While the $1 million La Troienne Stakes (G1) will not go down as the best of champion Idiomatic's career, fans at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks (G1) day May 3 saw her class on full display.
Racing at a distance a bit shorter than her preference in her seasonal debut in the 1 1/16-mile test for older fillies and mares, Juddmonte homebred Idiomatic held a tenuous lead in early stretch as longshot Free Like a Girl carried a sustained drive to her inside while last year's champion 3-year-old filly Pretty Mischievous unleashed a quick burst to her outside.
Then Idiomatic somehow found a bit more, opening a clear advantage while crushing the considerable hearts behind her. Last year's champion older dirt female most assuredly was back.
"I don't think everything worked out perfectly today," said Juddmonte manager Garrett O'Rourke. "Coming down the lane when those other ones loomed, you get a little bit nervous but then she just lengthens that stride."
In the early races Friday on a sloppy main track, jockeys had kept their horses off the rail, and that played out again in the early going of the La Troienne. Grade 2 winner Dorth Vader broke well from the outside post in the field of five and Idiomatic settled into a tracking position inside of her through a half-mile in :47. Entering the far turn, Geroux decided to ask for more and Idiomatic casually took command.
But she would be tested again in the stretch before flashing that considerable class to draw off to a 3 3/4-length win in 1:43.24. The 4-5 favorite paid $3.66 to win.
Free Like a Girl, racing for trainer Chasey Deville Pomier, Gerald Bruno Jr., Carl Deville, and Jerry Caroom, held second to earn her second straight grade 1 placing this season while Pretty Mischievous finished third in her first start since September.
In deciding to return Idiomatic for another season of racing this year, O'Rourke noted that the decision also was made to not race as much as her 2023 campaign, when she won eight of nine starts and had raced three times before May. He said she enjoyed her break at the farm, and trainer Brad Cox said she looked ready to return once back at the barn.
Cox said they'll give some consideration to run against males this season.
"We'll talk it over with Prince Khalid's family," Cox said. "Ultimately it will be their decision but it's something that at some point will be a possibility."
Kentucky-bred Idiomatic is the first starter for grade 2-placed stakes winner Lockdown, by First Defence. Lockdown also has an unraced 2-year-old filly by Into Mischief named Chasten.
Idiomatic is the third graded stakes winner and first grade 1 winner this season for Curlin , who stands at Hill 'n' Dale Farms near Paris, Ky., for a fee of $250,000. A classic winner and two-time Horse of the Year who has perennially finished among the leading sires, Curlin also counts Coffee in Bed and Raging Sea among his graded stakes winners of 2024.
#4 Idiomatic is just too much horse as she wins the La Troienne Stakes @ChurchillDowns as the 4/5 favorite!
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) May 3, 2024
Jockey: @flothejock
Trainer: @bradcoxracing
Owner: @JuddmonteFarms
🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/MTsVTdWXWq
