Pocahontas (G3) champ V V’s Dream first GSW for Mitole

V V’s Dream posted an emphatic 8 ¾-length victory in Saturday’s $300,000 Pocahontas S. (G3) at Churchill Downs to become the initial stakes winner for leading  First-Crop sire Mitole.

Mitole, with a dozen individual winners and progeny earnings of $979,847, trails only fellow Spendthrift stallion Maximus Mischief on the 2023 First-Crop sire list.

V V’s Dream was the dominant force in the one-mile Pocahontas. She sat patiently behind a hot pace of :45.55 for the half-mile. When asked just before entering the stretch, the gray filly went three-wide around the pacesetters with ease. She drew off at will in the stretch without serious urging to win handily in 1:36.45 on a fast track.

V V’s Dream earned the first 10 points available on the Road to the 2024 Kentucky Oaks (G1).

“She’s still young but has shown a lot of talent already,” said Kenny McPeek’s assistant trainer Greg Geier. “She spent the summer in New York training for this race. It’s been the plan to run here in the Pocahontas and then to the Breeders’ Cup. I don’t see why she wouldn’t improve stretching out in distance after this.”

V V’s Dream only blemish in her three races was a narrow loss to Brightwork, who would go on to win the Spinaway S. (G1), in the Debutante S. The Pocahontas win upped V V’s Dream’s earnings to $297,605 for MJM Racing.

The winner was bred in Kentucky by Mark Stansell and sold for $190,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling sale.