With the ushering in of 2025, our (Belladonna Racing, Woodford Racing et al) 2 year old colts and fillies turned 3. Many did not start as 2 year olds for various reasons so I’ve been looking forward to their unveiling.
On Saturday (February 15th) at The Fairgrounds Racetrack (New Orleans, Louisiana) we had both a colt (Retribution) and a filly (Ahavah) make their debut. While both had been training extremely well, our trainer (Cherie Devaux) is very patient and doesn’t push her horses first time out. She believes an initial start should be educational and foundational. Educational can take many forms: putting a horse in behind other horses to experience dirt being kicked back, having a horse run along the inner rail or in tight quarters, showing early speed, dropping back in the field and making a late run. Foundational means the additional conditioning a race provides. John Sadler (Flightline’s Trainer) used to tell us a race was the equivalent of 4-5 workouts.
While both Retribution and Ahavah’s races were 6 furlongs (3/4’s of a mile), the shape of the races was very different. As the starting gate opened in Ahavah’s race, she hesitated briefly and recovered to race up the rail. Both the opening quarter mile (21.49 seconds) and half mile time (45.29 seconds) were very quick. As Ahavah reached the top of the stretch, she came under pressure but continued on to win by 1 1/2 lengths. The final time was 1:10:43 (a minute and ten seconds).
Thoroughbred Daily News Article on Ahavah Race
Retribution broke alertly from his outside post (#9) and ran fourth in the early going. As the field made its way to the top of the stretch, Retribution was racing second and swung out for the drive. He wore down the early leader to win by 1 1/4 lengths. His race fractions were also quick, with the opening quarter going in (21.88 seconds) and the half mile in (45.88 seconds). The final time was 1:10:51 (a minute and ten seconds).
Fastest Maidens of the Week Article
Jockey Jose Ortiz rode both horses beautifully and believes they have bright futures. Time will tell whether they are sprinters or can run longer distances. Regardless, it was fun to see both Ahavah and Retribution win in their maiden voyage!