Foaling season in Central Kentucky is a special time of year. The month of March is usually the busiest, and in the span of less than three weeks in March 2018 at Stonestreet Farms, it was also magical.
In possession of perhaps the top broodmare band in the land, three stellar mares delivered fillies that spring and all three have developed into strong contenders for the April 30 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). On March 7 Dreaming of Julia foaled Malathaat (Curlin ), the morning-line favorite for the Oaks; Cavorting delivered Clairiere (Curlin; 5-1) March 17; and Hot Dixie Chick's Pauline's Pearl (Tapit ; 20-1) arrived March 25.
Barbara Banke's operation has sent a lot of top fillies in pursuit of the Oaks, but has yet to reach the winner's circle at Churchill Downs. This year's class is clearly its deepest yet.
Banke's late husband Jess Jackson purchased eventual Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra after her record 20 1/4-length romp in the 2009 Oaks. At the time he was already in the process of assembling a classy and deep broodmare band for his Kentucky operation. Rachel came to Jackson and trainer Steve Asmussen on the heels of back-to-back Horse of the Year campaigns by Curlin, now a top sire and sire of two of the Stonestreet-bred Oaks contenders this year: Shadwell Stable's grade 1 winner Malathaat and Clairiere, winner of the Feb. 13 Rachel Alexandra Stakes Presented by Fasig-Tipton (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
"I started training for Jess and Barbara in 2004 ... that's 17 years," said Asmussen last week. "How do you top Curlin and Rachel? Those are almost myths, they were so good."
This year's cast also includes Stonestreet's Pauline's Pearl, who is out of the first horse Banke purchased on her own after Jackson's death in 2011. While Pauline's Pearl (post 1) and Clairiere (post 3) will race under Stonestreet's yellow silks, Malathaat races for the late Sheikh Hamdan's operation. Shadwell paid $1.05 million for the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) winner at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
"I couldn't believe they even considered selling," said Rick Nichols, Shadwell's vice president and general manager. "She was a gorgeous yearling filly and that was the last year Sheikh Hamdan was here for the sales. He loved her. That year we really focused on getting some well-bred fillies, and she fit that bill."
Stonestreet does offer most of their horses at public auction. They did so with Midnight Bourbon, who will start in the May 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) for Winchell Thoroughbreds, which bought the son of Tiznow for $525,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. And there have been no regrets that Malathaat went through the same sale.
"We keep very few horses; there was no rhyme or reason to it," said Stonestreet adviser John Moynihan on the decision to sell. "We loved her, too ... and she brought a million dollars."
Malathaat is unbeaten in four starts. She capped her juvenile campaign with a score in Aqueduct's Demoiselle Stakes (G2) and began her 3-year-old run April 3 at Keeneland in the 1 1/16-mile Ashland. Races at that trip at Keeneland finish at the sixteenth pole, leaving a short stretch run. Horses with the lead at the head of the lane at this trip usually get the job done, but Malathaat, who was fifth early, was able to nab Pass the Champagne to register a head victory.
"We were concerned about the short stretch, but she dealt with it just fine," Nichols said. "She's doing great. She's a really nice filly to be around and is just full of class. (Trainer) Todd (Pletcher) was pleased with the draw (post 10). She ran well while drawn outside in the Ashland, and hopefully, she'll be close enough to the action but far enough away to stay out of trouble."
A win would mean the world to the Shadwell team considering Sheikh Hamdan's March 24 passing.
"He loved racing so much," Nichols said. "It's hard to get excited about this race knowing he's not going to be there, but by the same token I have a feeling he'll find a way to watch."
A Malathaat victory would create no sour grapes among the Stonestreet team.
"She's a deserving favorite. We're happy for the Shadwell team," Moynihan said. "We would be just as happy if they won it as if we won it, and we mean that. It's a credit to the breeding program."
A crown jewel of the breeding program is Dreaming of Julia. Bred and raced by Stonestreet, Dreaming of Julia won the Frizette Stakes (G1) in her third start and later added the Gulfstream Oaks (G2). She was the 3-2 favorite for the 2013 Oaks, but had a rough trip, finishing fourth behind Princess of Sylmar, Beholder, and Unlimited Budget.
"That's the one I always go back to and say, 'Man, we should have won that,'" Moynihan said. "She got creamed coming out of the gate and lost all chance."
In viewing a replay, track announcer Mark Johnson described Dreaming of Julia's start as being part of a "skirmish on the outside ... and Dreaming of Julia was broadsided ..."
"She had tremendous ability," Moynihan recalled. "You go in there with all of the confidence in the world and something like that can happen. We're in the hands of the horse gods with the post positions and how they break and how they place themselves."
Like Pletcher, the Stonestreet crew is confident about their homebred pair.
"The two fillies that we have for the Oaks have excellent chances," Asmussen said. "Both of those fillies have lived up to their pedigrees as well as added to them. It's indicative of Stonestreet's breeding program.
"Pauline's Pearl ... I was fortunate to train her dam, a grade 1 winner, and already the dam of stakes winner Union Jackson," Asmussen added. "Hot Dixie Chick set a track record here at Churchill Downs going five-eighths (:56.48, June 13, 2009).
"For Pauline's Pearl to be as fast over 1 1/16 miles at this point, you feel like the sky's the limit."
A maiden winner in her third try, Pauline's Pearl has improved steadily since late winter. A close second in the Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 6 at Oaklawn Park in her stakes debut, she was a clear winner of the April 3 Fantasy Stakes (G3) in Arkansas.
"She was kind of a late-maturing horse," Moynihan said. "She was decent-sized last year as a 2-year-old but has really matured into a great, pretty filly. She's come into her own. Every day she seems to get bigger and better. She's an A+ physical by Tapit, and her mother was a beautiful mare. She comes by it honestly."
Clairiere, out of Cavorting (Bernardini), is the more accomplished of Stonestreet's duo. A maiden winner first out last October, she ran second to Larry Best's OXO Equine's Travel Column in Churchill's Golden Rod Stakes (G2), and the pair has developed a budding rivalry, splitting the Rachel Alexandra and the TwinSpires.com Fair Grounds Oaks (G2).
Cavorting, a $360,000 purchase in 2012 by Stonestreet won seven stakes, including three grade 1 efforts: the Longines Test Stakes (seven furlongs) in 2015 and the 2016 Ogden Phipps Stakes and Personal Ensign Stakes in her finale.
"Both of these fillies, especially Clairiere, have moved forward after each successive start, and that is what you want to see going into the Oaks," Moynihan said.
"It always seems like when I'm at Churchill watching horses train, the ones that seem to be really thriving at the time—their weight is good, their condition is good, they are training aggressive ... they are the ones that run well.
"Both of our fillies came out of their last works super. I'd say we're sitting on go and looking for some racing luck. To have three in the gate is unbelievable, and all of them have a strong chance. It's quite a feat. We're extremely proud."
