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On Fire Baby skipping Martha Washington
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| On Fire Baby (gray) held her own when facing the boys in the Smarty Jones
(Oaklawn Park/Coady Photography) |
With the ultimate goal being a race at some point on May 4 or 5 at
Churchill Downs, trainer Gary 'Red Dog' Hartlage says he will point dual
Grade 2 victress On Fire Baby toward stakes for both colts and fillies,
but he won't aim her for next Saturday's $75,000 Martha Washington at
Oaklawn Park.
Hartlage says rainy weather on Friday in Hot Springs, Arkansas, put
off the latest workout by the Smoke Glacken three-year-old filly to
Monday morning, all but ruling out any chance of racing five days later
in the one-mile contest on the road to the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes.
"Monday's about the first time the track will be fast again,"
Hartlage said. "I won't even nominate to the Martha Washington now. It
just wouldn't make much sense for us."
On Fire Baby's options for her next scheduled race remain wide open.
She is coming off a third-place finish in the Smarty Jones Stakes
against males on January 16. She captured the Pocahontas and Golden Rod
Stakes, both Grade 2s, at Churchill Downs in her final two starts as a
juvenile, stamping her as a major threat for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks
back in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 4. |
However, her solid effort in the Smarty Jones has owner Anita Cauley and
Hartlage keeping an open mind about possibly running one day later in the
Kentucky Derby.
"The main goal is to be running in May," Hartlage admitted. "Whatever we have
to do to get there and whatever race we have to go in, we have to think about
how best to get there. Everything is wide open in terms of where we run next."
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| On Fire Baby is on course to return to Churchill Downs,
the site of her Pocahontas and Golden Rod victories
(Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) |
One factor in getting to run in May is amassing enough Graded earnings. At
Oaklawn, On Fire Baby could face males again in the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest
Stakes going a mile on February 20 where she would likely get a rematch with the
respective Smarty Jones winner and runner-up Junebugred and Reckless Jerry. The
gray lass could possibly also face Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint winner Secret
Circle in that race.
The next open race for fillies in Hot Springs is the Grade 3, $125,000
Honeybee Stakes on March 10 at 1 1/16 miles.
Trainer Bret Calhoun will take full advantage of On Fire Baby's absence in
the Martha Washington when he saddles Devious Intent in the eight-furlong
contest. The three-year-old daughter of Dixie Union will enter the race off a
victory in the Genesis Stakes at Delta Downs in Louisiana on January 14, and has
been ensconced in her trainre's Oaklawn branch office for two weeks.
Devious Intent has settled in perfectly and taken to the dirt track in Hot
Springs, according to assistant trainer Kristin Crawford.
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"She's an absolute sweetheart and doesn't do anything wrong," Crawford
remarked Friday morning. "She's training great and on the improve. She worked
over the track really nice."
Devious Intent breezed a half-mile in :50 last Saturday, which Crawford
described as typical for the easy-going filly.
"She's just so laid back," she said. "I had her when she started out last
summer in Indiana and she's so laid back she didn't get a lot out of training,
but even still she managed to win and finish a good second in her first two
starts when it looked like it might take her a while to get going."
That auspicious beginning earned Devious Intent a call up to stakes races in
Louisiana, including the Grade 3 Delta Downs Princess, where she ran into
undefeated Now I Know and finished fourth. Now I Know, a daughter of Pure Prize,
has since moved her record to six-for-six after taking the Dixie Belle Stakes on
January 14 at Oaklawn and is expected to be in the gate for the Martha
Washington next week.
"It's going to be very tough spot, for sure," Crawford acknowledged. "Things
are going to have to go her way. She will need to be 100 percent ready and get
some racing luck to have things fall her way."
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