I Remember Mama seeks stakes breakout

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – I Remember Mama is not the fastest on Beyer Figures among 10 fillies and mares in Thursday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs, nor is she the richest. What she does have is the backing of jockey Brian Hernandez Jr.

The second-leading rider at Churchill Downs behind Edgar Morales entering the final week of the fall meet, he sticks with I Remember Mama, pegged as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Cardinal, after having previously ridden English Affair and La Manta Gris – 5-1 and 6-1 chances in the Cardinal– last month at Keeneland.

English Affair and La Manta Gris each earned an 88 Beyer last out compared to an 85 for I Remember Mama. But I Remember Mama’s victory Oct. 27 in the final race of the Keeneland fall meet left Hernandez with a favorable impression. Racing over soft turf, she rallied from last to win by a length.

“I rode her terribly – just wide the whole way, never able to save any ground,” he said. “And for her to overcome it all and win like she did, she impressed us that day.”

With I Remember Mama being a late-running filly with a wide draw in the Keeneland race, Hernandez did not have many options. I Remember Mama and Hernandez break from post 1 for the Cardinal.

“So we’ll just work out the trip and ride her like she’s the best horse,” Hernandez said.

A 4-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper owned by Lewis Schaffel and trained by Tommy Drury, I Remember Mama is seeking her first stakes victory in the Cardinal, a 1 1/8-mile test on grass. She has twice been second in stakes company, in the One Dreamer at Kentucky Downs and in the Ellis Park Turf.

Bonnie Arch defeated I Remember Mama by a half-length in the Ellis Park Turf, and is her rival again in the Cardinal. A 5-year-old Regal Ransom mare, Bonnie Arch followed her Ellis Park victory with a third in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Preview at Ellis before an eighth in the Grade 3 Ladies Turf at Kentucky Downs.

Bonnie Arch has positional speed, and she could get the jump on her closing counterparts. She is likely to sit just off the pace of 30-1 outsider Unbridled Escape, the race’s only regular front-runner.

Potentially offsetting that pace advantage is the chance for a damp course, with Bonnie Arch most effective on firm going. Although no rain is forecast in Louisville on Tuesday-Thursday, it rained here Monday and the course has retained moisture for much of a wet November.

Carded as the ninth race on a 12-race card on Thanksgiving, the Cardinal goes at 3:24 Eastern, two races before the day’s richest event, the Grade 2, $200,000 Falls City, is run at 4:22.