Temple City Terror will be coming like a bolt from the blue in Dowager

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Temple City Terror has always had a running style to mirror her career.

“She seems like she’s just getting better and better as time goes on,” said Brendan Walsh, who trains the 6-year-old mare for Pocket Aces Racing and Somewhere Stable Kentucky.

Temple City Terror, the likely favorite Sunday in the Grade 3 Dowager Stakes at Keeneland, tends to come from the clouds. That’s the way her 27-race career has unfolded, too, as it took her 10 races in more than 10 months to finally win for the first time. She made her debut in January 2019 and won in November of that year.

In the nearly three years that have passed, Temple City Terror has developed into one of the more accomplished fillies and mares specializing in marathon turf races in North America. The $300,000 Dowager, set for 1 1/2 miles on the Keeneland turf as the seventh of nine races Sunday, should be right up her alley, given that there seems to be a sufficient amount of pace signed on. A field of 11 goes.

“It’s a deep enough race, numbers-wise, that she’s going to have to get the trip,” said Walsh. “But, yes, after the year she’s had, if she can repeat her best form, it should make her pretty tough.”

Temple City Terror will break from post 5 with Tyler Gaffalione aboard in the three-turn Dowager. She’ll be exiting back-to-back efforts that both earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure, her career high, as she was fourth in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl after finishing second in the Grade 2 Glens Falls. War Like Goddess, one of the major players in the upcoming Breeders’ Cup Turf, finished ahead of her in both of those Saratoga races.

Walsh said he was unsure whether Temple City Terror, a two-time winner (2021-22) of the 1 1/2-mile Keertana at Churchill Downs, would race into 2023. “I’m kind of trying to talk the owners into it, but obviously we’ll have to see how this race and the rest of the fall goes,” he said.

Among her top challengers is Coastana (post 1, Adam Beschizza), a Cherie DeVaux-trained mare who edged Temple City Terror by a head when third in the Sept. 3 Flower Bowl. Since then, the daughter of Kitten’s Joy had something of a letdown when a distant third in the Grade 3 Waya on the Aqueduct turf earlier this month.

Other possibilities in the 31st Dowager include the trio of Sister O’Toole, Go Big Blue Nation, and Mia Martina, all trained by Graham Motion, who has won this race three times, tying him for the record with Bill Mott. Of those, maybe Mia Martina (post 11, Joel Rosario) rates the best chance after winning a turf allowance here opening day, although Sister O’Toole (post 6, Luis Saez), is a last-out winner of the CTT/TOC Stakes on the Del Mar turf.

First post Sunday is 1 p.m. Eastern, with three allowances (races 5, 8, and 9) also part of another terrific program. Sunshine and a high of 77 in the local forecast. It’s Heroes Day, with free admission, seating, and lunch being provided to active and retired military and first responders including law enforcement, firefighters, EMTs, and health-care workers.

After Sunday, Keeneland goes dark for two days until the final four-day stretch of the meet begins Wednesday with an eight-race card.