In Friday’s sixth race on the card at Arlington International Racecourse, trainer Michael Stidham sent out New Orleans Lady in the second start of her career. The three-year-old filly, who made her debut in March at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in a 5½-furlong maiden special weight on the dirt, went off favored in the betting and delivered an eye-catching win for her owners Twin Creeks Racing Stables. The partnership, made up of Randy Gullat and Steve Davison, purchased the daughter of Unbridled’s Song at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling sale for $190,000. Gullatt, who picked her from the sale, was impressed with the build of the young horse who he described as “very athletic.” With her conformation and a pedigree that makes her closely related to Grade II winner Tiz Wonderful, the filly seemed a good fit for their stable.
“Tiz Wonderful had a lot of talent,” explains Gullatt. “We are big fans of Unbridled Song – we think he’s a leading broodmare sire – so our hope is to get black type with her and for her to join our broodmare band in a few years.”
Ridden by Jose Valdivia, Jr. in both her starts, the filly improved second time out, making the front early and opening up with quick fractions of 22.4 and 45.4 for the first half of the one-mile trip on the Polytrack. She extended her lead to four lengths entering the stretch and finished with a final time of 1:38.0 to win by 1½ lengths over Majestic Megan. It was another 9¼ lengths back to Sister Ceari in third.
“Mike has always thought that she likes a firmer footing, but she has trained very well on that surface prior to the race, so we were very comfortable with turf or the synthetic,” said Gullatt. “Hopefully we can move forward with another race and maybe see some stakes company later this summer.”
Gullatt says they are watching the condition book to see what becomes available, and are open to running her on either the Polytrack or the turf when the right race presents itself. For now, they will see how their filly continues to train, keeping in mind a few possible stakes races in July.
“[The Arlington Oaks] would be a terrific race for her. That would be a great race for her resume, so hopefully she says yes to something like that,” Gullatt added. “I’m sure we’re going to run her in an allowance race in her next start, so we’ll take one race at a time, and hopefully she will progress to that this summer.”
Trackside View- Arlington by Bailey Gallison
