First Lady Preview: Any One of Nine Can Finish ‘First’

Better Lucky (Ghostzapper) and Dayatthespa (City Zip) square off again in today’s wide-open GI First Lady S. at Keeneland after putting on a show in last year’s renewal. 

The former, a narrow winner that day, hasn’t raced on grass since an eighth-place finish after stumbling at the break in the GI Longines Just a Game S. at Belmont Park June 7. Better Lucky, heroine of the 2012 GI Matriarch S., returned to dirt with a smart come-from-behind win against a stellar group in Saratoga’s Shine Again S. July 21, then was a well-beaten fourth in the GI Ballerina S. Aug. 23. 

Dayatthespa, heroine of the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup here in 2012, has made only two starts in 2014, finishing second behind Filimbi (Mizzen Mast) in the restricted De La Rose S. Aug. 2 and winning the Aug. 24 Yaddo S. overDiscreet Marq (Discreet Cat) for New York-breds at Saratoga. 

Somali Lemonade (Lemon Drop Kid) has enjoyed a banner season at age five. The 2011 GIII JP Morgan Chase Jessamine S. heroine realized a career high in the GI Diana S. at Saratoga July 19 before finishing fifth in the GI Beverly D. S. last time Aug. 16. 

Istanford (Istan), who defeated the boys in GIII Arlington Classic May 24, enters off a pair of front-running scores at Del Mar in the GII San Clemente H. July 19 and Sandy Blue H. Aug. 15, respectively.