Taken by the Wind (Rock Your World), still undefeated in three starts for trainer Ken McPeek, cemented her place in the top three on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks Saturday, gutting out a gate-to-wire win in the Fasig-Tipton Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds.
Making her first start since a triumphant win in the Road to the Oaks opener in last year's GIII Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs Sept, 13, the daughter from the first crop of Spendthrift Farm stallion Rock Your World began her career going a sloppy seven furlongs at Saratoga in maiden optional claiming company Aug. 21. She then earned 10 points towards a start in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill and picked up another 20 points Saturday, currently good for co-third on the leaderboard.
Drawn towards the outside in this six-horse field, Taken by the Wind took immediate advantage of the lack of pace and strolled right to the front, setting sleepy fractions of :25.69 and :50.24 just ahead of Luv Your Neighbor (Constitution) who was in no hurry to push the tempo. With only that eventual runner up and race favorite Atropa (Into Mischief) posing a threat off the far turn, Taken by the Wind had to dig in to fend them both off, just lasting as Luv Your Neighbor charged at her in the final jumps but came up short and Atropa just a further length back in third.
“She put us in that spot first jump out of the gate,” said winning jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. “They let us cruise around there as slow as we did. She had her ears up and was able to get a nice long breather. When Luv Your Neighbor came to her at the head of the lane, she was able to fend her off with how easily she was able to go early on.”
One of two stakes winners from her sire's first crop, Taken by the Wind was an astute $20,000 yearling pickup for McPeek at the Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale in 2024. Out of a winning First Samurai mare, she is a half-sister to stakes-placed Running Memories (Bahamian Squall) and three other winners. Further back in the family, third dam Love From Mom is responsible for GSW/GISP Love That Jazz who in turn produced MGISW Society Selection (Coronado's Quest), a mare who sold for $1,850,000 at Keeneland November in 2010.
Bred in Florida by Courtney Meagher, the winner has a 2-year-old Global Campaign half-brother who failed to meet his reserve when hammering down at $19,000 at last year's OBS Winter Mixed Sale. Up For Grabs is not represented by a yearling but is due to Champions Dream this season.
🌬️ #4 TAKEN BY THE WIND ($10.80) stays unbeaten & adds 20 Kentucky Oaks points 🌸 to her tally with a determined victory in the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes at @fairgroundsnola. @b_hernandezjr piloted the Rock Your World (@SpendthriftFarm) filly for @KennyMcPeek. pic.twitter.com/YCgpAAJm0Q
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) January 17, 2026
FASIG-TIPTON SILVERBULLETDAY S., $145,500, Fair Grounds, 1-17, 3yo, f, 1m 70y, 1:43.58, ft.
1–TAKEN BY THE WIND, 122, f, 3, by Rock Your World
1st Dam: Up for Grabs, by First Samurai
2nd Dam: Love Always, by Saint Ballado
3rd Dam: Love From Mom, by Mr. Prospector
($70,000 Ylg '24 FTKJUL; $20,000 Ylg '24 FTKOCT).
O-Magdalena Racing, Terry Bradshaw, Graham Leveston and
Raasi Stable; B-Courtney L. Meagher (FL); T-Kenneth G.
McPeek; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $90,000. Lifetime
Record: GSW, 3-3-0-0, $270,710. *1/2 to Running Memories
(Bahamian Squall), SP, $291,660.
2–Luv Your Neighbor, 122, f, 3, Constitution–Disobedient,
by Into Mischief. ($350,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Lael Stables;
B-Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. & 552727 Ontario LTD. (ON);
T-Michael Stidham. $30,000.
3–Atropa, 122, f, 3, Into Mischief–Bellera, by Bernardini.
($450,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Belladonna Racing LLC, Twin
Brook Stables, Woodford Racing LLC and B.C.W.T. Ltd.;
B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Cherie
DeVaux. $15,000.
Margins: NK, NK, 1 1/4. Odds: 4.40, 9.70, 0.50.
Also Ran: Pashmina, Dancin in Old Town, White Smoke. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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