Since her first start in 2023, Juddmonte Farms’ homebred Idiomatic has been nearly flawless. Now 5, the daughter of Curlin has won nine of 10 starts, including four straight Grade 1 wins and the Eclipse Award as racing’s top older filly/mare.
Idiomatic. NYRA/Coglianese Photo
Champion Idiomatic has won ten of 13 career starts
Now, having kicked off her 2024 campaign with a rousing victory in the La Troienne (G1) over a sloppy track at Churchill Downs, Idiomatic takes on Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) runner-up Randomized, last year’s 3-year-old filly champion Pretty Mischievous, and another daughter of Curlin, Doubledogdare (G3) winner Raging Sea, in the $500,000 Ogden Phipps, the first of six Grade 1 races on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes card at Saratoga Race Course.
Tabbed at 3-5 on the morning line, Idiomatic tuned up for her engagement in the 1 1/8-mile race breezing 5 furlongs in 59.60 seconds June 1 at Churchill Downs for trainer Brad Cox.
“[Jockey] Florent [Geroux] told me she worked really nice again yesterday morning,” said Garrett O’Rourke, general manager of Juddmonte USA. “She definitely reached a lovely peak last year and showed she is at that peak again this year in the La Troienne. All we’re really hoping to do is have her stay at the same level and try to keep the streak going.”
Geroux and Idiomatic: A Winning Partnership
Following her lone loss in 2023 – a second-place effort in her first graded stakes, the 1-mile Ruffian (G2) at Belmont Park – Idiomatic teamed up with Geroux to notch six straight victories at six different tracks; the Shawnee (G3) at Churchill Downs, the Delaware Handicap (G2) at Delaware Park, the Personal Ensign (G1) at the Spa, the Spinster (G1) at Keeneland, the Distaff at Santa Anita, and the aforementioned La Troienne, earning triple-digit Equibase speed figures in each and $2.4 million in purse money.
Geroux will be aboard Idiomatic again when she leaves from post No. 5 in the Ogden Phipps, a “Win and You’re In” event for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).
Second choice at 9-2 is Alpha Delta Stables’ Raging Sea, a Chad Brown trainee whose first two graded stakes races resulted in two victories, having closed out her 2023 campaign with a nose win in the Comely (G3) at Aqueduct before launching her 4-year-old season with a 3 ¼-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Doubledogdare.
Flavien Prat has the call from post No. 6.
Horses, Jockeys, and Odds: What to Expect on Race Day
Brown also will saddle Klaravich Stables’ Randomized, 6-1 on the morning line following her runner-up finish in the Ruffian (G2) on May 4 at Aqueduct. Joel Rosario rides from the rail.
Also at 6-1 is Godolphin’s Pretty Mischievous, 5 ¼ lengths behind Idiomatic in the La Troienne. The Into Mischief miss won four of her six starts en route to the Eclipse last year, including victories in the Test (G1) at Saratoga, the Acorn (G1) at Belmont, the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and the Rachel Alexandra (G2) at the Fair Grounds.
Tyler Gaffalione will be aboard when she leaves from post 3.
Rounding out the field are Ruffian winner Soul of an Angel, 8-1 under Irad Ortiz, Jr. riding from post No. 4, and Tizzy in the Sky, 12-1, under Kendrick Carmouche. The Todd Pletcher trainee drew post No. 2.
The picks: 1 Idiomatic 2 Randomized 3 Tizzy in the Sky