by Jennie Rees, Eclipse Award Winning Turf Writer
SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (Saturday, July 9, 2022) – Interstatedaydream might not have looked at the quarter pole like the odds-on favorite she was for Saturday’s $200,000, Grade 3 Indiana Oaks. She seemed to be struggling to keep even with 9-1 Runaway Wife. But when it mattered, Flurry Racing’s filly was at her best, easing away in the final eighth-mile to win Indiana’s signature stakes for 3-year-old fillies by 2 1/4 lengths at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
It was another 6 1/2 lengths back to Runaway Wife’s stablemate, Silverleaf.
“Around the turn I kind of got a little worried, but she dug back in, and she looked like what we thought she was,” said owner Staton Flurry. “We wanted to get another graded stakes under her belt and hopefully we can go onto bigger and better things.”
The Brad Cox-trained Interstatedaydream came into the Indiana Oaks off Pimlico’s Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan on Preakness Eve. Saturday’s race was her fourth victory in six starts, with a second in last year’s Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga in her second start and a third in Keeneland’s Grade 1 Ashland won by Nest, who in her next two starts was second in the prestigious Kentucky Oaks and the Belmont Stakes against males. The daughter of Classic Empire now has earned $468,825 with the $117,600 paycheck.
“She was extremely well-spotted,” said jockey Florent Geroux, who also teamed with Cox and Flurry to win the 2020 Indiana Oaks with Shedaresthedevil, who in her next start won the COVID-delayed Kentucky Oaks. “Brad decided to run her in this race and pass on the heavy-heads on the East Coast and West Coast. Perfect spot. She won very nicely last time out at Pimlico, and it was nice to get another graded stakes on her resume.”
Not that there weren’t moments of worry when Corey Lanerie on Runaway Wife cruised up alongside around the far turn and into the stretch.
“She had to battle,” Cox said. “I was a little concerned when we straightened up (out of the far turn), and Lanerie looked like he had as much horse as we did. But she responded well. I think her class and her talent, how good she is, showed up late. She’s a good filly. She looked like she was 1-to-5. At the sixteenth pole or the quarter pole, maybe not, but it worked out.”
Interstatedaydream was closest in pursuit as her lightly raced stablemate Patna carved out methodical fractions of 24.04 seconds, 48.26, 1:12.55 before giving way. The winner finished the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.78 over a track listed “good” and paid $2.60 to win as officially the 3-10 favorite in the field of seven 3-year-old fillies.
Lanerie said Runaway Wife “ran great” and admitted that turning for home he thought, “the eventual winner, I didn’t think she was going to beat me. She was all out. I was just worried about someone else coming. My filly didn’t stop. He (Geroux) just must have kind of taken a breather and come back. Because she beat me pretty easy. I think my filly has a lot of upside.”
Told that Lanerie thought he had Interstatedaydream, Geroux said, “Corey didn’t just think he’d pass me — he really did pass me almost three-quarters of a length. The last eighth of a mile she gave me another kick, and I was very happy.”
The rest of the field was strung out with Sixtythreecaliber checking in fourth, followed by Patna, Napa Candy, and North County.
“Our filly ran good,” jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. said of Silverleaf. “She got a pocket trip right behind the winner and got a little graded stakes-placing on her. The winner is a nice filly. Turning for home, I thought Kenny’s other filly was going to draw off and run away from her. Brad’s filly gutted it out big time.”
Kenny McPeek, trainer of Runaway Wife and Silverleaf, said he was “thrilled with them. They ran super. That was a goal, to get black type on both of those fillies.”
Cox said Ontario-bred Interstatedaydream could be considered for a stakes over Woodbine’s all-weather surface such as the Queen’s Plate for Canadian-breds against males.
“But I like the idea of keeping her on dirt,” he said. “I think our short-term goal could be possibly the Cotillion (at Parx). It’s a Grade 1. Saratoga, we’ll see. The Alabama would be an option as well. We’re going to let some of these fillies like Nest and (Kentucky Oaks winner) Secret Oath kind of duke it out maybe this summer and if the Cotillion comes up the way we’d like, that could be a good spot as well. We need to take a swing at a Grade 1 at some point, and that could be one I’ve kind of eyeballed.”
That kind of patience served Flurry and Cox well with Shedaresthedevil, now a three-time Grade 1 winner.
Said Flurry: “That’s kind of the motif that Brad has taught us: Be patient with them. Don’t try to throw them to the wolves every time there’s a race out there they fit in. Be patient, take your time between spots and they’ll reward you. Look at how we’ve done with Shedaresthedevil. That’s kind of the game plan we had in 2020, and it won us the Kentucky Oaks. It was a good finish today I’m excited to see what the future holds for us.”
Flurry said Interstatedaydream is named for one of his favorite bands, the Oklahoma-based Turnpike Troubadours.
“There’s a line in one of their songs like ‘You ain’t nothing, just an interstatedaydream.’ I said, ‘That sounds like a really good horse name. So here she is.”
Photos by Coady Photography
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