May Day Ready captures the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies (Courtney Snow/Past The Wire)
By Tim Wilkin – Kentucky Downs
FRANKLIN, Ky.— Trainer Joe Lee is making the most of the five horses he has in his stable at Belmont Park in New York.
One horse, in particular, has made this a most satisfying summer for the 62-year-old Lee.
May Day Ready, a 2-year-old filly ridden by Frankie Dettori, took command in deep stretch and won the 13th running of the $1 million Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Sunday afternoon.
The daughter of Tapit beat the Saffie Joseph-trained Bellavinino and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. to the finish line and won by 1 ¾ lengths.
May Day Ready, owned by KatieRich Stables, a breeding operation in Midway, Ky., run by Larry Doyle and his wife Karen, won for the second time in as many starts. She broke her maiden at Saratoga on Aug. 4, winning by a nose at odds of 25-1 going 1 1/16 miles.
Lee wasn’t surprised when May Day Ready, a daughter of Tapit, won her debut; he certainly wasn’t going to be shocked if she won Sunday going off at 9-2.
“I loved her,” Lee said. “I’ve loved her since probably her fourth or so public work. I’ve been around some nice ones, and I just thought she was special.”
#6 May Day Ready and @FrankieDettori take the Juvenile Fillies S. at Kentucky Downs at 7/2 for trainer Joseph Lee!
— TwinSpires Racing (@TwinSpires) September 8, 2024
#TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/REVH7ruTJi
This was just the 19th starter for Lee’s modest stable this year. He has four wins, two of them by the promising May Day Ready.
Lee began his career working for future Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas after he graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1989. In 1993, he and another former Lukas assistant, Kiaran McLaughlin, went to work in Dubai, where he remained for seven years. After that, he was in Japan for nearly a dozen years.
He worked for McLaughlin in New York before opening his own public stable in in 2020.
Following May Day Ready’s maiden breaker in her debut at Saratoga, Doyle decided it would be Kentucky Downs for her second start. Lee, wasn’t sure if the filly was going to be able to handle the unique Kentucky Downs course.
“She’s got a lot of heart, I knew that,” Lee said. “I’m glad for (Doyle) that she handled the course.”
May Day Ready settled in mid-pack in the 12-horse field, content to let the Joe Sharp-trained Mean Eileen set fractions of 23.06, 45.20 and 1:09.51. May Day ready swung out four wide leaving the turn and got to work under Dettori and was full of run to the wire.
“She’s still a bit green,” Dettori said. “So, that’s good. If she can still do that and be green, that means there is room for improvement. I suspect she has a shot at the Breeders’ Cup. She’s got that little turn of foot that makes the difference between being a horse and being a good horse.”
May Day Ready’s final time was 1:35.36. She paid $11.16 and earned $588,300.
Bellavinino finished a neck in front of She’s Got Will for third. Mean Eileen settled for fourth and was followed by Sashay Away, Somethinabouther, Tigerish, Bonne Fille, Flip Flops, Sorry Not Worry, Into the Fray and Playful Lass.
