Barn Notes 2/7/25
Compiled by Robert Yates
Free Like a Girl’s lengthy search for a first career graded stakes victory has brought her back to Oaklawn for Saturday’s $250,000 Bayakoa (G3) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.
The Bayakoa is a major local steppingstone to the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at 1 1/16 miles April 12.
Free Like a Girl, the leading accredited Louisiana-bred career money winner, finished third in last year’s Apple Blossom, which was her sixth graded stakes race. Now 0 for 10, Free Like a Girl is being wheeled back in two weeks after finishing fourth, beaten four lengths, in the $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 25 at Sam Houston Race Park.
“She definitely deserves it,” Chasey Deville Pomier, Free Like a Girl’s Louisiana-based trainer, said of a graded stakes victory. “We want to give her that opportunity to get that on her resume.”
A true rags to riches story, Free Like a Girl was purchased for just $5,500 as a yearling at the 2020 Equine Sales of Louisiana Yearling Sale. The 6-year-old daughter of El Deal, now 21 of 47 overall, has bankrolled $2,123,438 and is a 19-time stakes winner.
Deville Pomier owns Free Like a Girl in a partnership that includes her father, Carl Deville, an Oaklawn stakes-winning trainer, and Jerry Caroom of Hot Springs, Oaklawn’s second-leading owner in 2022-2023.
“I had her older brother (Free Indeed) and he really could run a little bit, so we went back and looked at her at the yearling sale,” Deville Pomier said. “I think within three works, I called dad and said: ‘We’ve got something here.’ He said: ‘What do you mean?’ I said; ‘You need to come watch her work and you’ll understand.’ She was so easy and knew her job. Just did it some effortlessly from Day 1, really.”
Free Like a Girl, at five furlongs, broke her maiden by 6 ½ lengths against Louisiana-bred 2-year-old fillies July 9, 2021, at Evangeline Downs. She recorded her first stakes victory two starts later in the $60,000 D. S. Shine Young Futurity for 2-year-old Louisiana-bred fillies at 5 ½ furlongs in September at Evangeline Downs.
Although the bulk of Free Like a Girl’s work has come against state-breds, she has been successful in open company and outside Louisiana.
Free Like a Girl became the all-time accredited Louisiana-bred career money winner with a victory in the seven-furlong $500,000 Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon Stakes Aug. 23 at Charles Town in West Virginia. The Misty Bennett pushed Free Like a Girl’s earnings to $1,916,978, eclipsing Star Guitar’s previous record ($1,749,862).
Free Like a Girl was an allowance winner at one mile last March at Oaklawn. After finishing third in the Apple Blossom, she ran second to champion Idiomatic, beaten 3 ¾ lengths, in the $1 million La Troienne Stakes (G1) at 1 1/16 miles last May at Churchill Downs.
Free Like a Girl made her Oaklawn and graded stakes debut in the $300,000 Honeybee (G3) for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles in February 2022. She finished fourth behind future Kentucky Oaks champion Secret Oath. In addition to the La Troienne, Free Like a Girl ran second in the $500,000 Charles Town Oaks (G3) and $200,000 Remington Park Oaks (G3) in 2022 and second, beaten a neck, in the Houston Ladies Classic (G3) in 2024.
Now comes the Bayakoa, an 11th opportunity for an elusive first graded victory.
“I don’t really have anything in the next, probably, two months, and we were just trying to find her something, keep her conditioned,” Deville Pomier said. “(Oaklawn) called us about the race. They thought it might come up a little short (number of entrants), so they called us about it and we decided to take a shot.”
One of six Bayakoa entrants, Free Like a Girl (3-1 on the morning line) is scheduled to break from post 5 under Ricardo Santana Jr. Loved, the 9-5 program favorite, is the only graded stakes winner entered. Santana, an eight-time Oaklawn riding champion, rode Free Like a Girl to her allowance victory last season in Hot Springs.
“I loved the way he rode her in the allowance,” Deville Pomier said. “I would have loved to have put him on her in the Apple Blossom last year, but he already had another call, which was understandable. He was very excited to ride her again.”
The Bayakoa goes as the ninth of 10 races, with probable post time 4:25 p.m. (Central).
Yes Ma’am Returns
Yes Ma’am, a half-sister to 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, is scheduled to make her second career start, and first around two turns, in Saturday’s 10th race at Oaklawn, a one-mile $110,000 maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies.
Yes Ma’am debuted with a fifth-place finish, beaten 10 ½ lengths by Miss Martini, in a maiden special weight sprint Dec. 29 at Oaklawn. Yes Ma’am was in a striking position following a three-wide move late on the turn, but the daughter of Unified lost ground in the stretch. The 6-furlong race was run over a muddy, sealed surface.
“She looked like she made a move around the turn, which was going to be a winning move,” trainer John Ortiz said. “I knew that we didn’t have the track that we needed. The track was a little too sticky and tiring. She kind of got tired down the stretch. In hindsight, I do think that she’s going to be a two-turn filly, anyway, so we just took this race in stride.”
Other than being tired, Ortiz said Yes Ma’am came out of the race “great.”
“It’s good news that we got to the bottom of her,” Ortiz said. “Usually when I see that, I see horses grow from that experience.”
Yes Ma’am (9-2 on the morning line) switches to jockey Tyler Gaffalione and adds Lasix for her second start. The Florida-based Gaffalione was among three finalists for an Eclipse Award as the country’s outstanding jockey of 2024. Yes Ma’am drew post 8 in the 11-horse field.
Ortiz trains Yes Ma’am for her breeders, Arkansans Lance Gasaway, Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway (4 G Racing) and Daniel “Banks” Hamby. They also bred and race Mystik Dan, who won Oaklawn’s $800,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds last February before capturing the Kentucky Derby. Mystik Dan is trained by Kenny McPeek.
Probable post time for the 10th race is 4:55 p.m. (Central).
Finish Lines
Oaklawn is only scheduled to run two days this week (Friday and Saturday) after dropping Super Bowl Sunday in 2025 because business had traditionally lagged that day. Oaklawn normally races Friday, Saturday and Sunday. … Trainer Lindsay Schultz enters Friday with 91 career victories, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization, including four this season at Oaklawn. Schultz, a former assistant under Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, recorded her fourth winner with favored Timbavati ($6.80) in last Monday’s sixth race. Schultz has more victories at Oaklawn (30) than any other track. … Entries will be accepted and post positions drawn Sunday for the $150,000 Dixie Belle Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. The six-furlong race is Feb. 15 at Oaklawn. The Dixie Belle closed with 23 nominations, including scheduled starter G W’s Girl for trainer Greg Compton. G W’s Girl, in her dirt debut, won the $150,000 Mockingbird Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Jan. 4 at Oaklawn. Compton said the major spring objective for G W’s Girl is the $400,000 Beaumont Stakes (G2) for 3-year-old fillies at about seven furlongs April 6 at Keeneland. … Arkansas-bred star Hush It Honey is likely headed to the $150,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders’ Stakes March 1 at Oaklawn, co-owner/trainer Randy Morse said. The Downthedustyroad is for Arkansas-bred fillies and mares, 3 and up, at 6 furlongs. Hush It Honey, in her 4-year-old debut, beat open company in a Jan. 18 allowance sprint at Oaklawn. … “Oaklawn Raceday,” hosted by Justin Acri and Oaklawn Anywhere director David Longinotti, can be heard Saturdays 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m. (CST) during the 2024-2025 meeting on Little Rock, Ark., radio station KABZ-FM 103.7 and www.1037thebuzz.com. Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse is this week’s special guest. The program also features Oaklawn Equibase representative Jeff Taylor.
