Lots on the line in first Churchill fall stakes
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The first four stakes of the September meet at Churchill Downs will conclude a terrific 11-race Saturday card that track officials have designed as an alluring lead-in for locals.
Two of the stakes, the Pocahontas and Iroquois for 2-year-olds, carry rewards far beyond their purses: They’re Win and You’re In events toward the
Nov. 2-3 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill, as well as the first qualifying-points races toward the 2019 Kentucky Derby and Oaks.
The stakes are packaged as the late pick four (races 8-11) on a card that begins at 12:45 p.m.
Eastern and is scheduled to end at 5:57, or in ample time for fans and alumni of Western Kentucky University and the University of Louisville to make the 7:30 kickoff for their rivalry football game at Cardinal Stadium just up Central Ave.
In reverse order, here’s a quick rundown of those Saturday stakes:
Grade 2, $200,000 Pocahontas (race 11): Serengeti Empress, a 13 1/2-length winner of the Ellis Debutante, was assigned post 1 in a 1 1/16-mile race that marks her two-turn debut. Among the 11 fillies opposing her are Love My Honey, Two Dozen Roses, and It Justhitthe Wire, all in from Saratoga, and Splashy Kisses, in from Del Mar for Doug O’Neill.
Grade 3, $150,000 Iroquois (race 10): Steve Asmussen might have the top two wagering choices among a field of 12 in this 1 1/16-mile race in the uncoupled duo of Tight Ten, runner-up in the Saratoga Special, and Tobacco Road, winner of the Ellis Juvenile.
Grade 3, $100,000 Locust Grove (race 9): Blue Prize, winner of the Grade 2 Falls City last fall and the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis in June, figures as a solid favorite over eight other fillies and mares in this 1 1/16-mile race.
$100,000 Open Mind (race 8): Vertical Oak, Miss Kentucky, and Astrollinthepark are the top contenders in a field of seven fillies and mares in this six-furlong race.
After Saturday, five stakes will remain at the 11-day September meet, with the final four set for the Sept. 29 Downs After Dark card. Foremost among those is the Grade 3, $200,000 Lukas Classic, which will serve as the final Breeders’ Cup prep for Mind Your Biscuits, who was scheduled to arrive here early Thursday from New York.