Wet Paint taking a win home in the mud for Godolphin in the Honey Bee G3 at Oaklawn. (Coady Photography)
Breeders’ Cup Notes
Godolphin LLC’s cleverly named WET PAINT was one of the top 3-year-old fillies early in the year, going off as the Kentucky Oaks (G1) favorite, but she is coming into the Longines Distaff in the shadows of several top older fillies and mares, including her own stablemate, Idiomatic, who figures to be the Distaff favorite.
Wet Paint came into the Kentucky Oaks riding a three-race win streak but had to settle for fourth behind another Godolphin filly, Pretty Mischievous. That was followed by a disappointing second in the Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes before her first career Grade 1 victory in the Coaching Club of America Oaks at Saratoga July 22. She has not started since she finished second to the front-running Randomized in the Alabama Stakes (G1) Aug. 19 at Saratoga and comes into the Distaff fresh by design.
“She’s doing excellent right now,” trainer Brad Cox said. “We had never really given her a break and we love what we are seeing from her right now. She’s developed over the fall. She’s put on weight; she’s lengthened a bit. We’ve loved what we’ve seen in her last three or four works.”
While Godolphin will be represented by both Wet Paint and the Kentucky Oaks winner in the Distaff, there are several ladies at the farm that are slightly partial to Wet Paint having helped name the filly after a funny incident involving Tammy Masterson, who has worked for Godolphin for 22 years.
Masterson was at Saratoga when Godolphin’s Essential Quality won the Travers and, in her excitement, to have her picture with the jockey statue painted in the colors of the winning Travers owner, she didn’t realize the paint was still wet and got her hand covered in the Godolphin royal blue, which promoted the artist to hang a sign on the statue saying, “Wet Paint.” Vicky Van Camp, Godolphin’s racing research coordinator was with Masterson that day and remembered the incident when it came time to name a filly by Blame out of the mare Sky Painter and quickly suggested the name Wet Paint.
“I’m really fond of the filly,” Van Camp said. “She’s been so honest and consistent. Brad’s done a great job with her. I was with Stonerside Farm before coming to Godolphin and I go back five generations with the family. I had actually named her mother as well. It’s been wonderful to watch the family continue to develop. And Tammy is just such a great person, so much fun to be around. I don’t think if it had happened to any other person, we would have laughed so hard or had so much fun with it that day.”
Masterson says she gets more and more embarrassed about that day every time she tells the story, but really enjoyed watching Wet Paint develop into a top 3-year-old filly.
“It was my first big race day and I just got super, super excited,” Masterson said. “As we were leaving the track, we saw the statue and I just ran right up to it. I remember everyone scream ‘wet paint,’ ‘wet paint,’ but I was completely oblivious. When I looked at my hand it was a solid blue, and my group caught some funny pictures with the artist’s face. She was just in disbelief.
“Vicky did a great job naming the filly. It’s been a lot of fun; it’s been a blast being associated with her name and having her do so well on the track. When our other filly won the Oaks, I had to hide my disappointment because I was rooting for Wet Paint. It will be a lot fun to watch both of them run on Saturday.”
