Fancy Dress Party Remains Undefeated in Beaumont
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Fancy Dress Party wins the Beaumont Stakes over a sloppy track at Keeneland
When trainer Ben Colebrook's clients had spent their allocated budget at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, he contacted agents Alex Solis and Jason Litt about a Munnings filly he had his eye on. Now known as LNJ Foxwoods' Fancy Dress Party, the filly is undefeated in four starts for Colebrook after winning the $150,000 Beaumont Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G3) April 7.
The flashy 3-year-old broke on top over a sloppy track at Keeneland—the same condition and track as her Oct. 26 career debut—and held off a charging Mother Mother by a head to pick up her first graded stakes score. The Beaumont, her longest race to date at seven furlongs, followed a win in the Jan. 5 Glitter Woman Stakes, her only race over a fast track, at Gulfstream Park.
"When it rained, I wasn't worried," Colebrook said. "I was actually happy because I thought maybe the sloppy track would carry her because I didn't have her quite fit enough. I gave her a little break after the race in Gulfstream. We brought her back up here, and the weather didn't really cooperate and we missed a work, so we were really kind of struggling to make this race."
The Beaumont was also the deepest race of Fancy Dress Party's career. Feedback, 2-for-2 coming into the race, won the Forward Gal Stakes (G3) at the same distance at Gulfstream Park, and Rags to Riches Stakes winner Mother Mother was coming off two losses to multiple grade 1 winner Bellafina in Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) preps.
Fancy Dress Party and jockey Luis Saez set fractions of :22.57, :45.55, and 1:11.01 as the field shuffled behind her. Iva pressed the pace through the first quarter ahead of Another Time and Mother Mother. Feedback broke last and rushed to second while Iva dropped out of contention. Mother Mother and jockey Florent Geroux came up the rail in the homestretch while Feedback battled on the outside, but Fancy Dress Party dug in to hit the wire first in 1:28.18.
"We didn't plan on being on the lead," Colebrook said. "She just broke so sharp, and she did everything right. Luis just kind of stole the race, really, because you could see the other two horses—I don't know if it just took them a while to get on track or what—but they just didn't have that zip like I thought they would out of the gate. She caught a flyer out of there, so maybe that's part of it."
Saez said after the race he thought Mother Mother would be the speed but left Fancy Dress Party on top with her clean break.
"She was very comfortable," he said. "I felt like I had a lot of horse, and when we got to the stretch, she just kept going."
Mother Mother, Feedback, Another Time, and Iva completed the order of finish.
Fancy Dress Party was purchased by Solis/Litt for $280,000 from Buck Pond Farm's Keeneland September Yearling Sale consignment. She is out of the Matty G mare The Schvagen and was bred in Kentucky by Douglas Arnold. Her full brother Will Munnings was another proven sprinter and won the six-furlong Gazebo Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
Colebrook said he will likely keep Fancy Dress Party sprinting due to her success and pedigree but added all options are open moving forward. The seven-furlong Eight Belles Stakes (G2) on the May 3 Kentucky Oaks undercard is under consideration, depending on how she exits the Beaumont off the layoff. A try on the turf is also possible because her first race was originally scheduled on the grass and she trained well on it. Her last work prior to the Beaumont came in :50 flat over Keeneland's turf course April 2.
Whichever direction Colebrook decides on, he knows he has a quality filly.
"She showed today her class and guts," he said.