Duvet Day, who raced in turf marathons in her previous 13 starts, relished a cutback in distance and used an explosive late kick in deep stretch to rally from the back to defeat 9-5 favorite She's Lookin Lucky by three-quarters of a length in the Nov. 28 $265,000 Cardinal Stakes (G3T) on Thanksgiving Day at Churchill Downs.
Duvet Day, a 5-year-old mare owned by Jane Bacharach, William DeBurgh, and Richard Schatz, ran 1 1/8 miles over firm turf in 1:48.79 to collect the first graded stakes win of her career. Early in her 4-year-old season, Duvet Day won the 2023 Astra Stakes at Santa Anita Park over 1 1/2 miles on grass.
Flavien Prat, currently the leading United States jockey by year-to-date earnings, rode the winner for trainer Michael McCarthy. It was Prat's 78th stakes win of 2024 (one shy of Irad Ortiz Jr.'s record of 79 in 2022) and 53rd graded stakes triumph (two back of Jerry Bailey's 2023 record of 55).
Breaking from post 3 in the field of 10 fillies and mares, Duvet Day raced in ninth down the backstretch as Dreaming of Mo led the way with splits of :23.78, :48, and 1:12. Leaving the final turn, She's Lookin Lucky drew even with Dreaming of Mo while Duvet Day still had one horse beat. Still in ninth with a little more than furlong to run, Prat tipped Duvet Day out to the five path and the mare displayed a powerful late kick to collar She's Lookin Lucky in the final yards.
"My plan was to be a little bit closer to the pace and not so far out of it," Prat said. "But, after we broke, we ended up being towards the back of the field. I got her to relax and when I tipped her outside she really found her best run."
The triumph was worth $147,250 and increased her earnings to $420,538. Duvet Day boasts a record of 4-5-4 in 24 starts.
Duvet Day paid $23, $8.94, and $5.54 as the 10-1 sixth betting choice. She's Lookin Lucky, ridden by Florent Geroux, returned $3.84 and $3.20. Third-place finisher Queen Regent, under Frankie Dettori, was another three-quarters of a length back and paid $4.44 to show at odds of 6-1.
The order of finish was completed by Stir Crazy, Dreaming of Mo, Quality Star, Harvey's Princess, Adrasteia, Implicated, and Magical Lute. Heart Spin was scratched.
Prior to the Cardinal, Duvet Day finished seventh of 11 in the $296,738 Dowager Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland over 1 1/2 miles on turf Oct. 20.
"She's been a very nice mare and has some run top efforts in races much further than today," said Justin Curran, McCarthy's Kentucky assistant trainer. "We knew she'd come with her run and really closed strongly down the center of the turf."
Duvet Day, a daughter of Starspangledbanner out of the Montjeu mare Je T'Adore, was bred in Ireland by John Yarr.
