Simply in Front Simply is Best in Music City
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Photo: Coady Media/Christine Hayden
Simply in Front wins the Music City Stakes at Kentucky Downs
Colebrook Farms' Simply in Front did not live up to her name in the early stages of the $1,767,200 Music City Stakes (G2T) at Kentucky Downs Sept. 7, but proved simply the best by the wire.
"She's just a filly that is getting really good right now," said trainer Eddie Kenneally. "She could be a very good 4-year-old filly next year. She's on the improve, she's real good."
Spotting the field several lengths out of the gate, jockey Luis Saez showed patience at the back of the field of 12. Behind an opening quarter-mile of :22.78, Saez swung his 3-year-old daughter of Summer Front wide off the turn and came with a powerful rally as she took the lead outside the eighth pole.
Dueling with pacesetter Pipsy for the final eighth of a mile, Simply in Front hit the wire a half-length clear while completing 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.01 and paying $14.62. Vive Veuve was third.
Simply in Front wins the G2 AGS Music City Stakes for trainer Eddie Keneally and owner Colebrook Farms. #KyDowns pic.twitter.com/c0H0KaFY1Q
— Kentucky Downs (@KYDownsRacing) September 7, 2024
"She kind of fell asleep a little bit there (in the starting gate)," Saez said. "We knew they had a lot of speed. She always comes with a big turn of foot. Today, she ran a big race."
Kenneally was confident coming into the race that the distance and unique configuration of Kentucky Downs would suit his filly.
"I knew she'd like this new setup here, Kentucky Downs, she hadn't run here before," Kenneally said. "You don't know what horses are going to love it until you run them. I had a good feeling about this filly and it paid off."
Kenneally has been the trainer of record for all four of the filly's career starts in Kentucky while Patrick Dixon's name resided in the Canadian program for her five starts at Woodbine. Dixon trained her to runner-up finishes in last year's Natalma Stakes (G1T) and July 27 Ontario Colleen Stakes (G3T), but it was Kenneally who added the first graded victory to her résumé.
The connections of Simply in Front after the Music City Stakes
"It really enhances her whole page and her value," Kenneally said. "She's from a very strong female family. This filly got tremendous bottom side to her pedigree, she's going to be a nice broodmare down the line, too."
Bred in Kentucky by William Harrigan and Mike Pietrangelo, Simply in Front is out of the Blame mare Complicated . Simply in Front became the third stakes winner produced by the dam and second graded winner. Her half sister by Honor Code is three-time graded stakes winner Honor D Lady , winner of the July 7 Delaware Handicap (G2) in her last start. Complicated's dam, Consequence, was grade 3-placed and winner of the American One Thousand Guineas Stakes at Arlington Park in 2009.