Maker has contenders in both rich juvenile stakes at Kentucky Downs

A pair of $500,000 stakes for 2-year-olds will go back-to-back in preceding the Mint Million on a busy Saturday card at Kentucky Downs.

Both one-mile races at the turf-only track in south-central Kentucky drew fields of nine, with the Juvenile Fillies going as race 7 at 3:48 p.m. Central and the Juvenile Mile directly following as race 8 at 4:23.

Mike Maker, the all-time Kentucky Downs leader in every major training category, will saddle contenders in each race, although he was reticent to predict the outcomes. Maker runs Towhead in the Juvenile Fillies and the uncoupled pair of Really Good and Bourbon Therapy in the Juvenile Mile.

“I’d say I’ll run more horses than anybody else at this meet,” he said with a laugh, “but beyond that, I think I’ll stay quiet.”

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Bonus money from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund comprises half the purse of each race, but it’s worth noting that all starters are eligible Kentucky-breds.

Juvenile Fillies

Towhead was a hard-fought winner of the infamous July 24 maiden race at Saratoga that ultimately was declared “no contest” after a delay moving the starting gate before wheeling back to finish third as a lukewarm favorite in another two-turn maiden race on the Spa turf. The Malibu Moon filly is the 4-1 third choice in what shapes up as a very well-matched race, just behind Knockyoursocksoff (3-1) and Chop Chop (7-2).

“She probably wouldn’t have been in another race if that one hadn’t been declared no contest,” Maker said. “Obviously, she’s still a maiden, but I’d think she’ll match up with these.”

Towhead will be ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr. breaking from post 5, right between the other program favorites.

Knockyoursocksoff (post 4, Julien Leparoux) ships over from Colonial Downs off an eye-catching debut win for Chris Block, the Chicago-based trainer with five career stakes wins at Kentucky Downs. The Kitten’s Joy filly rolled home from well back in her 3 1/2-length Colonial score on Aug. 3.

Chop Chop (post 6, Reylu Gutierrez) also was a clear winner of her first and only start when prevailing in a one-mile maiden race Aug. 14 on the Ellis Park turf. She’s trained by Brad Cox, who won this race last year with Turnerloose for his sixth and most recent Kentucky Downs stakes win.

Fringe players in this lineup include Janis Joplin (post 2, Florent Geroux), a maiden making her grass debut following a pair of stakes placings in graded dirt sprints at Saratoga, and CC Cruise Control (post 3, Corey Lanerie), an easy winner of her only attempt over turf.

The Juvenile Fillies leads off the 50-cent late pick five (races 7-11), which carries a low 14 percent takeout.

Juvenile Mile

Really Good was already named by the time he was acquired by a three-way partnership and assimilated into the Maker barn.

“We were hoping the name was a tip-off,” Maker said.

And it was, as Really Good was, well, really good in his lone appearance to date, a July 23 maiden race going 1 1/16 miles on the Saratoga turf. Really Good was bet down to 6-1 before rallying from midpack to win going away.

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“We had high hopes for him, and he didn’t let us down,” Maker said. “Hopefully, I’ve got him ready for another big race Saturday.”

Really Good will have Tyler Gaffalione aboard breaking from post 4. He earned a field-best 72 Beyer on debut, a figure that has helped make him the 5-2 morning-line favorite over seven other last-out maiden winners and a Rusty Arnold-trained maiden named Laver, the only supplementary entry of the day.

Among the others exiting their first wins are Mayfield Strong (post 3, Lanerie), a Kenny McPeek-trained colt named to honor the movement supporting victims of the devastating tornado that ripped through Mayfield, Ky., last December; Bramble Blaze (post 2, Geroux), a sharp debut winner at Monmouth Park for Mike Dini; Castleknock (post 5, Ramon Vazquez), who went wire-to-wire at Del Mar when stretched out and moved to the grass by Peter Miller; and Anglophile (post 9, Geovanni Franco), a July 30 winner on the Ellis turf.

Bourbon Therapy (post 6, Santana) will be making his first start under Maker’s care after being purchased by Three Diamonds Farm out of the horses of racing age sale at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky in July.

This is the 11th running of the Juvenile, which McPeek won last year with Tiz the Bomb. Maker won the 2018 running with the still-active Henley’s Joy.