Let It Ride Mom Hopes to Transfer Synthetic Form to Dirt In Saturday's Winning Colors

May 23, 2019 Kevin Kerstein,Churchill Downs Communications

Multiple stakes winner Let It Ride Mom will seek her first victory on dirt in Saturday’s $100,000 Winning Colors (GIII) at Churchill Downs.

Let It Ride Mom was based at Woodbine for the majority of 2018 and had plans to join trainer Mark Casse’s string in Canada. But after training at Churchill Downs, Casse opted to try Let It Ride Mom on the dirt, once again, in her first start in six months.

“She’s trained awesome here on the dirt,” Casse’s locally-based assistant Allen Hardy said. “She just appears to be so classy and every time we’ve worked her on the dirt she’s taken well to it. We thought we’d give her another try to see how she’d handle it in the afternoon.”

A winner of four races on synthetic, Let It Ride Mom’s only two dirt efforts resulted in a ninth-place finish in the 2017 Eight Belles (GII) and a runner-up effort in a second-level allowance race. After her two dirt efforts, Let It Ride Mom joined Casse’s string at Woodbine and later recorded victories in the La Lorgnette Stakes and the 2018 Whimsical Stakes (GIII).

Let It Ride Mom, a 5-year-old daughter by Into Mischief out of the dam Golden Marlin, was bred by locally-based horsemen Tim Thornton, Robert Watt, Doug Glass and Greg Foley. Let It Ride Mom’s eight siblings out of Golden Marlin have a combined record of 35-8-8-1 on dirt.

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione has the call and will break from post No. 7 at odds of 6-1 on the morning line.

The six-furlong Winning Colors, which honors the Hall of Fame filly that prevailed against colts in the 1988 Kentucky Derby, is an annual Memorial Day weekend fixture and one of two stakes events on Saturday’s 11-race program. Churchill Downs’ first race is 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern). The Winning Colors goes as Race 10 at approximately 5:26 p.m. and the seventh running of the $100,000 Keertana Overnight Stakes, a 1 ½-mile grass marathon for fillies and mares, is the fourth race at approximately 2:13 p.m.

The Winning Colors field from the rail out (with jockeys, trainers and morning line odds): Quick Quick Quick (Chris Landeros, Ian Wilkes, 15-1); Annathela (James Graham, Rusty Arnold, 12-4); Upset Brewing (Edgar Morales, Buff Bradley, 12-1); Classy Act (Adam Beschizza, Joe Sharp, 6-1); She’s a Gypsy (Corey Lanerie, Helen Pitts-Blasi, 12-1); Divine Queen (Calvin Borel, Bradley, 8-1); Let It Ride Mom (Gaffalione, Casse, 6-1); Astrollinthepark (Gabriel Saez, Larry Jones, 5-1); Awestruck (Brian Hernandez Jr., Arnold, 3-1); Salt Bae (Ricardo Santana Jr., Bernie Flint, 6-1); Honey Bunny (Tyler Baze, John Ortiz, 12-1); and Suzette (Javier Pardon-Barcenas, Tina Hurley, 50-1). All horses will carry 120 pounds.

Churchill Downs admission gates will open Saturday at 11:30 a.m. General Admission is $5, reserved seating is $12 and reserved dining packages are $39. Tickets can be purchased in advance online at ChurchillDowns.com/Tickets.

With Memorial Day on Monday, Churchill Downs will have a special five-day holiday week of racing (with first race post time, number of races): Thursday (5 p.m., 8 races), Friday (12:45 p.m., 9 races), Saturday (12:45 p.m., 11 races), Sunday (12:45 p.m., 9 races) and Memorial Day Monday (12:45 p.m., 9 races).