Free Like a Girl possible for Apple Blossom Handicap

Mary Rampellini The Bloodhorse Mar 10, 2024

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The millionaire Free Like a Girl could be making a return trip to Oaklawn Park next month for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap.

Trainer Chasey Deville-Pomier said the Louisiana-bred is under consideration for the race following her allowance win over the local track Friday. She liked how Free Like a Girl had emerged from the race as of Saturday morning and said she was to ship to Evangeline Downs on Sunday.

“She looked beautiful – ate up everything, playing in the stall - her normal self,” Deville-Pomier said. “I think we’re aiming for the Shantel Lanerie at Fair Grounds and possibly the Apple Blossom back at Oaklawn. It was kind of the talk after yesterday. We wanted to see how she handled the track first – and obviously, as long as she’s doing good and everything’s good with her.”

Deville-Pomier co-owns Free Like a Girl with Gerald Bruno Jr. and Arkansas resident Jerry Caroom.

The $100,000 Shantel Lanerie is for Louisiana-breds on March 24 at Fair Grounds.

Free Like a Girl has won 14 stakes – mostly against Louisiana-breds – and has placed in four graded races. Her latest such effort came in January, when she was second by a neck in the Grade 3 Sam Houston Ladies Classic. The winner, Bellamore, returned to run third in the Grade 2 Azeri on Saturday at Oaklawn.

Free Like a Girl was a determined allowance winner Friday, running down Backyard Money for a neck win in the one-mile race that ended at the sixteenth pole. She was ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr. and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 80.

“It set up the way I was hoping it would, as far as I wanted her to sit off it, third or fourth, and make a run at a target like she likes,” Deville-Pomier said. “It worked out. I did get a little nervous when she was stuck up in traffic, but she handled it beautifully.”  

Free Like a Girl is a 5-year-old mare by El Deal who boasts a record of 16 wins from 36 starts for earnings of $1.2 million. She’s moved from seventh to fifth on the Louisiana-bred list of all-time leading earners kept by the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association.