Flurry Racing Stables, Qatar Racing, and Big Aut Farms’ Shedaresthedevil jumped into fifth place on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard by securing 50 points with her victory in the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) before a crowd of 22,000 March 7 at Oaklawn Park.

“She had been training extremely well leading up to her first race (at Oaklawn), and then she had a fantastic work between that allowance race and the race today,” trainer Brad Cox said of the Daredevil filly. “Gave us the confidence to, obviously, not run in the one-other-than (allowance) next week. We obviously ran a horse that was eligible for a (one other than) in a grade 3. We had a lot of confidence in her.

“She’s a nice filly. She puts a lot into her training in the morning. She gives you the confidence. She rewarded the ownership today, us, and the whole group. It was a great race.”

Ridden by jockey Joe Talamo, who swept Saturday’s stakes races by also winning the Hot Springs Stakes aboard Whitmore, Shedaresthedevil settled off the pace as Ring Leader took command early through fractions of :23.73 and :47.89 for the first half-mile. The winner split horses late and burst to the lead in the final furlong to win by three-quarters of a length over 2-1 favorite Alta’s Award. The final time was 1:44.38 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast track.

“I was loaded the whole way around there. It was just a matter (of) trying to pick a seam, and, boy, when it opened up, she absolutely exploded through there,” Talamo said. “I was very impressed with her gallop out, and distance won’t be a problem. I think she’s going to get every bit of the mile and an eighth or even more. Hats off to Brad and (assistant) Jorge (Abrego). They’ve done a great job with this filly, and I don’t think she’s even peaked yet. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of her yet.”

Shedaresthedevil returned $7.80, $3.80, and $2.60 as the 5-2 third choice. Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm out of the Congrats mare Starship Warpspeed, she improved her record to 2-2-1 from six starts, with earnings of $297,648. The filly was a $280,000 purchase by Flurry Racing Stables from Hunter Valley Farm’s consignment to the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

“Autry (Lowry of Big Aut Farms) and I, we were looking at several horses during (Keeneland November). We got this one,” co-owner Staton Flurry said. “He owned a share of Daredevil, the stallion. He said, ‘Man, I think this would be fun to own one of his best horses.'”

Starship Warpspeed produced an Outwork filly in 2018 and a Speightster filly in 2019. She was bred to Exaggerator for 2020.

Cox said Shedaresthedevil will likely make her final start before the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) in the April 10 Fantasy Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn.

Also picking up points for the Oaks were Alta’s Award, who received 20 points for finishing second and is ranked sixth on the leaderboard, and third-place Motu, who picked up 10 points for a total of 16, eighth on the list. Queen Bridget received five points for fourth but is not nominated for the Oaks. – Article courtesy of the BloodHorse