Churchill Downs: Mrs. Revere has no clear choice

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – After this, they will divide and try to conquer. But for one last hurrah, 14 of the best horses in the 3-year-old filly turf division this side of the Mississippi River will convene Saturday night at Churchill Downs in the Grade 2, $175,000 Mrs. Revere Stakes.

Not surprisingly, the morning-line favorite, Tapicat, is a relatively high 7-2 odds. Her races in New York were good enough to entice Racing Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith to come in from California to ride her.

After Tapicat, the Churchill line lists 4-1 co-second choices as Emotional Kitten and I’m Already Sexy, then Nellie Cashman at 9-2. All other starters are in double digits.

“It couldn’t have gotten much deeper,” said Wesley Ward, who has enlisted another California jockey, Victor Espinoza, to ride Emotional Kitten for owners-breeders Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

With Emotional Kitten breaking from post 1 in the 1 1/16-mile race, “Victor will have to work out a nice trip, and we’ll need some racing luck,” Ward said. “But the filly has trained very well at Keeneland and we’re hoping she can end the year with another win.”

As with all of these fillies, the Mrs. Revere likely will be the last start for Emotional Kitten in her own age group before she moves into the older handicap ranks. That includes Nellie Cashman, whose 30-year-old trainer, Trey Abbott III, just happened to be loading a horse van Thursday at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland amid his transition to Florida for the winter.

“I just put Nellie Cashman on a van to Churchill about 30 minutes ago,” Abbott said. “Since it’s night racing, she’ll probably stretch her legs a little Saturday morning, go through her regular routine.”

Nellie Cashman (post 8, Forest Boyce) has been something of an overachiever this year. She won the Grade 3 Virginia Oaks at 19-1, then was 20-1 when finishing first (but disqualified to third) in the Grade 2 Lake Placid at Saratoga in August. In her only subsequent start, she was second, beaten just a length, in the Grade 3 Valley View at Keeneland.

“She’s had a pretty good season,” Abbott said. “She’s shown up and run every time. She had a good breeze here last Sunday and is ready to round back to form after that last run at Keeneland.”

Tapicat (post 13) was fifth as a heavy favorite in the Lake Placid in her only meeting with Nellie Cashman. Based in New York most of the year, Tapicat has trained here in recent weeks under Kenny McCarthy, the longtime local assistant to Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

I’m Already Sexy (post 4, Florent Geroux) was an easy winner of the Grade 3 Pucker Up at Arlington Park this summer before finishing a creditable sixth in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup last month at Keeneland.

This is the 23rd running of the Mrs. Revere, named for the standout filly trained by Mott in the early 1980s. It goes as the ninth of 10 races on a Downs After Dark card that includes the Grade 3, $100,000 Commonwealth Turf (race 7) for 3-year-old colts and geldings.

First post is 4:30 p.m. Eastern, with the Mrs. Revere set for 8:36 and the last race for 9:08. General admission is $10.