Kim K Breaks Maiden in Barretts Debutante

Rockingham Ranch's Kim K showed some speed and faded in her debut Sept. 2 at Del Mar, but flashed plenty of talent in her first stakes try Sept. 15 at Los Alamitos Race Course.

After a fifth-place finish in her unveiling, the $100,000 Barretts Debutante looked like it might play out in the same speed-and-stop fashion for the 2-year-old Will Take Charge  filly.

In the turn of the 6 1/2-furlong sprint Saturday—after she dueled in the backstretch—Kim K dropped back to third on the rail as favored Square Peggy and Naughty Tiger went on the attack to her outside. But the Peter Miller-trained filly never lost contact with her rivals and they never cleared. With an unimpeded lane on the rail under jockey Heriberto Figueroa, Kim K re-rallied and pulled away to win by three lengths over Square Peggy.

"She was short first time out," Miller said. "I was a little reluctant to come back on two weeks rest, but I knew she needed that race. (Del Mar's main track was) deep and tiring, and she was in the middle of a three- or four-horse speed spread going 6 1/2 (furlongs), so I knew she would be fit."

The victory in 1:16.28 gave Figueroa, an apprentice, the first stakes win of his career, and Kim K became the first black-type stakes winner for her sire, champion Will Take Charge. The Unbridled's Song stallion stands at Three Chimneys Farm, where his 2018 fee was $30,000.

Bred in Kentucky by Lynn Schiff out of the Trippi mare Trip for A. J., Kim K was a $335,000 purchase by Rockingham Ranch out of Sequel Bloodstock's consignment to the Barretts Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. She now has $57,200 in earnings.