by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — She is the filly that Joann Looney-King was castigated for bringing home, but Purrfect Bags not only proved her detractors utterly wrong, she improved their lives in ways they never could have imagined.

“My husband let me have it when I brought her home,” said Looney-King. “I had $2,000 in my pocket for the Chick’s Delaware Sale and all I knew was I needed a weanling. We have one broodmare and we don’t keep her at the farm, but we do keep her babies there. I needed another weanling so I could turn them out together.

“I was only comfortable with spending $2,000 and everything else was going for much more. I bought her without even looking at her for those two reasons, also I love Badlands Hanover mares, but my husband reminded me we had her mother and she could not go at all. He couldn’t believe, not only that I had forgot about her dam, but that I even bought her in the first place. He was not impressed with me and that is being mild about it.”

All the daughter of Roddy’s Bags Again and Purrfectly Bad has done is accumulate $364,347 in purse money, capture 17 of her 22 trips to the gate and triumph in two open stakes, beating Sassa Hanover, this year’s Jugette winner, in the process. These two fillies will clash once again on Friday (Nov. 27) at Northfield Park in the $120,000 Courageous Lady Pace.

Mike Lizzi photo

Purrfect Bags has 10 wins in 14 starts this year, with $237,597 in season’s earnings.

“She has been such a blessing,” Looney-King said. “Without her in our lives, I don’t know what would have happened. Because of her achievements and talent, I was able to pay bills for the farm, give my help bonuses and purchase things for their families as well as mine. To say she had an impact on all of us is an understatement. She is responsible for paying for things to make all our lives better.

“I have the best help anyone can ask for and she made it possible for me to give back to them. I cannot express how truly grateful I am for her.”

Purrfect Bags may not have the resume of Courageous Lady rivals Triple V Hanover, Southwind Roulette, Sassa Hanover and Somewhere Sweet, but the filly has defeated older, Open company over this surface and equaled a track standard of 1:52.3 in doing so on Aug. 14. Despite being steered by Victor Kirby from post position eight and all four fillies listed above leaving from the inside, Purrfect Bags merits wagering support on her 15-1 morning line odds in the evening’s 11th race.

“She really does love a half-mile track,” Looney-King said. “She is made for it and she always gives everything she has no matter what. She just loves to race and prefers that to training.”

As a freshman, Purrfect Bags posted a record of 8-7-1-0 and collected just over $126,000. Her only loss was a second place finish by a half-length in the $100,000 Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund final.

She only raced one time outside the confines of Delaware at age two, but this year the filly has taken her show on the road and with aplomb. She was sixth and seventh in appearances at Dover Downs and Harrington Raceway early this season, but in both instances she was hampered by an outside post. At Harrington Raceway she was also facing older mares, which is something she has done all year long.

Immediately prior to the performance at Harrington, Purrfect Bags showed why she can pace with the best in her division with a triumph in the $117,724 Lismore Pace final on May 30 at Yonkers Raceway. In that contest both Sassa Hanover and Bedroomconfessions finished behind her.

She then went on to avenge her previous defeat in another $100,000 Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund final on July 30, made her presence known with the win at Northfield Park and then took the $116,430 Lady Maud at Yonkers Raceway on Aug. 29. That time it was Bettor N Better coming home in her wake.

Since hitting the wire first in the Lady Maud, Purrfect Bags has added wins in $16,000 and $20,000 Open Handicaps at Harrington, as well as a third place finish in a $21,000 Invitational at Hoosier Park. Her last engagement was an eighth place finish in a $21,000 Open Handicap at Dover on Nov. 17 where again, she was hampered by an outside post and had to take on the likes of O’Brien Award winner Lady Shadow.

“She just never really got into her last race and she was facing some very, very nice older horses,” Looney-King said. “It is so difficult for a 3-year-old filly to do that. Even when they are four and have to go up against those older mares it is hard on them.

“It has not been an easy year for her because I understaked her. I never imagined a $2,000 filly would have this kind of ability. I even doubted myself for staking her to the Lismore and Lady Maud. Just her winning those was something I never imagined in my wildest dreams.”

After competing in the Courageous Lady, Looney-King is uncertain what the future holds for Purrfect Bags.

“I can take her up to Yonkers or race her in Delaware,” she said. “But I care too much about her to throw her to the wolves. All these really good 3-year-old fillies are coming back next year, in addition to those really good older mares that are already out there. I also can turn her out for a month or so then bring her back, but a series like the Matchmaker that early in the year also really puts her up against it. I have some decisions to make, but first we will go to Northfield and see what happens there. I’m really looking forward to it because everyone is so nice to be around.

“Whatever I decide to do it will be absolutely what is best for her. There are a lot of mornings where you look down the barn at all those heads and think to yourself, ‘Each of you have to do this throughout the month to pay the bills.’ They don’t know that. They don’t realize the pressure.

“This filly has not only exceeded what was ever expected of her, she has made so much possible. That is only one of the reasons I have a special bond with her. There are so many times in this business where things happen that make you think you don’t know what you are doing and you don’t know a thing, but she is an example of something that never should have happened, but did. How could you not love her just for that? The odds certainly were stacked against her.”

Below is the complete Courageous Lady field.

PP-Horse-Trainer-Driver-Morning Line
1-Triple V Hanover-Brian Brown-Ronnie Wrenn Jr.-7-2
2-Southwind Roulette-Ron Burke-Matt Kakaley-4-1
3-Sassa Hanover-Ron Burke-Yannick Gingras-2-1
4-Somewhere Sweet-Brian Brown-Aaron Merriman-10-1
5-Bettor N Better-Jeffrey Bamond Jr.-Tim Tetrick-6-1
6-Band Of Angels-Tony Alagna-Ryan Stahl-12-1
7-Luck Be A Lindy-Frank Antonacci-Jason Merriman-20-1
8-Purrfect Bags-Joann Looney-King-Victor Kirby-15-1