by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — She may not possess the height, girth or breadth of some of her colleagues or capture any awards for her breathtaking beauty, but Armatrading has what it takes to be a Kentucky Sire Stakes champion. Her pilot and conditioner, Mark O’Mara, actually has a specific phrase for her personality and feels this particular trait sets her up perfectly to repeat that feat on Sunday (Aug. 30) at The Red Mile in the $175,000 final for 3-year-old filly trotters.

“She has the “little man’s syndrome,” said the Florida Hall of Fame member. “She is not very big or flashy, but when it is time to go on the track she puffs up because all she wants to do is win. I think she wants to prove size doesn’t matter and with her it doesn’t. She always tries so hard.”

A daughter of Groton Hall and the Dream Vacation mare Silver Thatch, Armatrading is co-owned by her breeder Atlantic Trot Inc. and Oscarsson Racing Stable.

Although Silver Thatch was unraced and is not as prolific as Wonderbolt, the dam of Kentucky Sire Stakes champions Bolt The Duer (Ponder, p,3,1:47.4f, $1,828,995), Blue Claw (Jenna’s Beach Boy, p,4,1:49.4, $576,635) and Shanghai Lil (Jenna’s Beach Boy, p,2,1:51.2, $1,070,251), she has produced three Sire Stakes finals starters and one champion.

Nigel Soult photo

Armatrading has won four races in her career, with earnings of $123,934.

Armatrading, the fifth of six foals from her dam, is the only one of her siblings to bring home the title, as she was the 2014 2-year-old trotting filly winner. Her half-brother Banco Solo (Master Glide, 4,1:53.4f, $264,852) was fifth as the second choice in 2012 as a freshman and his connections thought enough of him to race him in the Hambletonian, Stanley Dancer Memorial and the American-National as a 3-year-old. Her other half-brother Scacco Matto (Master Glide, 4,1:55.4f, $121,434) was third in his edition of the 2013 2-year-old final as the favorite and second as the public’s second selection in his 2014 contest as a sophomore.

This filly’s record may not be to the same level as her older brothers, but give it time. Last year as a freshman, Armatrading was 9-2-0-2, earned $111,184 and trotted in 1:57.4, which may not immediately grab peoples’ attention, but she was in top form throughout the summer and fall months.

Previously trained by the now deceased Kenneth Oscarsson, Armatrading was brought along slowly by design to be in peak fitness for the Kentucky competition in both the Sire Stakes series and for the Grand Circuit at Lexington. The filly ended her campaign with fourth place finishes in an $84,250 division of the Bluegrass Stake and an $80,550 division of the International Stallion Stake.

O’Mara is following the same program as Oscarsson, who thought highly of her last year, when Armatrading was a freshman. She has only gone to the gate on five occasions this year as a 3-year-old with two wins, a second place finish and $12,750 in the bank, but she has lowered her mark to 1:55.4.

She also enters the final off a very sharp triumph in her $15,000 Sire Stakes leg on Aug. 20. This was when she set her new speed badge and it was a strong rebound from a costly break when she finished sixth in the same company on Aug. 9.

“She came to my barn in April,” O’Mara said. “The Kentucky Sire Stakes final was the goal for her all along so I brought her along slowly. She raced at Hoosier but that was to prepare her for this very race. She has a very smooth stride and does not normally break. That night (Aug. 9), however, she was actually a little too fresh. She was full of herself and wanted to go right then, but she got right back on stride. In her last race she was so ready to trot I had trouble keeping her settled in the post parade. Hopefully, I have done my job and she will be prepared to race well on Sunday night.”

Armatrading is unlike many of the other members of her age, gender and gait group, in that she has absolutely perfect manners and is very calm.

“She is so quiet,” O’Mara said. “When she is in the stall it is like she is not even in the barn. We train at a fair track and the fair recently ended, but we had a lot of visitors come to our barn. They would go right up to her stall, because she is the one they were attracted to because of her demeanor and manners. She got all the attention.”

After her campaign to capture her second Kentucky Sire Stakes title has been satisfied, Armatrading will follow the same schedule that was employed last year.

“I am not sure if she is quite good enough to beat some of the best 3-year-old trotting fillies out there,” O’Mara said. “But she has the heart and wants to win so badly. She proved herself last year at The Red Mile meet so she is eligible to those races again this year and to the American-National. I am very much looking forward to Sunday night and to the rest of the fall with her to see if we did our job right.”

$175,000 Kentucky Sire Stakes Final-3-year-old Filly Trot
PP-Horse-Driver-Trainer
1-Jane Eyre-Tom Jackson-Fred Grant
2-Mama’s Brokn Heart-TBA-John Duer
3-Skeeter P-Josh Sutton-Eric Patalan
4-Wildcat Spirit-Joe Putnam-Frank O’Mara
5-Crime Wave Hall-Luke Ebersole-Renee Houska
6-Armatrading-Mark O’Mara-Mark O’Mara