Gentle Ruler will try to keep rolling in Dowager Stakes

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Gentle Ruler will be looking to run her 2019 record to a remarkable 6 for 7 as part of a sizable field of filly-mare turf marathoners Sunday in the Grade 3, $125,000 Dowager Stakes. Entries for the 1 1/2-mile race were to be drawn Thursday.

Trained by Ian Wilkes, Gentle Ruler was still a maiden when the calendar turned Jan. 1, having lost her first 11 starts. But the dark bay filly has turned into a win machine at 4 when accounting for three stakes, most recently the $469,000 Ramsey Farm at Kentucky Downs.

California stables are expected to be well represented in the Dowager, with Simply Breathless for Neil Drysdale, Vevina for Phil D’Amato, and Richard Baltas running at least two horses, Elysea’s World and Lemoona, along with possibly Pantsonfire.

◗ Tom’s D’Etat, Bal Harbour, Mocito Rojo, and Air Strike are among the accomplished older horses expected for the final stakes of the Keeneland fall meet, the Grade 2, $200,000 Fayette.

The 1 1/8-mile Fayette helps to end the 17-day meet next Saturday. Churchill Downs starts its fall meet the following afternoon with an 11-race Stars of Tomorrow card.

◗ Declan Carroll, the leading apprentice this year on the Kentucky circuit, has left for New York for the winter with retired jockey Richard Migliore as his agent. Carroll, 20, rode his first winner at Keeneland last October and will continue to ride with a five-pound allowance through March 1. He has 44 career wins.

◗ Corey Lanerie has moved into the top 10 in all-time wins among Keeneland jockeys, passing Steve Brooks on a list led by Pat Day (918), Don Brumfield (716), and Robby Albarado (525). Through last weekend, Lanerie has 235 wins here, just behind Craig Perret (245).

◗ Frank L. Jones Jr., a longtime owner, breeder, racing regulator, and horseplayer, will be honored Nov. 16 with the 2019 Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners at their annual awards dinner at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville. Tickets and more information are available at (502) 458-5820.