Ivy Girl Stretches Out to Win Weber City Miss Stakes at Laurel Park

Ivy Girl finally looked like a filly built to go somewhere. Squeezed at the start, buried for much of the Weber City Miss Stakes, and still able to surge late for a half-length win over A. P.'s Girl, the Maxfield filly used Laurel Park’s 8 1/2-furlong test to show her promise may be catching up to her profile.

The upset at 26-1 mattered because it came at a distance that asked a real question. On fast dirt in the $150,000 stakes, Ivy Girl finished in 1:48.22 for trainer Amelia J. Green and Lucky Hat Racing, then earned an automatic berth to the $300,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Preakness Eve. That is not just a nice spring score. It is a sign she may be ready for the next tier of filly stakes rather than merely flashing speed in shorter spots.

Green had already started leaning that way after Ivy Girl’s off-the-pace maiden win at Aqueduct, and the Weber City Miss backed up the read. This was her fourth straight two-turn race, and she handled the extra ground with more patience than flash, a useful development for a 3-year-old filly whose pedigree, through Critikal Reason, has never looked like pure sprint stock. The trip was messy, the run was delayed, but the finish was decisive enough to suggest the lesson is sinking in.

Victor Carrasco got the ride in Maryland and kept Ivy Girl rolling when the lane opened. Joe Veasey of Lucky Hat Stable had the right instruction for the moment, telling Carrasco, “Just keep pedaling, buddy.” Carrasco did, and Ivy Girl kept coming, with A. P.'s Girl second, Jumping the Gun 4 1/2 lengths back in third, and Miss Fulton Gal a head behind that.

BloodHorse listed Ivy Girl’s 2026 record at three starts, two wins and one second, with lifetime earnings of $181,020 after the race. The filly was bred by Farfellow Farms in Kentucky and brought $100,000 as a yearling. She was foaled May 20, 2023, which makes this stretch-run breakthrough look less like a fluke and more like the first serious payoff from a filly still learning how much she can do. The 2025 Weber City Miss was run in 1:47.12, faster than Ivy Girl’s winning time, but this version of the race was less about the clock than the way she finished the trip.