Heavenly Sunday wires Edgewood field

Miacomet Farm’s Heavenly Sunday went right to the front under jockey Florent Geroux in Friday’s $500,000 Edgewood Stakes (G2) for three-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs and never looked back, recording a three-quarter-length score over Revalita and earning her first stakes victory.

Trained by Brad Cox, Heavenly Sunday recorded relatively easy and uncontested splits of :23.19, :47.89, 1:12.87, and 1:36.34 before completing 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.40 over a firm Churchill Downs turf. Though she may have tired a bit late, the dark bay daughter of Candy Ride clearly had enough left to reach the wire first.

“I think there was an honest pace,” Geroux said, “but I don’t think I was going extremely fast. It was just a good rhythm for her to keep her comfortable. It looked like the horse was trying to make a run for me at the end but my filly had a major turn of foot.”

Mission of Joy was a neck behind Revalita, and following the top three under the wire were Papilio, Liguria, Girl Named Charlie, Cairo Consort, Sabalenka, Comanche Country, Flashy Gem and the favored Preliminary.

Bred in Kentucky by the Randal Family Trust, Heavenly Sunday was produced by the stakes-placed, winning Giant’s Causeway mare Alien Giant, who has a 2023 colt by The Factor.

Prior to Friday’s triumph, the filly ran third in the both the Appalachian Stakes (G2) and Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3). She now has a record of 5-3-0-2 and $428,833 in earnings.