Frivolous entered in Falls City, but could opt for Clark

One year ago, Frivolous scored a breakthrough in the Falls City H. (G2) at Churchill Downs. On Thanksgiving Day, she could try to defend her title, but connections are seriously considering a bolder career finale: a tilt against males in Friday’s Clark H. (G1).

A homebred campaigned by G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and trained by his daughter, Vicki Oliver, Frivolous is a three-time stakes winner at Churchill. In addition to her victories in the Falls City and the June 13 Fleur de Lis H. (G2) – each at the Clark’s 1 1/8-mile distance – the Empire Maker mare also romped by eight lengths in the 1 1/16-mile Locust Grove beneath the Twin Spires on September 12. She’s since been in action at Keeneland, where she finished fourth in the October 4 Spinster (G1) and fifth in the October 30 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).

“I’m pretty sure I know who is going in the Clark, but we’d like to see which post we like better and how the races look like they’re going to set up,” Oliver said. “We’ll make our decision in the next few days after we enter (Tuesday) in the Clark.

“She’s won the Falls City and winning it again would be super. If she could win it or be third in the Clark, she’d make about the same amount of money.

“To be a Grade I-winner or Grade I-placed against the boys in a prestigious race like the Clark is enticing for our mare. We’re leaning to the Clark, but if we don’t think we can be 1-2-3 in there, she’ll go in the Falls City.”

Should she go in the Clark, Frivolous would tote 115 pounds. The top older male protagonists, Effinex and Race Day, have been assigned 122 pounds. Three-year-old colts Dortmund and Keen Ice are set to carry 121 and 120, respectively.

“With the (five-pound) weight break (as a mare against males), she’s really only two pounds off the high weights,” Oliver said. “I was hoping for a little more weight break than that but we’ll see what happens.”

Frivolous drew post 5 for Thursday’s Falls City, in which she ranks as the 122-pound highweight and 3-1 morning-line favorite.  

Her rivals include multiple Grade 2-winning sophomore Birdatthewire, a tiring fifth in her Chilukki (G2) comeback but sure to move forward in this second start off the layoff; Chilukki runner-up Ahh Chocolate; Mother Goose (G1) third Chide, a smashing allowance winner here over fellow Blame filly No Fault of Mine in her latest; Call Pat, the Groupie Doll (G3) heroine who exits a third in the Turnback the Alarm (G3) at Belmont; veteran stakes mare Montana Native, who makes her first start for Ben Colebrook; Belle Mahone victress Theogony, newly arrived from Woodbine for Mark Casse; ex-Peruvian Salama, the trailer in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff; Ohio shipper Needmore Flattery; and the well-bred trio of Tiz So Sweet, Gamblers Rose and Pretty Fancy (a Humphrey homebred like Frivolous) all seeking graded black-type.

Photo of Frivolous winning the Fleur de Lis courtesy of Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography.