Trainer Tanner Tracy does not visit Oaklawn Park often, but now the track will be forever attached to an important milestone in his career.
Tracy has started over 1,500 horses since 2013, but only three had competed in Hot Springs, Ark.—all finishing off the board in allowance optional claiming company. His fortunes changed Feb. 8 when his fourth starter, Wild Bout Hilary, pulled off a 16-1 frontrunning upset in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3).
"This is why we play the game," a choked-up and emotional Tracy, who also owns the 4-year-old filly as 5 Finger Racing, said in the winner's circle.
The victory came courtesy of a perfect ride from jockey C.J. McMahon, who traveled to Oaklawn from Louisiana just for this mount. It was his first ride at Oaklawn since 2019 and his first graded triumph since 2016.
McMahon took advantage of his expected pace rival, Corningstone, breaking poorly at the start of the 1 1/16-mile contest and established himself a clear leader through the opening half-furlong. The daughter of Midnight Lute set comfortable fractions of :24.47, :48.94, and 1:13.09.
"The plan was to get her to break as sharp as possible," McMahon said. "If she put us (on the lead) without having to fight too hard, great. We worked her behind horses last week and she did phenomenal coming off the pace. So, I was confident either way it went."
McMahon gave Wild Bout Hilary a breather entering the far turn, erasing a multi-length lead as 19-time stakes winner Free Like a Girl got back within a length. Approaching the three-eighth pole, McMahon let his filly cruise again and stymied the runs of Free Like a Girl and favored Loved.
Free Like a Girl and Loved grinded away on the outside down the stretch, but Wild Bout Hilary kept finding more. It got dicey late as Free Like a Girl made a final lunge at the wire, but Wild Bout Hilary held on by a head. Loved was a half-length back in third.
Wild Bout Hilary completed the distance in 1:44.15 while paying $34 for her victory.
"That's how she's been running lately," Tracy said of the performance. "Nobody else wanted to go with her, so it was great."
The victory was the second consecutive stakes win for Wild Bout Hilary after taking the Dec. 28 Pago Hop Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in pacesetting fashion by 5 1/4 lengths. The filly is well-traveled, competing at her eighth track in 13 starts. She is now 6-0-1 for earnings of $305,340.
Bred in Kentucky by Clearsky Farms, Wild Bout Hilary was a $35,000 purchase at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She is out of the stakes-winning Wildcat Heir mare Wild Bout Tiffany.
Her sire, Midnight Lute, stands the 2025 season at Hill 'n' Dale Farms near Paris, Ky. for a $10,000 fee.
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