Kentucky Jockey Club, Golden Rod launching pad for future stars

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The proud history of Churchill Downs reaches back nearly a century and a half, but it’s a tradition of a mere decade and a half that provides the backdrop for a great Saturday of racing at this iconic venue.

The second Stars of Tomorrow card of the 2020 fall meet will showcase a veritable parade of young equine talent Saturday, led by Grade 1 winner Simply Ravishing as a solid favorite in the Golden Rod Stakes. The Stars of Tomorrow concept has been a Churchill staple since 2005, with the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes being paired with the Golden Rod as Grade 2 co-features of a proven launching pad for 2-year-olds.

Great horses such as Rachel Alexandra, Gun Runner, Monomoy Girl, War of Will, and Swiss Skydiver are among the 50-plus Grade 1 winners who have used Stars of Tomorrow races at 2 toward stardom at 3 and beyond – and there’s little reason to think Saturday won’t be similarly productive. Besides the Grade 2 twins, there are four allowances and six maiden-specials as part of a 12-race card, with a whopping 146 entries (including also-eligibles) making for the type of action horseplayers enjoy.

First post is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the latter portion of the program to be run under the lights as dusk falls. A fast main track can be expected – there has been no turf racing here since Nov. 12 – given the forecast of sunny skies amid a daytime high of 52.

Sunday is closing day of the 24-day fall meet, with payouts of all wagering pools being mandated. Four months of winter racing begins Wednesday evening at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.

Golden Rod (race 9, 4:57 p.m.)

Simply Ravishing was compromised by a stumbling start in the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, resulting in a loss of critical early positioning in what became her first defeat in four career starts. The New York-bred daughter of Laoban will break from post 8 in a field of 10 fillies in the 77th running of the $200,000 Golden Rod when she looks to maintain her lofty stature in the national ranks.

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“She was unlucky in the Breeders’ Cup,” said Kenny McPeek, trainer of Simply Ravishing. “She came out of the race doing so well that I thought this would be a good spot before we put her away for the winter. There aren’t a lot of opportunities like this with the Grade 2 and everything.”

Robby Albarado will be aboard Simply Ravishing for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile Golden Rod. The filly was sensational in winning the Grade 1 Alcibiades by 6 1/2 lengths last month at Keeneland and has the top three Beyer Speed Figures in the field (81, 89, 90).

Challengers for Simply Ravishing include the Brad Cox pair of Coach (post 3, Joe Talamo) and Travel Column (post 5, Florent Geroux), as well as a handful of other last-out winners, including Princess Theorem (post 9, John Velazquez). Coach hasn’t yet posted Beyers to match Simply Ravishing, but she has won her three starts by a combined 16 1/2 lengths, ending with the Rags to Riches on the first Stars of Tomorrow card of the meet Oct. 25.

McPeek has entries in 10 of the 12 Saturday races, the most of any trainer. Next are Steve Asmussen (9), Cox (9), and Dale Romans (7).

“It should be an exciting day,” said McPeek.

Kentucky Jockey Club (race 11, 5:56 p.m.)

With Ultimate Badger and the Albaugh Family Stables coupling of Sittin On Go and Smiley Sobotka, Dale Romans is the trainer of three of the nine colts in the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club, a 1 1/16-mile race being run for the 94th time. He said only two of them are likely to actually start, with the third being diverted to the Grade 2 Remsen next Saturday (Dec. 5) at Aqueduct.

Sittin On Go (post 2, Corey Lanerie), as winner of the Iroquois Stakes on Kentucky Derby Day, rates the best chance of the Romans charges. The Brody’s Cause colt was no factor when ninth of 14 in the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, but Romans said he expects “a far better effort” given the lighter competition and shorter field.

A maiden with $275,280 in earnings, Keepmeinmind (post 4, David Cohen), appears to be the horse to beat in the KJC after finishing third at 30-1 in the BC Juvenile. Trained by Robertino Diodoro, the Laoban colt was second in his debut versus maidens here in September prior to finishing second to the eventual Juvenile winner, Essential Quality, in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity. The colt then got a 92 Beyer in the Juvenile, the highest of any starter here Saturday.

“He fits good in here and I like the way he’s training,” said Diodoro.

King Fury (post 8, Brian Hernandez Jr.), winner of the Oct. 25 Street Sense for McPeek before finishing seventh in the Juvenile, will be adding blinkers when making his third start in five weeks.

◗ Romans doesn’t normally enter a non-winner in an allowance race, but there’s an unusual reason he has All Bodes Well in race 3, a first-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles.

In his Oct. 11 debut at Keeneland, All Bodes Well finished third – but he is being considered the winner, at least for the time being. The runner-up in that race, Sound Money, was declared a non-starter because of a gate malfunction, while the first-place finisher, Saffa’s Day, is the subject of what is termed a “disputed race” relating to a possible medication violation. The case has yet to be fully adjudicated.