Shedaresthedevil, owned in partnership by The Flurry Racing Stables LLC, Qatar Racing Limited and Big Aut Farms, won the Group 1 Classic, the Kentucky Oaks, in a record time of 1:48.28 at Churchill Downs in the US on Friday evening.
Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by French native Florent Geroux, the three-year-old filly was drawn wide, and Geroux pushed her quickly up to the lead where she settled just on the flanks of the leader, Gamine, with Swiss Skydiver in third. Coming into the final turn, Shedaresthedevil came on the attack. Gamine ceded the lead with a furlong left to race, and Swiss Skydiver followed on the heels of Shedaresthedevil. The latter, carrying the silks of Qatar racing, held her at bay without trouble winning by one-and-a-half lengths from Swiss Skydiver.
Jockey Geroux commented after the race, “She had a great trip. She broke very sharp and I was able to stalk Gamine all the way. That was the plan, but sometimes plans don’t always work out. Perfect plan today. The only question was whether or not I was going to be able to run her down. My filly ran an amazing race. It’s been an amazing day.”
Trainer Cox continued, “This is why you wake up every morning, to get to win races like this. This filly has been really impressive coming into the race and when she breezed with Monomoy Girl a couple weeks ago, we knew how well she was training. These were some tough fillies in the Oaks this year with Swiss Skydiver and Gamine. We are so thrilled.”
Shedaresthedevil won on her debut in June last year for trainer Norm Casse, and was subsequently bought by HE Sheikh Fahad bin Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani’s Qatar Racing and sent to Simon Callaghan in California. She was third in the Group 2 Sorrento Stakes in August and fourth in the Juvenile Fillies Turf Stakes at Del Mar in early September before finishing second in the Anoakia Stakes at Santa Anita. She then went through the Keeneland November Sale, where she was bought by Flurry Racing Stables. Shedaresthedevil then ran under the joint ownership of Flurry Racing Stables and Qatar Racing Ltd, winning the Group 3 Honeybee Stakes, followed by a third place in the Group 3 Fantasy Stakes in May, behind Swiss Skydiver. She followed that up with two consecutive victories, by six and five lengths respectively at Churchill Downs before her record-breaking appearing in the Kentucky Oaks.
Shedaresthedevil is by Daredevil, a brilliant 2-year-old on the track, who now stands at WinStar Farm. He was sold to the Turkish Jockey Club ahead of the 2020 breeding season. She is out of Starship Warpspeed, who is by Congrats and was a winner. She also has a two-year-old filly by Outwork, a Speightster yearling filly last year and an Exaggerator filly foal. She is in foal to Uncle Mo.