Glycogen, Seneca Park have questions to answer in wide-open Jessamine
:quality(75))
The two stakes winners among a dozen 2-year-old fillies in the Jessamine Stakes have different questions to answer.
Is Glycogen fast enough? Can Seneca Park route?
And both fillies might have to find an answer for one or both Brad Cox-trained Kentucky Downs maiden winners, Monique En Vol and Lucky Bernadine.
The Grade 2, $400,000 Jessamine, contested over 1 1/16 miles, absolutely looks wide open: The morning line sets Monique En Vol the most tepid of favorites at 4-1. The potential for a rain-soaked grass course further blurs the picture.
Monique En Vol made a favorable appearance coming through a gaping hole at the three-sixteenths pole of her Sept. 5 debut over one mile at Kentucky Downs. She ran out to a 1 3/4-length victory – but might not be Lucky Bernadine’s equal.
Cox said Lucky Bernardine trained like a good horse since early days, that the barn liked her when Lucky Bernardine debuted July 18 at Ellis Park. Turns out she needed the race.
“Just a young horse. She didn’t really go forward,” Cox said.
Lucky Bernadine went forward Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs. She traveled confidently and sweetly from the start, a handy horse with many gears who finished powerfully for a 3 1/2-length score.
“She stepped up and has trained really, really well since Kentucky Downs,” Cox said.
Flavien Prat has a return call on Lucky Bernadine. Irad Ortiz Jr. – riding Friday for the first time since sustaining an ankle injury Aug. 8 – picks up the mount on Monique En Vol.
Glycogen finished fourth debuting in a 5 1/2-furlong sprint at Ellis but galloped out like a horse crying for a route of ground. She validated that notion landing a maiden route July 31 and went on to capture the P.G. Johnson on Sept. 4 at Saratoga.
The first three finishers from the Johnson – Mel Went Home was second, Pros and Cons third – run back in the Jessamine. They also were the only horses to really run in the race, which went with just five horses. Urgent Claire was all but eased and favored Baliage stopped badly in upper stretch after setting a soft pace.
Quibbler scored a sharp Kentucky Downs debut win in a restricted maiden, while Mightily, facing colts, ran second in the Kitten’s Joy at Colonial Downs, beaten only by the talented Popcorn, who starts Sunday at Keeneland in the Bourbon.
But Seneca Park should win the Jessamine if she stretches out. She was the best 2-year-old maiden turf winner this summer at Ellis, drawing away by four lengths going 5 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 7. Stretched out to a testing 6 1/2 furlongs at Kentucky Downs, she wore down a stubborn rival, Luminous Beauty, under Brian Hernandez Jr. in the $750,000 Untapable. Seneca Park has loads of speed and is by crack turf sprinter Golden Pal but looks like she can get a middle distance.
“She settled nice off the pace at Kentucky Downs,” trainer Dallas Stewart said. “Brian thinks she’ll stretch out. He thinks it’ll be no problem.”
And that could be a problem for the 11 other fillies in the Jessamine.
Phoenix Stakes
The 4-year-old gelding Hymn won the DeFrancis Stakes in June, finished second in the Grade 2 Vanderbilt in July, and in August won the Grade 1 Forego at Saratoga. He faces 10 foes Friday at Keeneland in the Grade 2, $400,000 Phoenix Stakes – and is listed as 4-1 third choice on the Keeneland morning line.
Such is the state of this year’s older-male sprint division.
The line might not be too far off: The Forego came up an unusually soft spot, and the race’s second- and third-place finishers would not be close to favored in the six-furlong Phoenix.
“It looks like a wide-open race to me. Whoever gets the trip,” trainer David Fawkes said.
Fawkes saddles Viking, who came into his barn this summer and immediately turned in two career-best performances at Gulfstream Park, dominating the six-furlong Smile Sprint and an Aug. 1 handicap over a one-turn mile.
“When we got him, he was in great shape, but he had a little EPM [equine protozoal myeloencephalitis] issue we had to take care of, and I think that’s what really helped the horse,” Fawkes said. Viking went to the lead in both his recent races. “I’m just hoping we don’t get too much pace.”
On paper, there’s too much pace. The many front-running types – headed by rail-drawn Mad House – includes 5-2 morning-line favorite Verifire. Verifire lost his only other graded stakes start by almost 50 lengths, and his chances, trainer Brad Cox said, have everything to do with race shape.
Nakatomi finished second in the 2023 and 2024 Phoenix, won it last year, and even at age 7, he’s far from out of this year’s renewal.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.