Lady Lilly continued her excellent progress on a very good day for Phoenix Thoroughbreds at Keeneland during the opening day of the track’s Autumn meet.
The Steve Asmussen trained filly followed up on her last time out placing in the G1 company with a gutsy performance to claim a victory before another classy filly, carrying the owners white and orange silks, found one too good in the G1 Alcibiades.
For Lady Lilly, the daughter of Nyquist was taking her overall record to two wins in three starts. A winner on debut at Saratoga she was back there for the Spinaway Stakes where she delighted connections with a third-place finish. With that black-type safely secured on her resume, she took on the mile AOC at the Kentucky track with Tyler Gaffalione in the irons for the first time.
Breaking well from the gates, the juvenile sat just off the early pace while always looking like she was travelling well within herself. Turning for home, she eased to the front and gained a clear advantage in the stretch. With a furlong to go she was headed by the fast-finishing Dash to the Top, but not to be outdone Lady Lilly put her head down and fought to get back on top in a photo finish.
No such problems this time as she sat off a slow pace behind stablemate Simply Ravishing in the Darley sponsored Alcibiades Stakes. There wasn’t a whole lot of change in that order as the leader kicked on in the stretch to win well with Crazy Beautiful finishing a very strong runner-up. Her record now reads two wins and two placings, both at Graded Stakes level, in four starts.