Leading Freshman Sire CONGRATS fillies WICKEDLY PERFECT and JORDY Y finished first and third in the Grade 1, $400,000 Darley Alcibiades Stake going a mile and one-sixteen on opening day of the Keeneland Fall Meeting.
WICKEDLY PERFECT was ridden to frontrunning perfection by Rafael Bejarano. She was away sharply and went straight to the front. She galloped around the clubhouse turn and down the backstretch with consumate ease. The pace picked up midway through the final turn and at the top of the stretch, the challegers readied to strike, but WICKEDLY PERFECT was far from done. Bejarano asked and she lengthened her stride to the wire. She drew off to win by two lengths.
“She always trained like a filly that wanted to run long,” winning trainer Doug O’Neill said. “That’s why we put blinkers on her in her very first start. She’s shown amazing speed in all her races, but she’s always acted like a filly that would want to go a distance of ground.”
She will now point for the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) to be run November 5 at Churchill Downs.
WICKEDLY PERFECT has three wins and one second in her four career starts and she has earned $404,600. She races for the partnership of STD Racing Stable, Peter Moehrke and Rafter JR Ranch. Bred in Florida by Y-Lo Racing Stables, LLC, she was produced by the Tactical Cat mare, Wickedly Wise. JORDY Y gamely closed and was nosed out at the wire. She was nearly two lengths clear of the fourth place finisher.
