Making his 46th career start and his first for trainer Michael Maker, Flying P Stable's Frosted Grace came from just off the pace to win Saturday's Grade 3, $500,000 Oaklawn Mile on Arkansas Derby day at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark.
Ridden by Ramon Vazquez, Frosted Grace – an 8-year-old son of Mark Valeski bred in Kentucky by the late Brereton C. Jones – covered the mile on a fast track in 1:36.61, winning by 1 1/2 lengths, and paying $14.40. Another veteran runner, 7-year-old Silver Prospector, finished second after prompting pacesetter Last Samurai much of the way. Nautical Star rallied to be third, 3 3/4 lengths farther back, with Denington fourth, 8-5 favorite Midnight Rising fifth, and Last Samurai tiring to trail the field after setting fractions of :23.72, :46.84, and 1:10.80 for the first six furlongs. Logical Myth was an early scratch while Necker Island was scratched en route to the starting gate.
The victory was the 11th for Frosted Grace, who also has 14 seconds and seven thirds since first hitting the racetrack in July 2018 at Del Mar in Southern California. He's been claimed twice, for $25,000 in June 2022 at Churchill Downs and for $32,000 by Flying P and trainer Robertino Diodoro four months later at Keeneland.
Frosted Grace won four of 10 stars for Diodoro since the claim, including the G3 Steve Sexton Mile in May 2023, but Flying P owner Jason Provenzano transferred the horse to Maker earlier this year. On Friday, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit posted a notice that Diodoro had been provisionally suspended for alleged possession of a banned substance, the thyroid medication levothyroxine, He faces up to a two-year suspension.
The $292,500 winner's share from the Oaklawn Mile boosted Frosted Grace's lifetime earnings to $1,113,562. He's won four of six career starts at Oaklawn, with two seconds. He was produced from the Thunder Gulch mare, Class, and was a $10,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale graduate in 2017.
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