Quietside soared to her first graded stakes victory when she annexed the $500,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) Feb. 23 at Oaklawn Park, defeating Five G and even-money favorite Muhimma earning 50 points on the road to the Kentucky Oaks (G1).
The Shortleaf Stable homebred daughter of Malibu Moon had finished on the board in four consecutive stakes races, including a third-place finish in the Alcibiades Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, behind champion 2-year-old filly Immersive . She was most recently a troubled second behind Take Charge Milady in the Martha Washington Stakes Jan. 25, who failed to fire in the Honeybee.
Quietside, with jockey Jose Ortiz in the irons, applied pressure to pace-setting Five G who set quick fractions of :23.19 and :46.87 for the opening half mile, before making her move at the top of the stretch. Five G and Muhimma fought on gamely but could not catch the winner as she kicked away from her rivals, finishing the 1 1/16 mile race in a final time of 1:43.63.
“We wanted to be very strategical with the training due to the weather,” said trainer John Ortiz. “It hasn’t helped us. We came up with a plan to get her down south, got a work in her, hasn’t missed a day, and I think that with an outside post and a perfect trip got the job done.”
Long-shot Necessity , trained by Norm Casse got up for fourth place, with the Tom Amoss-trained Quickick rounding out the top five. The four fillies behind the winner earned Kentucky Oaks points on a scale of 25-15-10-5
Shortleaf Stable’s other entry Jenkin , finished eighth, and Take Charge Milady, who was sent off at odds of 7-2, crossed the wire a disappointing tenth. Quietside paid $22.40 to win.
Quietside’s 50 points vaulted her to the top of the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 68 points and updated her career bankroll to $552,200.
“This type of race knocks them all out of the park,” Ortiz said of his filly’s graded stakes win.
Video: Honeybee S. (G3)
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