With its hills, differing turns, and an elongated stretch, the Kentucky Downs turf course isn't for every horse. But it is for Stellify.
The 5-year-old mare won both of her starts in clear-cut fashion over the undulating turf oval last year, including the Ladies Marathon Invitational Stakes (G3T), and on Sept. 6, she looks to pick up where she left off by repeating in the 1 5/16-mile turf race. She is a short-priced favorite in the $1.5 million race with the field of nine fillies and mares, pegged at even money on the morning line, ahead of Golden Sunshine at 9-2 and Dona Clota at 6-1.
Stellify, trained by Brad Cox for owners Elements Racing, George Messina, and Michael Lee, is winless since the 2025 Kentucky Downs meet, though with only two opportunities and in races in which her defeats were entirely understandable. One was a seventh-place finish when stepping up in class into the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) at Del Mar in her follow-up start after Kentucky Downs, and the other when returning from a nine-month layoff in the Beverly D. Stakes (G2T) at Colonial Downs, where she checked in fourth. She lost by 5 lengths in the Breeders' Cup, and by just 2 1/2 lengths in the Beverly D.
After racing from off the pace with troubled trips in those outings, she is expected to show more speed in Sunday's race under Flavien Prat. Such a scenario would leave her well positioned into the first of two turns, even breaking second from the outside in post 8.
Stellify owns the race's deepest bankroll, with $1,486,604 earned from a 4-1-1 record in eight starts. All of the Justify mare's victories last year came after she raced either first or second early.
Breaking just outside Stellify in post 9 is Godolphin's homebred Golden Sunshine, who returns to turf racing and stretches out in distance after rallying to be fourth in the 1 1/8-mile Trillium Stakes (G3) on Woodbine's Tapeta main track. She placed in the 1 1/2-mile Bewitch Stakes (G3T) this spring on turf for trainer Eoin Harty.
Dona Clota and Way to Be Marie (10-1) also have legitimate credentials, with the former victorious two starts ago in the Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes (G3T) at Delaware Park and the latter seventh in the Beverly D. and runner-up to Stellify in the Ladies Marathon in 2025.
One Dreamer a Secondary Feature
The Ladies Marathon is carded as the 10th race on a 12-race program, two races after fillies and mares race 1 1/16 miles in the restricted One Dreamer Stakes. Only horses without a stakes win in 2026 are eligible to that contest.
Two of the leading contenders, Hang the Moon and May Day Ready, notched multiple graded stakes triumphs during prior seasons and enter Sunday's race after in-the-money stakes finishes. Hang the Moon is also entered in the richer Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Stakes (G2T) over a mile Sept. 5 and could alternatively race there. May Day Ready adds blinkers.
Kentucky Downs, Sunday, September 6, 2026, Race 10Entries: Global Tote Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon Invitational S. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Dona Clota (CHI) Jose L. Ortiz 124 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 6/1 2 2Way to Be Marie (KY) Ben Curtis 122 Eddie Kenneally 10/1 3 3Venencia (FR) Micah J. Husbands 124 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 15/1 4 4Night of Rose (BRZ) Walter A. Rodriguez 126 Paulo H. Lobo 20/1 5 5Hey Jessie (CA) Florent Geroux 122 Sean McCarthy 20/1 6 6Pin Up Betty (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 124 Michael J. Maker 8/1 7 7Public Assembly (KY) Luis Saez 124 Philip D'Amato 10/1 8 8Stellify (KY) Flavien Prat 124 Brad H. Cox 1/1 9 9Golden Sunshine (KY) Jaime A. Torres 122 Eoin G. Harty 9/2
Kentucky Downs, Sunday, September 6, 2026, Race 8Entries: One Dreamer S.
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Hang the Moon (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 122 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 8/5 2 2Bourbon Memory (KY) Ben Curtis 122 Brendan P. Walsh 9/2 3 3May Day Ready (KY) Flavien Prat 126 Richard E. Mandella 7/2 4 4Miwa (GB) Jose L. Ortiz 122 Joe Sharp 5/2 5 5For Love and Honor (KY) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 122 Joe Sharp 20/1 6 6Cheetah Lady (KY) Joseph D. Ramos 122 D. Whitworth Beckman 6/1
