Keeneland has always been a special place for trainer Robert Medina, and now it has gifted him with his first Breeders' Cup berth as 3-year-old filly Praying stepped up and conquered older horses in the $398,750 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) Oct. 4.
"I came here when I was 10 years old in 1983 with my father," Medina said. "To win a stakes here is unbelievable."
That trip to Lexington with his dad, Robert, who worked as a foreman for trainers in Ohio, is what sealed the deal for Medina when it came to being involved in racing. Now, just six years into his own training career, he is a three-time graded stakes-winning trainer.
One of three sophomore fillies in the seven-horse field, Newtown Anner Stud Farm's Praying was overlooked by the bettors and paid $21.74 to win despite exiting a victory in the Prioress Stakes (G3) at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 30. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez gave her a Hall of Fame ride as she sat midpack behind Long Neck Paula's fractions of :22.23 and :45.33.
Moving up around the far turn, she engaged grade 1 winner Vahva at the quarter pole and the two swept past Long Neck Paula. Battling to the line, it was the younger Praying who emerged victorious by a half-length, completing 6 furlongs in 1:10.49. Zeitlos, who won the race last year, was third.
A $410,000 purchase at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, the daughter of Vekoma was one Medina always thought highly of. However, she took a while to begin focusing on her career as a racehorse.
"It's taken a long time to get that out of her—where she wants to go, go, go," Medina said. "Now that she's settled, she's always had the ability. She's really developed physically, too."
Three-year-old fillies have their own sprint stakes at Keeneland, the $400,000 Raven Run Stakes (G2) over 7 furlongs Oct. 18. However, Medina felt that remaining at 6 furlongs would help determine where she stood among the contenders for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) at Del Mar Nov. 1.
"She ran so good at Saratoga, and I ran her here (at Keeneland) last year and she ran very well," Medina said. "I could have waited for the Raven Run, but she'd never run 7 furlongs. I figured let's try her in here, and if she's good enough to beat these older fillies than maybe it's worth taking a swing at the Breeders' Cup."
As part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, the TCA Stakes gives Praying an automatic, fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Should all go well exiting the race, the trip to Del Mar is likely.
"If she comes out of it well," Medina said on the Breeders' Cup. "She's coming into her own. If she stays the course, I'd say it's worth a shot."
Bred in Kentucky by Jeff Kerber, Praying is one of six graded winners sired by Spendthrift Farm's Vekoma in North America this season, and the first to win two. She is out of the winning Bernardini mare Pray for Leslie.
