Ike and Dawn Thrash's The Alys Look proved her mettle Jan. 21 in the $147,000 Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, turning back a challenge from fellow Brad Cox trainee Chop Chop to secure the win.
The 3-year-old Connect filly picked up 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with her one-length score under Luis Saez, finishing the mile and 70-yard test in 1:43.55 on a fast track.
Saez placed 2-1 shot The Alys Look a length off the early pace set by Hayunevano, who showed the way through an opening quarter in :24.37 and a half in :48.08 before she gave way. Gaining the advantage into the far turn through three-quarters in 1:12.51, The Alys Look was tracked by 4-5 favorite Chop Chop, who sparred through mid-stretch but failed to wrest away the lead.
"The plan was to break sharply from there, and she did," Saez said. "We were in a great spot. She was pretty game, too. When we came to the top of the stretch, she didn't want to let (Chop Chop) go by. She tried hard."
The two hit the mile marker in 1:39.13 as The Alys Look ($6.60) dug deep and inched clear approaching the finish while drifting out. Hayunevano held for third.
"That was scary," Ike Thrash told TVG's Gabby Gaudet after the stretch run. "I know Chop Chop's a nice horse. They both ran well."
Long-time horse owner Ike Thrash caught up with @Gabby_Gaudet_ on his filly, THE ALYS LOOK, after her win in today's $150K Silverbulletday Stakes win at @fairgroundsnola... 🎙️ @bradcoxracing pic.twitter.com/omNPJ7X09P
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) January 22, 2023
Entered off a runner-up finish by 3 1/4 lengths in the Dec. 26 Untapable Stakes at Fair Grounds, where she rallied from eighth going the same distance, The Alys Move secured her first stakes score. She was making her second start since breaking her maiden in her third outing overall, also at the mile and 70-yard distance, with a seven-length romp Dec. 1 at the Louisiana track.
In the third race of her form cycle, The Alys Look may have had a fitness edge on Chop Chop, who hadn't run since finishing last of 13 as the favorite in the 2022 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Keeneland. One start prior, she nearly ran down eventual Juvenile Fillies winner Wonder Wheel—who is currently atop the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 40 points—when second in the Alcibiades Stakes (G1), missing by just a nose after closing from 11th.
"It's a combination of both," Cox said when asked if the Aly's Look really stepped up or if Chop Chop needs to take a step forward. "Chop Chop may have needed the race. She was freshened up a little bit since the Breeders' Cup. She had been training well and gave us the confidence to run her today and she ran well. Proud of the effort.
"The Aly's Look has that one race at Churchill in the mud with blinkers on, she was rank early, you've got to draw a line through that race. She's a good filly. She really showed some determination and grit the last sixteenth of a mile today and I think we have to make a march towards the (Kentucky) Oaks. We will see how she comes out of it."
"This is big," Thrash said. "You try to get on this trail and win the Fair Grounds Oaks... we won the Rachel Alexandra last year. This filly reminds me a lot of Turnerloose, that won (the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, G2) last year.
"(The Alys Look's) nice. She had a couple of maiden races where we didn't know if she was going to be good or not. She broke all over the place and didn't run well in the mud. I thought it was going to rain today, so I almost didn't come. But she ran really, really well. She's going to be a nice horse now."
The Alys Look improved her record to 2-1-1 from five starts, with earnings of $150,528.
"She's run three times in nine weeks and obviously likes the racetrack. I think we'll probably skip the Rachel Alexandra and just try to go to the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2)," Thrash said of future goals.
The $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks will be run March 25 at 1 1/8 miles, offering Road to the Kentucky Oaks points on a 100-40-30-20-10 scale to the top five finishers.
The Silverbulletday score vaulted The Alys Look to second on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard.
Bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey Jr. out of the winning Harlan's Holiday mare Foul Play, The Alys Look was a $60,000 purchase by Thrash/Payne Racing from the Lane's End consignment to the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She is the lone winner from two starters out of her dam, a half sister to grade 2-placed Top of Mind. The mare's last reported foal is an unnamed 2-year-old Mr Speaker filly.
