Three stakes for females top Sunday card

Sunday is ladies’ day at Kentucky Downs, where three rich stakes restricted to the female set will be run over a turf course that hopefully will withstand whatever rain might be headed its way.

Weather once again was a concern for the final weekend of racing at the seven-day boutique meet, with rain chances of 50 to 70 percent having been forecast for both Saturday and Sunday for the south-central Kentucky region. Kentucky Downs already has had to make up several races, including two stakes, following a partial rainout on Sept. 3.

The Sunday stakes are the Untapable (race 8), Music City (9), and Ladies Marathon (10). The 11-race card starts at 12:25 p.m. Central. Four allowances and three maiden-specials, all with maximum purses of at least $150,000, help form a terrific undercard. All listed purses include substantial bonuses for registered Kentucky-breds.

After Sunday, Kentucky Downs goes dark for two days before a 12-race finale, including three more stakes, is run Wednesday. Churchill Downs begins its 14-day dirt-only meet Thursday with an eight-race card that begins at 5 p.m.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets.

Untapable Stakes

Kelsey Danner has a thing for Kentucky Downs. Not only was she the top assistant to Wayne Catalano when he went a remarkable 10 for 15 to top the 2013 meet standings, but Danner also has done pretty well on her own accord, particularly in very recent times. Danner won an allowance on opening day of this 2022 meet with Viburnum, then a $250,000 allowance restricted to 2-year-olds auctioned at the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale when Dunedin prevailed Thursday.

“It’s becoming my favorite track,” Danner said this week from Delaware Park.

Danner stands a solid chance of another winner when represented by the 3-1 morning-line favorite Danse Macabre in the $500,000 Untapable. A field of eight 2-year-old fillies is entered in the 6 1/2-furlong race, with Danse Macabre having earned the highest Beyer Speed Figure to date (81) when finishing second in her latest start, the 5 1/2-furlong Bolton Landing three Sundays ago at Saratoga.

“I think she’ll like the added distance,” said Danner. “She’s a nice little filly that hasn’t done anything wrong yet.”

Danse Macabre, with Adam Beschizza riding from post 2, likely will have Half a Chance (post 1, Jose Ortiz) as one to catch. In two starts, both for Wesley Ward in maiden sprints, Half a Chance has shown excellent gate speed, including in a last-out triumph over the main track at Saratoga.

Five of the remaining six in the Untapable, sponsored by Ainsworth, all were last-out maiden winners, those being Bling, Recinto Rompere, Tiki Bar, Numero Seis, and Alluring Angel. The maiden All the Envy is the rank outsider.

Music City Stakes

There is no overwhelming favorite in a full field of 12 3-year-old fillies in the 6 1/2-furlong Music City, although Koala Princess could go favored from post 4 under Joel Rosario.

Based at Fair Hill with trainer Arnaud Delacour, Koala Princess won her first two starts, including the Ainsworth at Kentucky Downs last September, before finishing seventh as the 9-2 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in her last start of 2021. In her only start since then, she was third in the Grade 3 Lake George going a two-turn mile on the Saratoga turf July 22.

“She probably needed the race,” said Delacour.

:: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now!

Her main challengers could turn out to be Poppy Flower (post 3, Jose Ortiz), a sharp last-out winner of the Galway going 5 1/2 furlongs on the Saratoga turf, earning a field-high 94 Beyer, and Bubble Rock (post 8, Florent Geroux), off since April and returning to perhaps her preferred surface after having won the Matron last fall on the Belmont turf.

The Music City, named as a tribute to the nearby city of Nashville, is sponsored by Nelson’s Green Brier.

Ladies Marathon

Family Way won the Ladies Marathon last year and returns in good form as the deserving favorite in a field of nine fillies and mares ready to go the once-around distance of 1 5/16 miles. Fresh from a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Beverly D., the steady gray mare will have Tyler Gaffalione back aboard for trainer Brendan Walsh. She breaks from post 8.

Adventuring (post 1, Rosario), a romping winner of the Dueling Grounds Oaks last year for trainer Brad Cox, is perhaps her chief threat, along with the uncoupled Vicki Oliver duo of Flippant (post 4, Rafael Bejarano) and Core Values (post 5, Gerardo Corrales), both of them deep closers.

This is the 11th running of the Ladies Marathon, sponsored by AGS Systems.