Accomodate Eva and Corey Lanerie skim the rail to the win in the 2nd running of the Louisiana Broodmare Of The Year, “Lipstick Junky.” (Hodges Photography/Amanda Hodges Weir)
Fair Grounds Press Release
NEW ORLEANS, La.– Valene Farms’ Accommodate Eva proved convincingly she can win going a route of ground, scoring in Saturday’s $100,000 Louisiana Broodmare of the Year “Lipstick Junky” Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Beating seven 3-year-old Louisiana-bred fillies, the Louisiana Champions Day Lassie victress covered one mile in 1:38.51 under jockey Corey Lanerie.
Troubled early, Emily’s Bullet ran well late to get up for second over a tough-trip Lightofmaine.
Accommodate Eva is trained by Dallas Stewart, who was with Hoist the Gold at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh for the $20 million Saudi Cup. Owner Murray Valene was on hand for the win.
“That was terrific,” Valene said. “She’s a nice filly, who tries hard. She’s learning how to run right now, and she continues to get better.”
Powering through tight quarters out of the gate, Accommodate Eva relaxed in midpack and began tracking co-favorite Clearly a Test and the leader Wonderrand who clicked through moderate fractions of :24.39 and :48.65. As the forward group of fillies bunched up at the top of the stretch, Accommodate Eva saw an opening and shot through it to take the lead with a furlong to go. From there, she poured it on under a handride, pulling away by open lengths.
“Dallas and her team brought her over here ready,” Lanerie said. “I’d like to thank Murray Valene for letting me ride her. I was just a passenger, sitting on the inside waiting for room. I positioned myself right behind Clearly a Test. I thought she was the filly to beat, and she’d take me at least to the 1/8th pole and after that I could hopefully find some running room. At the quarter pole I had to push my way out but once I found daylight it was over.”
Having broken her maiden going seven furlongs at Keeneland in October, Accommodate Eva was entered ambitiously going two turns first in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and later in the Silverbulletday, where she failed to contend in either contest. Witnessing her resolute win going long on Saturday, after the race Valene said the daughter of Munnings could try open company again.
“We may try the (Fair Grounds) Oaks, we don’t know,” Valene said. “She was pretty impressive today, so we’ll see what happens.”
With two stakes wins on her resume, Accommodate Eva’s career record stands at 8-3-0-1 with $189,230 in the bank. Her backers were rewarded with $6.20, $3.80, and $3.00.
