Super Majesty looms large in Dogwood Stakes
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Dogwood Stakes has undergone numerous changes at Churchill Downs since eventual champion My Juliet won the first running 40 years ago. The Grade 3 race will get yet another tweak when run under the lights for the first time Saturday night as the highlight of the only Downs After Dark program of the 11-day September meet.
Twelve 3-year-old fillies passed the entry box for the $100,000 Dogwood, which goes as the ninth of 11 races on a card that starts at 6 p.m. Eastern and carries a “Summer Sunset” theme. Post time for the feature is 10:11.
None in the Dogwood field has won a graded stakes, although there has been quite a bit of speculation out West that Super Majesty shouldn’t be long for that crowd. In all three starts on the Southern California circuit, the Super Saver filly has earned Beyer Speed Figures that surpass any Beyer earned in the combined 90 starts for her 11 opponents.
Jerry Hollendorfer and Alex Solis are the Hall of Fame trainer-jockey combination teaming with Super Majesty, who will break from post 5 when making her stakes debut as the solid favorite.
:: DRF Live: Get real-time updates and insights from DRF reporters and handicappers on Saturday
Other prime considerations include Chide (post 4, Shaun Bridgmohan), exiting a pair of Grade 1 races in New York; Huasca (post 8, Eddie Castro), a south Florida shipper in peak form; and Kathballu (post 10, Julien Leparoux), a sharp optional-claiming winner over the Churchill surface in the spring.
Other highlights on the program include one allowance (race 4), two starter allowances (races 1 and 3), and three maiden special weight events (races 6, 7, 8).
Quite a few jockeys competing in the later races also will have ridden earlier in the day at Kentucky Downs, using a charter plane for transportation.
General admission for Downs After Dark is $10. Churchill announced this week that a portion of all gate, box, and dining receipts will be donated to the division of pediatric hematology and oncology at the University of Louisville.
KEY CONTENDERS
Super Majesty (Last 3 Beyers: 91-101-91)
◗ The lone supplement ($3,000 fee) in the field has been extremely well regarded from the outset, going heavily favored in a maiden victory at Santa Anita, an optional-claiming romp at Los Alamitos, and a narrow defeat last month when stretching out to a mile in a Del Mar optional claimer. The turnback figures to work well for her.
Chide (Last 3 Beyers: 80-79-78)
◗ Trainer Al Stall Jr. slaps some blinkers on this Claiborne/Dilschneider homebred following a disappointing effort in the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga; four workouts in the interim should have her on her toes.
Huasca (Last 3 Beyers: 88-82-89)
◗ This gray filly is extremely consistent and figures as a serious threat here, assuming her Gulfstream form transfers north. She defeated a graded stakes winner in Dogwood Trail in her latest victory and now wheels back on just 12 days’ rest.
Kathballu (Last 3 Beyers: 79-76-89)
◗ Trainer Ken McPeek long has held this full sister to multiple graded winner Kathmanblu in high regard, and she’s run the occasional big one to justify that confidence.