Enticed eyes Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes as springboard to Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The list of horses who went on to become bona fide stars after competing in a Stars of Tomorrow race at Churchill Downs is truly impressive. At the time, of course, nobody knew for sure what Rachel Alexandra would become, nor Super Saver or Fort Larned or Gun Runner, for that matter.

So when horseplayers begin sifting through a 12-race Saturday card at Churchill, they might be getting a peek at the next classic winner or Eclipse champion to emerge from the 2-year-old-only program, inaugurated in 2005. Two Grade 2 stakes, four allowances, and six maiden-specials will be run on a day that promises to propel numerous standouts into 2018 and beyond.

The $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (race 11), along with its Grade 2 twin for fillies, the $200,000 Golden Rod Stakes (race 9), will anchor a card that starts at 1 p.m. Eastern. First run in 1920, the KJC boasts a longstanding tradition, with five eventual Kentucky Derby winners having contested it. No telling if a sixth is somewhere in the field of 14 entered for the 91st running Saturday, but you can’t blame some of the participating horsemen for suspecting so.

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Kiaran McLaughlin is among the KJC trainers with fingers crossed in the hope he’ll be here next spring with a Derby horse. He saddles Enticed, who finished third in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont on Oct. 7 for Godolphin Racing in just his second start. Enticed traveled here from his New York base for the 1 1/16-mile KJC, which will be run under the Churchill lights. Junior Alvarado has the mount from post 6.

“We’ve been pointing for this since the Champagne,” McLaughlin said. “This is a very competitive race with plenty of speed in it. It looks like we will sit mid-pack and hope to make a big run. Obviously we’ll try to avoid trouble if possible, although with 14 runners there are always traffic issues. The colt is training great and certainly wants the distance. Plus, getting a race over the track is also nice to have next spring.”

As McLaughlin said, the KJC is not lacking for early speed, with Promises Fulfilled (post 7, Alex Canchari) perhaps the top candidate to take early command after winning two one-turn races to start his career. The son of Shackleford – himself a graduate of a 2010 Stars of Tomorrow race – is one of two Dale Romans trainees in the lineup, along with Tiz Mischief (post 12, Robby Albarado).

Five KJC starters already have raced here at the Churchill fall meet, with all but one, Arrival (post 4, Julien Leparoux), having competed on the opening-day Stars of Tomorrow card on Oct. 29. Of those, Gotta Go (post 1, Chris Landeros) and Lone Sailor (post 13, Channing Hill) might rate the best chances Saturday after finishing a head apart as the respective one-two finishers in the Street Sense.

Gotta Go, a gray Shanghai Bobby colt owned by Lothenbach Stables, is trained by Ian Wilkes, who won the 2016 KJC with McCraken. Lone Sailor, by Majestic Warrior, is trained by Tom Amoss for the GMB Racing of Tom and Gayle Benson.

“My horse is a work in progress,” Amoss said. “He’s still very immature mentally, but very talented. I’m disappointed with the post so we’ll have to get a very lucky trip to run our best race.”

One of the likely favorites in a terrific lineup is Givemeaminit (post 5, Brian Hernandez Jr.), a Louisiana-bred whose status as a maiden is belied by strong showings in three Grade 1 events for trainer Dallas Stewart, most recently a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar earlier this month.

“Hopefully we’ll never have to run him in a maiden race,” Stewart said.

Further illustrating the depth of this renewal of the KJC are three more colts with unblemished records from two starts apiece: Diamond King (post 2, Frankie Pennington), Reride (post 9, Ricardo Santana Jr.), and Quip (post 11, Florent Geroux).

Completing the field are John Tippmann (post 3, Rayan Gazader), High North (post 8, Corey Lanerie), Bravazo (post 10, Jon Court), and Peppered (post 14, Joe Rocco Jr.).

Horses with stakes experience aren’t limited to the KJC and Golden Rod. Fields for the first-level allowances (races 1, 3, 6, 10) are sprinkled with starters with such credentials, including Princess Warrior, runner-up in the Grade 1 Alcibiades; Battle Station, a nine-length winner of a New York-bred stakes in September; Jersey Justice, a winner of two Indiana-bred stakes; and Queen Mum and Mia’s Mischief, the runners-up in ungraded stakes here opening day.

The forecast for Saturday calls for sunny skies and a high of 58. Sunday is closing day of the 21-day fall meet, with live action on the Kentucky circuit moving to Turfway Park on Nov. 30.