Vexatious

Vexatious won her second start and then finished third in three straight races, including the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks and Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes in her two most recent starts for owner Calumet Farm, the historic farm that produced Triple Crown winners Whirlaway (1941) and Citation (1948) that owner Brad Kelley took over in 2012.

The filly then finished fourth in the 2017 Longines Kentucky Oaks at long odds and then fifth and sixth in her final two starts of the year, both in stakes.

Vexatious returned in summer 2018 with a fifth-place effort on dirt, but then moved to turf – where she had made her final start of the year prior – and finished third in a Del Mar allowance. A win in a listed stakes followed at Del Mar, and then she tested Grade 1 company in the Northern Dancer Stakes at Woodbine in September. Vexatious finished seventh in that race, but then tallied her second stakes win of the year in the Grade 3 Rood and Riddle Dowager Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 21 when she was elevated to first following Beach Flower’s disqualification. Vexatious closed out her 4-year-old season with a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Red Carpet Handicap at Del Mar.

Vexatious began her 5-year-old season staying on the grass with a pair of unplaced finishes and a second in the Grade 3 Modesty Handicap. Trainer Jack Sisterson moved her back to the main track and she ran second by a neck in the Summer Colony Stakes and then fifth in the Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes in her final start of 2019.

To begin 2020, Vexatious was unplaced in her first two starts, one on grass and one on dirt, before running a monster race when second to champion Monomoy Girl in the Grade 2 Ruffian Stakes July 11 at Belmont Park. She next earned a career-defining victory when outdueling champion Midnight Bisou Aug. 1 at Saratoga to win a thrilling edition of the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes.

Vexatious is a full-sister to Grade 1 winner Creative Cause and graded stakes winner Destin, the runner-up in the 2016 Belmont Stakes. She is by leading sire Giant’s Causeway out of 2005 Apple Blossom Handicap winner Dream of Summer and was purchased for $150,000 as a yearling.