the pace in her previous starts so I wasn’t too worried,” Landeros said. “(B G Warrior) started coming back to us around the turn and I just let Botanical do her thing. She was able to easily draw off but I wanted to make sure not to do too much. She’s shown so much talent this meet at Turfway and I’m really looking forward to riding her again on Saturday.” 

Video: Cincinnati Trophy S. (BT)

Cox will also start Spendthrift Farm's Flashy Gem , a winner of two consecutive races after a debut fourth. Hall of Famer John Velazquez rides.

Among Botanical’s top rivals in the Bourbonette Oaks is Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran’s California shipper Ag Bullet . Trained by George Papaprodromou, Ag Bullet is scheduled to make her first start outside California in the Bourbonette. Based at Santa Anita Park, Ag Bullet tabbed her first stakes victory in her last start when she gamely held off The Wild Grazer  by a neck in the $101,000 Lady of Shamrock Stakes. The gray daughter of Twirling Candy   will break from post 11 with Umberto Rispoli in the saddle.

Another stakes winner in the Bourbonette Oaks is D. J. Stable’s Renegade Rebel . Trained by Mark Casse and ridden by Rafael Hernandez, Renegade Rebel is slated to make her 3-year-old debut in the Bourbonette. As a 2-year-old, Renegade Rebel impressively broke her maiden by seven lengths at Woodbine and followed that victory one month later with a front-running score in the $150,900 Mazarine Stakes (G3). Renegade Rebel will break from the rail.

Entries: Bourbonette Oaks

Turfway Park, Saturday, March 25, 2023, Race 11

• STK
• 1 1/16m
• All Weather Track
• $300,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 5:43 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Renegade Rebel (KY)	Rafael Manuel Hernandez	124	Mark E. Casse	6/1
2	2Bolivie (IRE)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Brendan P. Walsh	5/1
3	3Olympic Prank (KY)	Edgard J. Zayas	118	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	20/1
4	4Thirty Thou Kelvin (KY)	Kazushi Kimura	118	John P. Terranova, II	20/1
5	5Botanical (KY)	Chris Landeros	124	Brad H. Cox	2/1
6	6Always At Ease (KY)	Kent J. Desormeaux	118	J. Keith Desormeaux	30/1
7	7Miss New York (KY)	Jose E. Morelos	118	Jorge Delgado	15/1
8	8Flashy Gem (KY)	John R. Velazquez	118	Brad H. Cox	4/1
9	9Shewillghostu (KY)	Sonny Leon	118	Eric R. Reed	30/1
10	10Medaglia Forever (KY)	Fernando De La Cruz	118	George R. Arnold, II	30/1
11	11Ag Bullet (KY)	Umberto Rispoli	124	George Papaprodromou	7/2