Shotgun Hottie Ready to Deliver in Locust Grove

After a pair of runner-up finishes in graded stakes with disadvantageous trips, Shotgun Hottie will look to get back in a winning groove when she faces seven fillies and mares in the $400,000 Locust Grove Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs Sept. 14.

A four-time stakes winner and one-time graded winner owned by Omar Aldabbagh and Jeff Ganje, Shotgun Hottie is 1-for-6 this year, taking the Allaire du Pont Distaff Stakes in fast time at Pimlico Race Course May 17. But follow-up starts in the June 29 Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs and the July 21 Shuvee Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course did not go how those that backed her at the mutuel windows would have hoped.

Boxed in for much of the Fleur de Lis, the Cherie DeVaux trainee finally found daylight in the stretch, squeezing through along the rail. Her rally came up just short, the winning Scylla  ahead by a neck.

Then, in the five-horse Shuvee, she bobbled slightly at the start and raced four wide on the second turn under Lopez, finishing 2 1/2 lengths behind a ground-saving Raging Sea , next-out winner of the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1).

There would appear to be no rival of that caliber in the Locust Grove, and Shotgun Hottie seems likely to have a trip in the clear, breaking from post 7 under Jose Ortiz.

The 5-year-old daughter of Gun Runner   is the only entrant exiting graded company in their most recent races, though others have earlier experience in graded races, occasionally with success.

Taxed  and Hoosier Philly  scored in grade 2 races as younger horses, and Musical Mischief  and Free Like a Girl  became grade 1-placed in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Free Like a Girl, a Louisiana-bred star with 18 career victories and more than $1.9 million in earnings, appears one of the leading threats to Shotgun Hottie, along with stakes-winning Loved , a half-sister to grade 1 winner and current Darley stallion Maxfield  .

The Locust Grove is one of five stakes races on Saturday's card, with two others being $300,000 sprints for older horses, the Open Mind Stakes for females at 6 1/2 furlongs and the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes at six furlongs. The Pocahontas Stakes (G3) and Iroquois Stakes (G3) are the other stakes on Saturday, both for juveniles.

Zeitlos , a three-time winner on the Churchill Downs main track, may hold a slight edge in the competitive, six-horse lineup in the Open Mind, and stakes winners Closethegame Sugar  and Skelly —both entering off runner-up finishes in grade 1 sprints—are the Louisville Thoroughbred Society headliners. The former ran second to The Chosen Vron  in the July 27 Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at Del Mar, and Skelly was second to Nakatomi  in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) at Saratoga, also July 27.