Kentucky Oaks 2015 Results: Lovely Maria wins

Larry Jones trained Lovely Maria wins the 141st running of the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on Friday.

More from Horse Racing

The 141st Kentucky Oaks is now in the books and the lilies for the fillies go to the Larry Jones-trained Lovely Maria. She was ridden by Kerwin Clark and went off at odds of 6-1 on a sunny day at Churchill Downs Friday. Lovely Maria’s final time for the 1 1/8 mile race was 1:50.45, according to the Courier Journal. She finished 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Shook Up ridden by Robby Alberado and I’m A Chatterbox was third another length back from the top two.

I’m A Chatterbox is also trained by Jones.

Trainer Larry Jones most recently won the Kentucky Oaks in 2012 and 2008 and 2015 is his third win of the race. The cool story is 56-year-old Kerwin Clark who was understandably overcome with emotion upon winning the race. Despite Clark’s age and large lack of Grade 1 success in his career, Jones and owner Brereton Jones, the former Governor of Kentucky, kept Clark aboard Lovely Maria instead of looking for a big name as connections often do in such big races. But Clark has handled Lovely Maria from the beginning, from her winning debut at Delaware last September and to the rest of her seven starts, which resulted in three victories and three runner-up finishes.

Despite the magnitude of the race, Lovely Maria’s connections never thought about taking Clark off the filly. “He brought us to the dance,” said Cindy Jones, Larry Jones’ wife and assistant. “Why would you change then?” (via Fox Sports)

Clark added his own two cents after, saying that Larry Jones was a great guy and had all the faith in the world that Clark could bring the filly to victory. He said he felt the filly was really coming around after the Grade 1 Ashland.

Even though the Oaks isn’t as big of a draw as the Kentucky Derby, the crowd was boisterous enough and it speaks to Clark’s handling that he was able to get Lovely Maria to relax in spite of it. She broke from post position 7 and rated off Condo Commander and Angela Renee. The former set the pace while the latter pressured her. Lovely Maria and Shook Up waited just off, ready to make their move when the pace faltered. It did and Lovely Maria was able to make the quicker move to overcome her rivals. The fractions were 23.51 seconds for the first quarter, 47.26 seconds for the half and 1:11.50 for six.

Lovely Maria is by Majesticperfection out of Thundercup, by Thunder Gulch. She is trained by Larry Jones, ridden by Kerwin Clark and owned and bred by Brereton Jones.

More from Horse Racing

Home/Horse Racing