HOT SPRINGS -- The chore of picking a Carousel Stakes favorite has been eliminated.
Mia Mischief, a sprint sensation among 3-year-old fillies last season, likely will start the $150,000, 6-furlong Carousel for fillies and mares 4 years old and up today as a near unanimous top selection by Oaklawn Park's handicappers. The expected debate was disposed of when trainer Mac Robertson said Amy's Challenge, theretofore the 7-5 Carousel morning-line favorite, would skip the race in favor of today's Grade I, $300,000 7-furlong Madison Stakes at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.
Amy's Challenge has won three of three sprint stakes attempts at Oaklawn Park, including the $100,000, 6 furlong America Beauty and $100,000, 5½-furlong Spring Fever this season.
"The reason I'm taking her there is that it's a Grade I," Robertson said. "She's doing good right now, so we're going for a Grade I placing."
A successful finish in the Madison likely would increase the value of Amy's Challenge.
"You want wins in graded-stakes races," Robertson said. "That's my job. That's what every trainer wants. You want graded-stakes horses, and if you get them placed or better, if they win graded stakes, they're worth more, the stable's worth more. It's better for the owner, and it's better for the horse. It's good for everybody."
Mia Mischief finished second by a neck to Amy's Challenge in Oaklawn's $125,000, 6-furlong Dixie Belle Stakes last season. She later won Oaklawn's $150,000, 6-furlong Purple Martin and the Grade II, 7-furlong Eight Belles at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., in 2018.
Mia Mischief, a daughter of Into Mischief owned by William and Corinne Heiligbrodt Heide, finished second in Grade I and Grade II sprints at Saratoga Race Course in New York last summer.
Trained by Steve Asmussen, Mia Mischief started her 4-year-old season with a 3-length win in an optional-claiming 6-furlong race March 3. She will face four others in the Carousel, the ninth of 10 races on today's card, with a post time scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
Doubledown Stables' Shanghai Tariff, a 4-year-old daughter of Shanghai Bobby trained by James DiVito, is the current morning-line second choice at 5-1. In her last start, Shanghai Tariff finished second in the Spring Fever, 8¼ lengths behind Amy's Challenge.
Jockey Fernando De La Cruz rode Shanghai Tariff to two wins in optional-claiming sprints at Oaklawn before the Spring Fever, both 6-furlong results timed under 1:10.00, led by a 1:09.83 on Feb. 14.
All four of Shanghai Tariff's four career wins have come at Oaklawn.
"It's a tough race," DiVito said. "For a small, short field, it's a real tough race, but [Shanghai Tariff] is working real good, and she loves Oaklawn. It's a good place for her to try to win a stake."
Shanghai Tariff worked 5 furlongs in 59.40 seconds Sunday, the fastest time of 36 over the distance that morning.
DiVito said the absence of Amy's Challenge should enhance Shanghai Tariff's front-running style.
"It will help with Amy's Challenge not breathing down her neck," DiVito said. "It's going to help me a lot. The key is, with a speed horse ... the first quarter-mile is very important. If you can control the first quarter-mile, save your horse and not go 21 [seconds], you have a little better shot."
Robertson said he thought Amy's Challenge had earned a shot in the Madison.
"She deserves an opportunity to run in a race like that," Robertson said. "You know, she's running really good right now, but the way she runs at Oaklawn, you hate to go anywhere else. She likes it there, and she's run awfully well there, but timing's everything and that Grade I fell right where the Carousel did, so we decided to stretch her out a little."
Sports on 04/06/2019