She’s simply the best horse ever owned by Uxbridge’s John Brnjas of Colebrook Farm.
SIMPLY IN FRONT is the queen of big money sprint and mile races on grass in the US and on Saturday, she won her first GRADE 1, taking the First Lady at Keeneland, worth $800,000.
Far back at the top of the stretch, Simply in Front moved toward the inside and began splitting horses until she collared Choisya (GB) inside the sixteenth pole and held off Segesta by a neck to win the 28th running of the First Lady.
Trained by Eddie Kenneally and ridden by Ben Curtis, Simply in Front completed the mile on a firm turf course in 1:34.76. She earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure.
Raqiya (IRE) set the pace with pressure to her outside from Jody’s Pride while Choisya enjoyed a rail run just in behind the top two. Turning for home, Frankie Dettori cut the corner on Choisya and quickly opened a daylight margin that lasted to deep stretch.
A Keeneland sales graduate at $115,000, Simply in Front is a four-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Summer Front out of the Blame mare Complicated. In winning for the sixth time in 16 starts, Simply in Front picked up her third graded stakes victory and improved her earnings to $2,868,611.
Simply in Front returned $28.24, $11.36 and $6.62. Segesta, ridden by Flavien Prat, returned $7.20 and $5.04 and finished a neck in front of Choisya, who was ridden by Frankie Dettori and paid $4.96 to show.
Brnjas had Simply in Front in Ontario to begin her career with his Woodbine trainer Pat Dixon. Once the filly was showing a love for turf and was second in the Grade 1 Natalma, the owner made a plan to send her to the US to race in rich races for three-year-olds on turf.
Trainer Kenneally said after the First Lady that Simply in Front would likely head to Del Mar and find a stakes event there during the Breeders’ Cup festivities.
More News
