Sharp expects his mares to excel on unique course in Ladies Turf and Ladies Sprint

Finding the fastest horse coming into a race at Kentucky Downs doesn’t mean you are betting on a winner. The European-style course with some twists and turns, plenty of undulations in the ground, and a demanding uphill finish requires different things from horses than typical American races run over a flat oval.

“Liking the course can be the great equalizer at Kentucky Downs,” trainer Joe Sharp said. “We hope it works that way for us.”

Sharp has entrants in two Grade 3 stakes Saturday – Catch a Bid in the $600,000 Ladies Sprint, Saratoga Summer in the $750,000 Ladies Turf – who might not be the fastest horses in their respective races. But Summer in Saratoga already is proven at Kentucky Downs and Sharp believes Catch a Bid is going to enjoy her first trip around the course.

Catch a Bid exits a smooth win going a mile 70 yards in the $75,000 West Virginia Senate President’s Cup on Aug. 7 at Mountaineer Park, and placing that route form alongside a few solid performances earlier this year in turf sprints from five to six furlongs, one can see the makings of a mare who will enjoy the Ladies Sprint’s stiff 6 1/2-furlong trip.

“I think the unconventional layout will really suit her,” Sharp said.

Also likely to suit Catch a Bid is the race shape. The Ladies Sprint is loaded with front-runners, and if most of the speed shows, it will be difficult for a front-end type to hang on.

That includes the best horse in the Ladies Sprint, California shipper Venetian Harbor. Were this race a conventional six-furlongs on turf at Santa Anita – circumstances where Venetian Harbor looked very, very good winning her 2021 debut June 5 in the Grade 3 Monrovia – she’d be a solid favorite difficult to oppose. And perhaps that’s still the case. Venetian Harbor has multiple Grade 1 placings and a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure, and she earned a 96 in the Monrovia. She’s drawn in post 9 Saturday, which should afford jockey Florent Geroux a chance to size up the other front-runners, but Venetian Harbor is a filly who wants to flaunt her speed, and she likely will be going very fast during the early and middle sections.

Constantia, another California shipper, could be picking off fading pace players, while Superstition, still another Californian, could save ground racing just in behind the speed and come with a run. Yes It’s Ginger, winner of the prep for this race at Ellis Park, will be tested for class and stamina.

The Ladies Turf lacks an entrant with Venetian Harbor’s credentials but has Princess Grace as the 2-1 morning-line favorite for trainer Mike Stidham, who already has a stakes win this meet with Pixelate in the Sept. 6 Mint Million. Princess Grace is a five-time winner from six starts, and her only defeat was a second by a half-length last fall in the Valley View at Keeneland. She enters off a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure earned winning the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon on Aug. 7 at Del Mar, and benefitted from one of the best rides of the year that afternoon. Jockey Kent Desmormeaux timed Princess Grace’s move to perfection and hit a tiny hole at the only moment it was open, bursting into the clear at the head of the homestretch and going on to a solid score. Princess Grace can win again Saturday but doesn’t have to.

Also worthy of attention is Dalika, who cuts back from marathon distances and won the restricted One Dreamer last season in her only previous Kentucky Downs try. Summer in Saratoga, Sharp’s mare, has a win and a third in two local starts and has been pointed to this race since she won at Indiana Grand on July 7.

“She’s this kind of filly, I think,” Sharp said. “Knowing this race was out there, we just stayed home and waited on it.”

Franklin-Simpson Stakes

Trainer Eddie Kenneally said the day after Point Me By won the Grade 1 Bruce D. Stakes on Aug. 14 at Arlington that he expected his lightly raced 3-year-old to continue improving through late summer and fall. And if Kenneally is correct, Point Me By will take a lot of beating Saturday in the Grade 2, $600,000 Franklin-Simpson Stakes for 3-year-olds over 6 1/2 furlongs.

Point Me By won his career debut going 5 1/2 furlongs on turf at Churchill. Facing older allowance horses at Saratoga in his second race, he finished with interest after falling too far behind a slow pace. In the one-mile Bruce D. – admittedly a Grade 1 in name only – the colt traveled like a winner at the half-mile pole and after making his way through traffic drew away to post a 2 3/4-length victory.

Cutting back to a long sprint should pose little problem for this handy son of Point of Entry, but with popular jockey Luis Saez named and obviously contending form, Point Me By could drop well below his 7-2 morning-line odds.

Eleven others are in the field’s main body with three more horses stuck on the also-eligible list, and the race includes two horses who last started in Europe, The Lir Jet and the filly Miss Amulet. The Lir Jet had a terrible post in his previous American race, breaking from post 14 on the way to a seventh-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last fall at Keeneland. But that is the only time in a 10-race career that The Lir Jet, who starts for trainer Brendan Walsh, has raced over a course with turns.

As for Miss Amulet, she was third last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, but has fizzled in a pair of races this year. Heavy ground in the Irish 1000 Guineas worked against her, but she had no apparent excuse for a no-show last out in the July Cup at Newmarket. Miss Amulet stays in America, and her trainer, Ken Condon, said the plan is to breed her to a Coolmore stallion this winter.

Annex, trained by Bill Mott, cuts back from route races to try this elongated sprint, and had a poor trip finishing second last out at Saratoga to the capable Public Sector. Next also turns back in distance. He won over this distance beating a soft group of maidens last season at Kentucky Downs.