Red hot Daisy Devine to head the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile
James M. Miller’s 4-year-old filly, Daisy Devine, answered her calling when she was introduced to grass last October, and since then Andrew McKeever trained filly never looked back, and showed her fondness of turf by never losing a race in four starts she
has run over the surface.
She had seven starts on dirt in her juvenile and sophomore season with a lone start over the synthetic surface at Keeneland, her debut race, but Keeneland was the venue yet again when Daisy Devine landed an emphatic victory in a field which included over
Bay to Bay and other Grade 1 winners, the French bred Zagora and Aruna in the Grade 1, $300,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes.
The Kentucky bred Daisy Devine’s four race winning streak started with a win last year in the Grade 3 Valley View Stakes at about 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland, where she defeated Bizzy Caroline and In Step.
She capped off her 2011 campaign with a win in the Pago Hop Stakes over a mile at Fair Grounds Race Course.
She kicked off her 2012 campaign with a win in the Mardi Gras Stakes also at Fair Grounds Race Course at 1 1/16 miles on 21 February, 2012, as she topped the distance in 1 minute and 47.19 seconds.
“She worked well over it (before the Valley View) and it was an ideal time after the Indiana Oaks (G2),” McKeever said. “She had had a lot of foot problems and we never had her 100 percent until then.”
The question was asked of her trainer that why wasn’t she tried on turf before when she failed on dirt in six starts out of seven with a lone win in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks and a second place finish in the Silverbulletday Stakes.
“She had won the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and run in the Kentucky Oaks (G1),” McKeever said. “I think she can run on anything. There might be a half-length difference for her on the surfaces.”
Now, the 4-year-old filly is pointed toward the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile, where she has run only once before in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks last year finishing seventh on dirt.
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