Hoosier Philly makes it look easy in Rags to Riches

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Hoosier Philly was the easiest kind of winner as a heavy favorite in the Rags to Riches some two hours before Two Phil’s posted a mild upset in the Grade 3 Street Sense as Churchill Downs began its 19-day fall meet Sunday with a traditional Stars of Tomorrow card exclusively for 2-year-olds.

All opening-day races, including both stakes at 1 1/16 miles, were run over a sloppy main track on a dreary, rainy afternoon that turned to evening. One of the 11 scheduled races, the eighth, was declared “no contest” because of a one-horse spill that sent jockey Alex Achard to a local hospital with an injured knee.

Hoosier Philly in a gallop

Tom Amoss desperately wanted to run Hoosier Philly in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Friday at Keeneland, but when it became apparent the gray Into Mischief filly would not draw into the race as an alternate, he decided early Sunday to go ahead and run her against six other fillies in the $200,000 Rags to Riches.

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The performance she delivered strongly suggested Hoosier Philly might well have been a factor in the Breeders’ Cup if only given the chance. With Edgar Morales riding confidently from the outset, she saved ground when stalking the pace in an easy lope, then angled outside a pair of front-runners midway through the final turn, overtaking them with minimal effort. Morales shook his reins at her approaching the furlong pole, then began easing her up with about 150 yards to go in a 7 1/2-length romp.

Amoss, whose 4,000-plus wins in a 35-year training career include the 2019 Kentucky Oaks with Serengeti Empress, is extremely bullish on the potential he has seen from Hoosier Philly, saying afterward: “I’ve never had one like her.”

Hoosier Philly, owned by Gold Standard Racing Stable, returned $4.08 as the favorite after finishing in 1:46.90. She had raced just once beforehand, winning a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race at Churchill in late September.

T Max edged Fun and Feisty by a head for second, with Peacock Lass another 1 1/4 lengths back in fourth.

Amoss said his next intended step is to run Hoosier Philly in the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes, which will be co-featured with the Kentucky Jockey Club when the second Stars of Tomorrow card of the meet is run Nov. 26.

Two Phil’s bounces back

Bounding to the lead at the top of the stretch, Two Phil’s drew off to a 5 1/4-length victory over 27-1 shot Hayes Strike in the Grade 3, $199,800 Street Sense, finishing in 1:47.31. He paid $17.24 as fourth choice in a field of 10 colts.

Giving Jareth Loveberry his first-ever Churchill stakes win, Two Phil’s was rebounding off a seventh-place finish at 69-1 in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland earlier this month. The Hard Spun colt is trained by Larry Rivelli for Phillip Sagan and the Patricia’s Hope of Vince Foglia.

After avoiding heavy traffic into the first turn by angling to the rail, Two Phil’s settled into a smooth rhythm just a few lengths off the lead before launching his winning move entering the final turn.

“About the half-mile pole I was like, ‘Okay, he’s liking the mud and I’m in a good position,’ ” said the well-traveled Loveberry, who, like Rivelli, currently is based primarily at Hawthorne in Chicago. “I just want to keep him clear. As soon as I tilted him out just a little bit, he showed me everything. First win at Churchill – pretty amazing.”

Hayes Strike rallied from well back when giving closest chase down the stretch and finishing 3 3/4 lengths ahead of Fliparino in third. Jace’s Road, the 2-1 favorite, was no factor when eighth.

The Grade 2 KJC on Nov. 26 is the logical next start for Two Phil’s, whose four previous races included wins in a maiden sprint at Colonial Downs and the Shakopee Juvenile going six furlongs at Canterbury Park.

In other Stars of Tomorrow action:

*** Race 8 was declared “no contest” by the stewards not long after a spill going into the first turn left jockey Alex Achard prone on the track. Achard was thrown hard to the mud when his mount, Paddock Boss, clipped heels and fell amid of crush of rivals shortly after the start of the 1 1/16-mile race, a first-level allowance.

Achard was placed into an ambulance not long after the incident. His agent, Tim Hanisch, reported later in the evening that X-rays taken of the jockey’s right knee at nearby University of Louisville Hospital showed “nothing broken” and that Achard had been treated and released.

Paddock Boss, a Twirling Candy colt trained by Rudy Brisset, had to be euthanized.

Achard, a 31-year-old French native, notched his first victory in the U.S. in 2019, with the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile last October being the most notable of his 157 wins on the continent.

Wagering was refunded, with “all” considered the winner for the purpose of horizontal bets.

*** Pretty Mischievous ($2.76) looped her rivals on the turn before grinding out a 1 3/4-length triumph in a $114,155, first-level allowance for fillies, finishing seven furlongs in 1:26.84 under Tyler Gaffalione. The daughter of Into Mischief is a Godolphin homebred who won her only prior start, a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race at the September meet. Brendan Walsh trains.

*** In one of seven maiden-special events on the card, Red Carpet Ready ($75.98) led gate to wire in winning a six-furlong race by 10 lengths for jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. and trainer Rusty Arnold. Longshots also filled out the next two placings when combining for a 10-cent superfecta that returned $38,825 for the only perfect ticket sold.

*** Gaffalione, the leading jockey at the spring and September meets at Churchill, got away to a quick start at the fall meet by riding four winners, including a maiden race by 6 3/4 lengths aboard Joking Way ($3.92) for trainer Steve Asmussen.

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