WHILE acknowledging it may not have been the easiest of races for Bootylicious in the 30th running of the Thornbird Stakes on Saturday, April 8, 2023, assistant trainer Peter-John Parsard says the connections were always confident of victory as they have high hopes for the filly heading into the Classic series of races, especially where the fillies are concerned.

Trained by Ian Parsard and ridden by Reyan Lewis, Bootylicious sat just behind the pace, then surged to the front entering the lane, and powered her way to an easy 3-length win in the Graded Stakes event for native-bred three-year-old fillies over seven furlongs (1,400m), thus becoming the top local three-year-old filly at present.

Bred by Key To Power out of the Bellamy Road mare Keep The Faith, Bootylicious covered the distance in a time of 1:26.1 while registering her third-consecutive win from as many starts.

Peter-John said that while the 1000 Guineas is the main aim the filly will go on to The Portmore Stakes, another major prep race on the “Road to the Triple Crown”.

“It was a beautiful performance by Bootylicious; she ran an amazing race. She was short on experience in this race with just two starts, and she was facing two very talented horses, especially from Jason DaCosta’s camp, so I knew it was going to be a battle, and the jockey rode her beautifully,” Peter-John said.

“She [Bootylicious] trained well coming into this race and we were confident in victory, and she was able to get the job done. She will go straight to The Portmore next month and, well, she needs to win there but it is just one step at a time. The main goal for us is the 1000 Guineas, and all of this is just a step in that Classic progression,” he continued.

It was a smooth start for Bootylicious at the break as she sat in second position behind Mamma Mia (Robert Halledeen) down the backstretch. Thalita (Omar Walker), Acknowledgeme (Raddesh Roman), and Legit Boss (Linton Steadman) chased from third, fourth, and fifth places, respectively.

As the runners made their way around the half-mile (800m) turn Mamma Mia and Bootylicious upped the tempo as they battled for supremacy approaching the distance. Turning for home on the outside of Mamma Mia, Bootylicious hit the front full of running, and with a couple of cracks from the whip from Lewis she accelerated and powered home to win comfortably.

Jason DaCosta’s pair of Thalita and Mamma Mia finished in that order behind the winner as Savvy Girl, ridden by Youville Pinnock, completed the frame in the 10-horse field.