Five Fleet Fillies of the Week, Feb. 16-22

Wandering Eyes · 2026-02-24T14:37:22Z

Sprinters–dirt and turf–dominated the week's best female performances.

5–KAPOOR, GP, 2-19, Alw, 6f (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-90
(f, 4, Uncle Mo–Kareena, by Medaglia d'Oro)
O/B-Godolphin (Ky). T-Bill Mott. J-Taylor Kingsley.
Kapoor has rolled to three consecutive frontrunning sprint wins by a combined 14 1/4 lengths, and she practically snuck into this allowance in the cover of darkness: the conditions were for non-winners of $20k once other than maiden/claiming, and her winners' take from a Tampa allowance score four weeks earlier was $19,175. As expected, the Godolphin pedigree is strong, especially from the Beyer angle. Dam Kareena recorded Beyers of 96 and 98 in her brief career, and second dam India once had back-to-back Beyers of 100 and 103.

4–GRATEFULLY, SA, 2-21, Wishing Well S., 6fT (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-91
(f, 4, Laoban–Selflessly, by More Than Ready)
O-Adelphi Racing Club and Shelly and Russell Hume. B-WinStar Farm. T- Rob Falcone. J-Florent Geroux.
Matt Cutair and his Adelphi partners had a 2 1/2 hours to remember Saturday, striking first with unbeaten Gratefully after a Santa Anita stretch duel and again 2,700 miles away with Twirling Beauty (below). Gratefully has now survived three “gut checks” during her 5-for-5 career launch. She's the first foal of Selflessly, a two-time GSW for Seth Klarman and Chad Brown. WinStar acquired Selflessly following her racing career, bred her to Laoban, then sold mother and daughter–Selflessly, first for $875k to Ireland's Barronstown Stud and Gratefully the following year for a bargain $155k as a yearling to Adelphi.

3–TWIRLING BEAUTY, AQU, 2-21, Alw, 6f (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-91
(f, 4, Twirling Candy–Strategic Dreams, by Archarcharch)
O-Adelphi Racing Club, Anthony Amarosa, Shelly and Russell Hume and Anthony Peters Jr. B-WinStar Farm. T-David Duggan. J-Ricardo Santana.
The excitement of Gratefully's victory at even-money odds still hadn't subsided for Adelphi and the Humes when Twirling Beauty unexpectedly came through as the 12-1 longest shot in a five-horse allowance field. By contrast, her win had few tense moments as she opened up through the lane by 5 1/2 lengths. Also a $150k yearling buy as the first foal of a two-time stakes winner, her racing resume isn't as accomplished as her stablemate, but that 91 Beyer is equally strong.

2–HAULIN ICE, OP, 2-20, Downthedustyroad Breeders' S.,
6f (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-98
(m, 5, Coal Front–She's Smoke, by Half Ours)
O-C2 Racing Stable, WSS Racing and Agave Racing Stable. B-Eugenia Thompson-Benight (Ark). T-Saffie Joseph. J-Francisco Arrieta.
As a two-time GSW, she can hang with the big girls. But a free square against Arkansas-breds for a $150k purse is too enticing to pass. Haulin Ice has won this race in back-to-back years by a combined 17 3/4 lengths, and this one put her over $1 million in earnings. C2's Mark and Clint Cornett (White Abarrio) bought her from the breeders after her fifth start. She RNA'd in October for $875k in a digital auction after which Bill and Tammy Simon and Agave's Mark Martinez bought out C2's three previous partners.

1–SHINING STAR, FG, 2-17, Mardi Gras S., 5 1/2fT (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure-103
(m, 5, Saraha Spirit–Green Power {Chi}, by Dublin {Ire})
O-Sumaya U.S. Stable. B-Haras Sumaya. T-Brad Cox. J-Jose Ortiz.
Fair Grounds has hosted more than its share of powerful turf sprinters–Shining Star's dominant score marked the 10th triple-digit Beyer in a 5 1/2-furlong turf dash during the track's last five seasons. Since Cox switched her to turf last fall, the Oussama Aboughazale owned-and-bred mare is 3-for-3 by an average margin of 5 1/4 lengths. Aboughazale stands unraced Tapit stallion Saraha Spirit (half-brother to Giant's Causeway stallion Protonico) in Chile. Notably, he's out of Wild Spirit, who Aboughazale imported in 2003 to win the GI Ruffian Stakes with trainer Bobby Frankel. And speaking of triple-digit Beyers, five of Wild Spirit's six American starts featured figs of 110, 109, 109 and 106.