Grade 1 Winner Weep No More Nearing Return

Ashbrook Farm's Weep No More, winner of the 2016 Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1), has returned to training with designs on making her seasonal debut during the Churchill Downs spring meet, her conditioner Rusty Arnold said March 8.

A big-striding daughter of Mineshaft  , Weep No More thrust herself into the forefront of the 3-year-old filly ranks in April, when she upset grade 1 winner Rachel's Valentina, eventual Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Cathryn Sophia, and graded stakes victress Carina Mia at odds of 30-1 with a last-to-first surge in the Ashland at Keeneland. The chestnut filly went on to run seventh in the Oaks and following her fourth-place finish in the Alabama Stakes (G1) in August was given the rest of the season off, when she was discovered to have mild bone bruising.

NOVAK: Weep No More Stuns Ashland at 30-1

"She's been back with me about a month. We're hoping for a race for her on Derby week," Arnold said. "She needed the time off. She had some bone bruising and her stride was not the same. She wasn't reaching out and we sent her to Dr. (Larry) Bramlage, and he said this filly is going to come back fine. She just needs some time. 

"We decided to give her more time even, because there isn't a whole lot in the beginning of the year for older fillies. As a 4-year-old, we decided let's not bring her out too quick. Let's not force the issue in the winter, and in the spring and summer, we'll hopefully have a nice filly. That's the plan. Let's see if I can get it to work for me."

Bred by Hinkle Farms and Robert Kessinger and purchased for $120,000 at the 2015 Ocala Breeders' Sale Co.'s  March 2-year-olds in training sale, Weep No More won three of her first four starts. She took the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in February of 2016 prior to her Ashland victory. She has three wins from seven starts with $407,269 in earnings.