James Miller’s Daisy Devine completed her major preparation for Saturday’s 15th
running of the $350,000 First Lady (G1) by working a half-mile in
:48.60 under jockey James Graham in a light drizzle at Keeneland Tuesday
morning.
“That was good; she was just loping around there,” trainer Andrew McKeever said after the solo work on the main track.
A two-time graded stakes winner over the Keeneland turf course, Daisy Devine will attempt to join Intercontinental (2005) and Never Retreat (2011) as the only horses to win the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley and the First Lady in the same year.
Following her Jenny Wiley victory, Daisy Devine finished fifth in the
Distaff Turf Mile (G2) at Churchill Downs on May 5 trailing probable
First Lady rivals Hungry Island and Tapitsfly. The First Lady will be Daisy Devine’s first start in five months.
“We turned her out after that race,” McKeever said. “She had 40 days
at Hunter Valley Farm. She always gets a little break and comes back
when she is ready, not before. That’s just the way she is.”