La Coronel, Brown Trio Headline Jenny Wiley Stakes

The past few seasons have seen the turf female ranks stand as arguably the best pound-for-pound group in Thoroughbred racing, overflowing with such depth that even grade 1 winners can get lost in the star-studded crowd.

Two barns producing the best of the best when it comes to ladies of the lawn are two-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown and Canadian Hall of Famer Mark Casse. With the first grade 1 test for turf females of 2018 slated to take place this weekend, it is fitting the two trainers who have wielded the division's strongest hands in recent years have entrants none would be shocked to see prevail.

Casse trainee La Coronel, unbeaten in three starts over the Keeneland course, has a trio of Brown contenders to go against, as well as seven others, when she returns to her favorite stomping grounds for the $350,000 Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) going 1 1/16 miles April 14.

With the retirements of two-time champion turf female Tepin and grade 1 winner Catch a Glimpse last season, there were some hefty shoes left behind in the Casse shedrow for some brave stablemate to fill. Touted as one of the barn's top talents since her 2-year-old season, La Coronel took on that challenge with a seven-race campaign in 2017 that saw her win three graded stakes, travel to Royal Ascot and back, and break through the top-level ceiling with a victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes presented by Lane's End (G1T) at Keeneland in October.

John Oxley's 4-year-old filly has found some stiff challengers while transitioning into the older ranks this year. During her season debut in the Feb. 10 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes (G3T) at Tampa Bay Downs, she finished second by four lengths to the classy multiple graded stakes winner and fellow Jenny Wiley entrant Dona Bruja.

She was beaten less than a length last time out while running third behind winner and Brown trainee Fourstar Crook in the March 10 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T), a race Casse said may have provided some useful lessons toward Saturday's test.

"I think (jockey) Jose (Lezcano) learned something about her in her last race, and I think he feels that he could have rode her better and he understands her better now," Casse said. "He's ridden her a few times, but he learned something about her the other day.

"She sometimes can be her own worst enemy as we've seen but ... I know she's always going to give us her best. All systems are go. She's ready."

In addition to her victory in the QE2, La Coronel also won the 2016 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (G3T) and last April's Appalachian Stakes Presented by Japan Racing Association (G3T) over the Keeneland lawn.

"She likes it here, and that's so important," Casse said. "People don't realize it, but Keeneland's turf course is definitely a course for (certain) horses. Some like it, some don't."

Fourstar Crook will make her first start at Keeneland, but she has held her form at every other venue Brown has taken her in 15 starts. The 6-year-old daughter of Freud  has won 10 of her last 12 outings, including a head triumph over Proctor's Ledge in the 1 1/8-mile Hillsborough.

The Hillsborough Stakes also served as the seasonal bow for Fourstar Crook's grade 1-winning stablemate Off Limits— another model of consistency for the Brown barn last year. The 6-year-old daughter of Mastercraftsman ran fifth in the Hillsborough in what was her first outing since winning the Nov. 26 Matriarch Stakes (G1T) at Del Mar, which capped a year that saw her win five of six starts.

The wild card of the Brown trio is Peter Brant's Sistercharlie, a group 3 winner in France who was beaten just a neck by stablemate New Money Honey during her North American debut in the July 8 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T). However, the 4-year-old daughter of Myboycharlie didn't get to build on that strong outing as she was sidelined the remainder of 2017 with an ailment.

"After that race (the Belmont Oaks), she got sick on me, really sick, and needed some extended time off," Brown said of Sistercharlie. "But she's back healthy now, and she's back now training well. A mile and a sixteenth is a touch short for her, but I needed somewhere to get her started. And she's training particularly well."

Entries: Coolmore Jenny Wiley S. (G1T)

Keeneland, Saturday, April 14, 2018, Race 10

• Grade IT
• 1 1/16m
• Turf
• $350,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 6:12 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Cambodia (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	120	Thomas F. Proctor	6/1
2	2Lovely Bernadette (KY)	Robby Albarado	120	James P. DiVito	30/1
3	3Off Limits (IRE)	Joel Rosario	123	Chad C. Brown	5/1
4	4Dona Bruja (ARG)	Jose L. Ortiz	118	Ignacio Correas, IV	4/1
5	5Kitten's Roar (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	120	Michael J. Maker	12/1
6	6Bletchley (GB)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	118	Mark E. Casse	30/1
7	7Sistercharlie (IRE)	John R. Velazquez	118	Chad C. Brown	7/2
8	8La Coronel (KY)	Jose Lezcano	120	Mark E. Casse	9/2
9	9Ultra Brat (KY)	Nik Juarez	118	H. Graham Motion	30/1
10	10Proctor's Ledge (KY)	Feargal Lynch	118	Brendan P. Walsh	12/1
11	11Fourstar Crook (NY)	Javier Castellano	120	Chad C. Brown	5/1