Multiple graded stakes-winning Crazy Beautiful made an impressive seasonal turf debut last out but will return to more familiar surroundings on a dirt track as part of an eight-horse field of 3-year-olds fillies competing at 1 1/8 miles in the $200,000 Grade 3 Comely on Friday at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Crazy Beautiful, owned by Phoenix Thoroughbreds, had racked up all five of her stakes wins on dirt before trainer Kenny McPeek moved the Liam’s Map daughter back to turf for the first time since her successful career debut in July 2020. Crazy Beautiful ran a competitive second, finishing one length behind winner Navratilova, in the 1 1/16-mile G3 Valley View on October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.
After posting three graded stakes wins in 1 1/16-mile main track races earlier this campaign – capturing the G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks in March, the G2 Summer Oaks in May at Santa Anita Park, and the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks in July at Delaware Park, – McPeek said the return foray to grass was prompted by scheduling limitations more than a desire to deviate from what had been a successful sophomore blueprint for the Kentucky bred.
“There weren’t any options for straight 3-year-old fillies at the time,” McPeek said. “She was doing well and she continues to do well after her last start. It looks like the Comely will be a good spot for her.”
Crazy Beautiful has compiled a 4-2-0 record in eight starts in 2021. Her only off-the-board efforts have come against top-flight competition, with a 10th in the G1 Kentucky Oaks on the eve of the Kentucky Derby on April 30 at Churchill Downs and a sixth-place showing in the G1 Alabama in August at Saratoga Race Course.
McPeek said the 72nd edition of the nine-furlong Comely could facilitate a start in the $300,000 G1 American Oaks on the grass that is slated for Opening Day of Santa Anita’s winter/spring meet on December 26.
“The goal is to get her to the American Oaks at the end of the year,” he said. “The Valley View gave me a test drive that she can handle the turf just fine. She’s shown previously that she can run on anything.”
Jockey Kendrick Carmouche will ride Crazy Beautiful for the first time, breaking from post 4.