Arnold's Afternoon: Poolside With Slim Wins Valley View

Trainer Rusty Arnold notched his 300th win at Keeneland Oct. 23 when Neon Icon  scored in an allowance optional claiming race, and the 69-year-old horseman kept his momentum going Oct. 25 at his hometown track in Lexington by notching another three wins. This included back-to-back wins in the Myrtlewood Stakes and the Valley View Stakes (G2T) with Echo Sound  and Poolside With Slim , respectively.

"I'm having a very good day," Arnold said with a smile during an in-house postrace television interview.

Poolside With Slim took the biggest prize in the $318,468 Valley View, slipping up the inside of pacesetter Pharoah's Wine  under international riding legend Frankie Dettori. The ground he saved seemingly proved a difference maker, allowing his filly to register a 1 1/4-length triumph in a competitive mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies. She raced a mile in 1:36 over a firm turf course, returning $7.94 to win.

Pharoah's Wine, who set fractions of :23.89, 48.51, and 1:12.81, narrowly held second by a head over an on-coming Buttercream Babe , who showed.

Simply in Front  was fourth and favored Les Reys  was fifth.

Poolside With Slim, bred by Kilweelran in Ireland and owned by Glenn S. Bromagen II, Patrick Lewis, and Sandra Bromagen, notched her third victory in eight starts, two of them in stakes. She won the Penn Oaks under Dettori back in May.

Dettori credited Arnold for advising him to take Poolside With Slim from off the pace, a tactical change that seemed to result in improvement.

"She's just one of those fillies that's got a short kick, and the longer you wait, the better you are," said Arnold, the meet's third-leading trainer with eight wins.

She gave him his second victory in the Valley View, a race he first won in 2021 with Navratilova .

Out of Epaulette mare Kissepal, she is a daughter of the high-class Churchill , sire of European champion Vadeni  and French champion Blue Rose Cen . Churchill stood this past breeding season at Coolmore Stud for €30,000 or approximately $32,400.

Echo Sound Makes Noise in Stakes Debut in Myrtlewood

A race before the Valley View, Echo Sound pushed her unbeaten record to 3-for-3 for Arnold in catching Praying  and drawing clear by 2 1/2 lengths in the $197,969 Myrtlewood Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.

As in her two earlier victories, first at Ellis Park and then at Churchill Downs, Echo Sound was effective racing from just off the early pace. She stalked front-runners White Sands  and Praying in the six-furlong Myrtlewood through fractions of :21.86 and :45.72 before asserting her superiority in the stretch under Irad Ortiz Jr. She was clocked in a final time of 1:10.65 on a fast main track. She returned $8.96 for a $2 win wager.

Trust Fund Philly  rallied to show behind Echo Sound and Praying.

The winner, bred in Kentucky by Springhouse Farm, Vision TBs, Bruce Pieratt, and Patricia Pieratt, is owned by Gabriel "Spider" Duignan. She is a daughter of Ashford Stud stallion Echo Town   out of the Fusaichi Pegasus mare Eagle Sound .