Naughty Joker a Serious Winner in Bourbonette Oaks
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Photo: Ryan Thompson
Jeff Ramsey leads Naughty Joker with Rafael Bejarano aboard after their Bourbonette Oaks win at Turfway Park
Ken and Sarah Ramsey's homebred filly Naughty Joker picked up her first stakes win and 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks March 9 in the $100,000 Maxim Crane Works Bourbonette Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Turfway Park.
"She was the favorite of our three going into the day," trainer Wesley Ward said of the daughter of Into Mischief . "This was actually my Royal Ascot filly for the Ramseys, but circumstances didn't work out for that. We might look at the Ashland Stakes (grade 1, April 6) at Keeneland, but the boss will make that decision."
Fun Finder took the lead from the break in the one-mile Bourbonette over the all-weather track at Turfway, and showed the way through fractions of :24.25, :47.76, and 1:12.36 through six furlongs.
Chasing the pace on the outside in fifth, jockey Rafael Bejarano shifted Naughty Joker out four wide approaching the far turn and launched their assault on the leader, moving in front by a head. Inching clear with each step, Naughty Joker finally managed to put some distance between her and Fun Finder and crossed the finish 1 3/4 lengths clear in a final time of 1:40.08.
"My horse came away really beautifully from the gate," said Bejarano, who built his career on the Kentucky circuit many years ago before moving his tack to California. "I saw a couple of horses with speed, so I put her right behind them and got her comfortable. It is so easy to ride for these guys (Ken and Sarah Ramsey and Wesley Ward). The horses I ride for them have so much class. I feel at home here in Kentucky, and I'm reminded of what it used to be like on top of the world here in Kentucky."
Ken McPeek trainee Fun Finder held for second, a half-length ahead of New Roo in third.
"I think she's still learning," McPeek said of his charge. "I think the last race, she thought she was going one turn and kind of pulled herself up, and today I think she learned a little bit. I think she's got a big future."
Naughty Joker, runner-up against the boys in the Oct. 28 Spendthrift Juvenile Stallion Stakes at Churchill Downs, broke her maiden at the Louisville oval Nov. 24 on her third start at 2. The filly has won or placed in all four outings and has earned $158,680. Her Saturday win moves her into 10th on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard.
Bred in Kentucky out of the Distorted Humor mare Fleeting Humor, Naughty Joker is a half sister to grade 3-placed Seventhfleethumor and stakes-placed Cathedral Reader. Her dam produced a Kitten's Joy filly in 2018 and was bred to Violence for 2019.