Rabbah Bloodstock\u2019s Choisya has a chance Saturday to join some exclusive company when she goes postward in the 28th running of the $800,000 First Lady (G1) for fillies and mares going a mile on the turf.<\/p>\n
Choisya made her U.S. debut here in April, winning the Jenny Wiley (G1). A victory Saturday in the First Lady would put her with Never Retreat (2011) and Intercontinental (2005) as the only horses to win both races in the same year.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s in good form and training well,\u201d said John Clarke, who was aboard Choisya for an open gallop on Keeneland\u2019s training track Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
Following her Jenny Wiley victory, Choisya returned to Europe but came back to Saratoga in June for the Just a Game (G1) Presented by Resolute Racing, in which she finished seventh.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of rain that week, and it was very wet and yielding,\u201d said Clarke, assistant to trainer Simon Crisford. \u201cIf we had been back home, she wouldn\u2019t have run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Choisya remained at Saratoga for the Dunkin\u2019 Diana (G1), in which she finished fourth going 1\u215b miles over a turf course rated as good.<\/p>\n
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\u201cShe got a short break back home after that,\u201d Clarke said. \u201cA race at Leopardstown (in Ireland) was a possibility, but we were worried about catching soft turf.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soft is a condition Choisya will not find on Saturday, with no rain in the forecast and temperatures in the 80s.<\/p>\n
\u201cFast ground with the tight turns, that\u2019s how she likes it,\u201d said Clarke, who made his first trip to Keeneland this spring when he accompanied Choisya for the Jenny Wiley.<\/p>\n
Frankie Dettori has the mount Saturday and will exit post 1.<\/p>\n
Kentucky Downs Near Miss Propels Rose Room Into Friday\u2019s Jessamine Presented By Keeneland Sales<\/p>\n
An intriguing entrant in Friday\u2019s $400,000 Jessamine (G2) Presented by Keeneland Sales is Godolphin homebred Rose Room, who arrived at Keeneland Thursday morning from trainer Mike Stidham\u2019s base at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.<\/p>\n
This is her second trip to Kentucky, with the first being a near miss by a neck in finishing fourth in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies (L) going a mile on Aug. 31.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing down the backside, she was switching leads and trying to find her footing,\u201d Stidham said. \u201cFlorent (Geroux) let her settle, but he didn\u2019t know if he had any horse. He straightened her out for home, and here she comes. One more jump, and she wins it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rose Room debuted at Delaware Park on Aug. 7, winning a 7\u00bd-furlong grass test by two lengths.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know early on what we had. She was not precocious,\u201d Stidham said. \u201cIn her first race, she kicked in when she needed to, and we decided to take a shot at Kentucky Downs.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is a half to Pixelate, who won the (WinStar) Mint Millions (G3) in 2021, so we figured like brother, like sister. We were almost right.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 1 1\/16-mile Jessamine Presented by Keeneland Sales is a Breeders\u2019 Cup Challenge race that awards the winner a fees-paid berth into the $1 million John Deere Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) going a mile on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report<\/a> on Oct 2, 2025, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabbah Bloodstock\u2019s Choisya has a chance Saturday to join some exclusive company when she goes postward in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[78503,78502,78504,30597,7566,3004,78505,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-176008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-choisya","9":"tag-jenny-wiley","10":"tag-john-clarke","11":"tag-keeneland-sales","12":"tag-kentucky-downs","13":"tag-racing","14":"tag-rose-room","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}