Getting to Know Frivolous

Frivolous springs the upset in the Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
Meeting American Pharoah on the walk over to the paddock for the Fleur de Lis, a little of the Triple Crown winner’s luck seemed to rub off on Frivolous.
Going off at 32.10-to-1 in the race, Frivolous was the second longest shot on the board but she beat the odds when winning by 1 ½ lengths over race favorite Sheer Drama. But adding a second graded stakes win to her resume wasn’t the only thing Frivolous got from the win with the race being a “Win and You’re In” event for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
It’s time to get to know 5-year-old Frivolous as she aims for a start in the Distaff.
Race Résumé
Now in her third season of running, Frivolous started her career in April of her 3-year-old year but didn’t win until her fourth start. She was stakes-placed in her next start after that but made a huge jump from 3 to 4 with her first two starts as a 4-year-old earning her first triple-digit Equibase Speed Figures.
Frivolous added two more stakes placings to her resume throughout the year but finally broke through to add a graded stakes win to her record in her last race of the year when beating Don’t Tell Sophia in the Falls City Handicap. Equibase gave her a career-best 108 speed figure for that race, a figure she tied when winning the Fleur de Lis.
Early this year, Frivolous didn’t seem to be on her game finishing sixth and ninth, respectively, in her first two starts. However, she never seemed to be in contention throughout those races sitting farther back than normal. When allowed to run right behind the leader in the Fleur de Lis on Saturday, she showed her best.
2015 FLEUR DE LIS

Video courtesy of Breeders’ Cup World Championships
As said in the above paragraph, Frivolous does her best running when she is just off the pace. She has never been farther back than three lengths off the leader and won a race. However, in the times she’s been on the lead too early, she’s also lost, so it seems like she needs to be in that stalking position to do her best running.
We don’t know who exactly is headed to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff yet but with Wedding Toast also already getting a berth to the race we can see a little bit of what Frivolous might be facing. If Wedding Toast follows her Ogden Phipps-winning style, Frivolous will be sitting off of Wedding Toast in the Distaff. Speed figure-wise, Frivolous may have a hard time running with Wedding Toast if she doesn’t take a big jump forward as Wedding Toast’s top speed figure is a 116 while Frivolous’s best is a 108.
Pedigree
It was a good night for Belmont Stakes-winning sires on Saturday at Churchill Downs. Frivolous’s sire Empire Maker won the 2003 edition of the race and Noble Bird, who won the Stephen Foster, was sired by 2004 Belmont winner Birdstone. Funnily enough since I mentioned American Pharoah in the opening paragraph of this story, American Pharoah’s sire is also by Empire Maker.
Empire Maker now stands in Japan but his U.S. crops have done well here. In good news for Frivolous, he already has a (two-time) Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner in champion Royal Delta. His U.S. crops also included Grade 1 winners and Kentucky Derby second-place finishers Pioneerof the Nile (the sire of the aforementioned American Pharoah) and Bodemeister with 10 Grade 1 winners and 30 graded stakes winners overall.
On Frivolous’ dam side she is one of three winners from four foals to race out of the mare Sixty Rocketts. Sixty Rocketts herself won four races with them coming in distances from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles on dirt and turf. Sixty Rocketts is also the dam of the stakes-placed Drama Drama who won from one mile to 1 1/16 miles while her 3-year-old broke her maiden at a mile on the turf earlier this year.
Sixty Rocketts is a half-sister to Solo Cat, who was a stakes winner going a mile on the turf. Most of the stakes winners in Frivolous’ family come under her third and fourth dams with 11 stakes winners listed between them, including two-time Hong Kong champion Lucky Nine.
While Lucky Nine and a few others had their biggest wins come in sprint races, the amount of stamina also found in Frivolous’ pedigree in addition to her already winning at the 1 1/8 miles of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff should nix out any concerns you have about her being able to get the distance.
One final note when it comes to Frivolous and the Breeders’ Cup is that she has an advantage that others in the Distaff won’t have.
Her trainer Victoria Oliver is based at Keeneland so the mare trains over the surface every day. As Frivolous seems like she may be a cut below the others we may see turn up for the Distaff, the familiarity to the track may be an advantage that helps her on Oct. 30.