Ag Bullet victorious in the Ladies Turf Sprint (Coady Media)
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Keeneland Barn Notes
LEXINGTON, Ky.— When she last raced in Kentucky, Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran’s Ag Bullet showed her heels to 11 rivals in the Exacta Systems Ladies Turf Sprint (G2) at Kentucky Downs on Aug. 31.
“She’s just really good right now,” trainer Richard Baltas said Wednesday morning before Ag Bullet went through her paces on the main track. “It’s like she has just come into her own.”
At Kentucky Downs, Ag Bullet established a course record of 1:14.19 for 6½ furlongs while recording her fourth win in five starts this year. Umberto Rispoli, who has been aboard for those victories, has the mount Saturday in the $750,000 First Lady (G1) Presented by UK HealthCare going a mile on the turf.
“I think 6½ (furlongs) to a mile is best for her,” Baltas said of Ag Bullet, who has posted front-running victories in her past two races.
“She doesn’t have to be on the lead. She has a lot of natural speed, and she puts herself into the race.”
The lone blemish on Ag Bullet’s resume in 2024 is a ninth-place finish in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2) on Kentucky Derby Day.
“She didn’t break well that day, and then she set fast fractions and fell apart,” Baltas said. “She likes it firm, and that day it had rained.”
