McPeek has strong hand in opening-day Street Sense Stakes
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There’s plenty of activity at Churchill Downs, with the 21-day fall meet opening Sunday. Management also is keeping an eye to the future.
The track is in full swing preparing for next May’s 150th anniversary editions of the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks. Among those preparations, construction is heading toward the home stretch on the expansive paddock renovation that includes a new seating area. While those rumblings continue, Sunday’s program is, appropriately, the first of two Stars of Tomorrow cards at the fall meet and features 2-year-olds, some whom hope to set foot in that paddock next spring.
The Sunday features are the Grade 3, $200,000 Street Sense Stakes, and its sister race, the $200,000 Rags to Riches. The races award the top finishers qualifying points toward the Derby and Oaks, respectively, on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.
The Sunday stakes are preps toward the second Stars of Tomorrow card on Nov. 25, which features the Grade 2, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club and the Grade 2, $400,000 Golden Rod for fillies, both awarding points on the same scale.
The traditional centerpiece event is the Grade 2, $600,000 Clark on Friday, Nov. 24. Although the Clark was downgraded from a Grade 1 for 2023, the race has long been considered a place for older horses to state their final case on the year.
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One of the other popular races at this meet, especially for the locals, will be the listed $300,000 Bet On Sunshine on Nov. 4. Local hero Bango will be seeking his 12th victory beneath the Twin Spires, which would give him the record for most wins at the track.
There are 15 stakes at the meet, 10 of which are graded, worth a cumulative $4.75 million. Horsemen will compete for $22.89 million in total purses, with average daily purses of more than $1 million. All purses, including claiming races, include bonus money from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, pending Kentucky Horse Racing Commission approval.
Racing will be held on a Wednesday-through-Sunday schedule through Nov. 26.
Stablemates Generous Tipper and Northern Flame come into the Street Sense with a few Kentucky Derby points already. The two were third and fourth, respectively, behind Breeders’ Cup-bound Locked and The Wine Steward in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity on Oct. 7 at Keeneland. Trainer Kenmy McPeek, who holds a strong hand in both Sunday stakes, joked that since the two colts are workmates, they thought they were meant to finish together.
Northern Flame, who was just a neck behind Generous Tipper, comes in with the advantage of a win at the track and at 1 1/16 miles, as he scored a front-running maiden win during the September meet at Churchill.
The morning-line favorite for the Street Sense is Moonlight, who has a strong foundation of longer races as well. Second on debut going 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Saratoga – beaten just a neck by later Grade 1 winner and Breeders’ Cup candidate Carson’s Run – the colt added blinkers and roared by eight lengths in a one-mile maiden taken off the turf at Aqueduct.
“I thought his last race was very impressive, and I think the real key was the addition of blinkers,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We saw when we breezed him with blinkers, he was just a little more focused. He ran well in his turf debut, but we were pretty happy when that race came off the turf last time, because we were looking forward to getting him on the dirt.”
Sunday’s card also includes six maiden special weight races with purses of $120,000; a sales-restricted maiden race with a purse of $92,000; and two $127,000 allowance/optional-claiming races. The card has drawn an average field size of 13 entrants per race on the overnight.
With strong purses, and with this being the final chance to race on dirt or turf in Kentucky until next April, full fields should continue through the meet.
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