Slay the Day shattered the previous stakes record and defeated heavy favorite Cy Fair in the $328,150 Limestone Stakes (G3T) April 10 at Keeneland.
Trained by Brian Lynch, the 3-year-old daughter of Into Mischief broke the quickest, but allowed Cy Fair to take the lead, sitting just off her under jockey John Velasquez. Slay the Day continued to travel in the second spot down the backstretch, but moved up to confront the leader as the field hit the top of the stretch. She battled with Cy Fair before that rival gave way, and then held off a surging Sapphire Beach to win by a neck. Sapphire Beach was a half-length clear of third-place Cy Fair, who was making her first start since winning last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1T).
Slay the Day completed the 5 1/2 furlongs on firm turf in 1:01.99, besting the previous stakes record of 1:02.29 set by Tobys Heart in 2021. She paid $16.14 for the win.
"She was going awesome the whole way around. She broke really well." Velazquez said of the winner. "I was expecting a little more speed, that somebody would go. Down the lane when she responded, she responded very quickly. Very nice."
This was just her second start on turf, and she is now 2-for-2 on grass.
"The way she ran the first time on the grass, she obviously found her surface. She left there running and got herself in a good spot. When we saddled her, she never turned a hair," Lynch said. "She took everything in her stride here. We're just so thrilled that she's doing what she's doing and she's found her surface. She's a beautifully bred filly and now she's a grade 3 winner."
Slay the Day is owned by Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing, which purchased her for $170,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Bred by Pin Oak Stud, Slay the Day is the first foal out of the Tapit mare Mind Out.
"It's always special to win here, and anytime you have a horse in a stakes race here it's a big deal," Flying Dutchmen's Hunter Rankin said. "We were obviously excited to be competing, and we thought she would run really well today. She obviously made us really happy."
Slay the Day earned the victory in her first start in stakes company. She had won two of her four previous starts, most recently scoring in an allowance optional claiming race March 6 in her first turf start at Gulfstream Park.
"(Her name is) Dutch Bros (Coffee) slogan, and 'slay the day' just means to take advantage and totally conquer the day," said Payton Boersma, a Flying Dutchmen Racing partner. "She did that. She proved how nice she is today."
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