Kilwin. (Jenny Doyle/Past The Wire)
Darren Rogers/Churchill Downs
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kilwin, owned by Ann Braxton Lynch’s BBN Racing LLC, surged past 7-5 favorite Vodka With a Twist inside the final furlong to win Sunday’s fourth running of the $175,000 Leslie’s Lady Overnight Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs by 1 ¼ lengths.
Ridden by Edgar Morales and conditioned by Rusty Arnold, Kilwin made her debut on first and ran seven furlongs over a fast track in a stakes record 1:21.61 to collect her second career stakes win. The previous mark was Emery’s 1:22.46 in last year’s renewal.
Each of Kilwin’s previous five races came on grass, including a win in the $1 million Untapable at Kentucky Downs last September at age 2 and a runner-up effort in the $225,000 Mamzelle (GIII) in her previous start at Churchill Downs on May 10.
“She has some dirt in her pedigree,” Arnold said. “She’s trained well over it, so we were confident she’d handle it. When she won her first two starts on the grass, it was hard to take her off of it. After her last couple of starts, we picked out this spot and thought it was a great place to try dirt for the first time.”
California invader Vodka With a Twist, the winner of last spring’s $225,000 Debutante at Churchill Downs, broke fastest from the gate and dictated the terms through a first quarter mile in :22.86 and a half mile in :45.58 as Kilwin tracked in fourth down the backstretch. Kilwin ranged into contention with a wide move around the turn, engaged Vodka With a Twist in upper stretch and inched clear of that rival with an eighth of a mile to run.
“She’s handled the dirt before in the morning and she proved it (Sunday) in the afternoon,” Morales said. “She traveled well throughout, and I was confident turning for home she’d give me a good run.”
Kilwin, at odds of 8-1, rewarded her backers with payouts of $18.08, $6.88 and $3.60. Vodka With a Twist, ridden by Flavien Prat, returned $3.44 and $2.62. Evanescence, with Luan Machado up, was another five lengths back in third and paid $2.68 to show.
Eclatant, Bourbon Memory and Miss Martini completed the order of finish. Impulse Buy was scratched.
With her victory worth $106,518, Kilwin boosted her career earnings to $812,968 from a record of 3-1-0 in six starts.
Kilwin is a daughter of Twirling Candy out of the Blame mare Spanish Star and was bred in Kentucky by Gilder-Schwarz Farms LLC.
The Leslie’s Lady honors Fred and Nancy Mitchell’s breed-shaping broodmare who produced 15 foals, of which nine became racehorses and seven were winners, including top sire Into Mischief, four-time champion Beholder and Grade I winner and sire Mendelssohn. The 2016 Broodmare of the Year passed away peacefully at age 26 on Jan. 24.
Following dark days on Monday and Tuesday, racing at Churchill Downs is scheduled to resume Wednesday with a nine-race card that begins at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Leslie’s Lady Quotes
Flavien Prat (jockey, Vodka With a Twist, runner-up): “She did a lot of things right today. She broke well and was traveling well down the backside. When she turned for home in front, she was still trying hard to the wire, but we were second best today.”
