Final Score can obviously win the Bourbon Stakes on Sunday at Keeneland. He is, after all, the 8-5 morning line favorite, unbeaten in two grass starts, and a last-out winner of the Grade 3 With Anticipation at Saratoga. He might not, however, be able to win the Bourbon in the same manner as his first two tallies.
Final Score led from start to finish in his maiden win and led from start to finish in the With Anticipation. The Bourbon’s dozen entrants include several pace players, including a couple drawn outside Final Score who might prove intent on making the lead.
Thorpedo Anna made the first start of her career in October 2023 at Keeneland, cruising to an easy restricted maiden win at odds of 4-1. Thorpedo Anna makes her second Keeneland appearance Sunday, when, as the reigning Horse of the Year, she’ll go off heavily favored in the Spinster Stakes.
Twilight Delight faded from contention in the final furlong of the $946,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint at 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 31. A week later, the same happened to Dirty Rich in the stretch of the Grade 3 Del Mar Juvenile Turf at a mile.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – If Bill Mott was confident Quiet Street was assured a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, he might not be running her back in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Miss Grillo Stakes at Aqueduct.
Despite the fact that Quiet Street is 2 for 2, including a victory in the $1 million Untapable Stakes on Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs, the Juvenile Fillies Turf typically oversubscribes and includes a bushel of foreign runners. A victory in the Miss Grillo would ensure a spot in the Breeders’ Cup because the race is designated a Win and You’re In event.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Grade 2 winner Steal Sunshine’s itinerary through the upcoming Championship meeting at Gulfstream Park will likely be determined by his performance in the main event here Saturday, a $70,000 overnight handicap carded at 1 1/16 miles on turf. The headliner lured a field of nine that also includes Steal Sunshine’s uncoupled stablemate Relampago Verde.
The year 2020 turned out pretty weird, didn’t it? A crazy thing happened in the 2020 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland. Chad Brown merely won the race. In the four years since, Brown-trained First Lady runners finished first and second from 2021 to 2023, and last year’s First Lady yielded a Brown trifecta led by Gina Romantica, a two-time First Lady winner and Brown’s eighth in the fall fixture.
Four weeks out from Breeders’ Cup and the hotline for phoning in clues rings off the wall. Wednesday in Japan, Forever Young showed us he’s still out there. The Coolmore Turf Mile on Saturday at Keeneland reveals key players for the BC Mile. Saturday 2-year-old racing in California, Kentucky, and New York will seriously sort the Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies. Lots to consider – including these three races.
Breeders’ Futurity
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It was just one race. But what a race it was.
It’s Our Time, in his career debut Aug. 16 at Saratoga, ran away and hid from eight rivals in posting a 17 3/4-length victory that immediately made him a potential 2-year-old star. Saturday, he’ll try to validate that performance and earn a trip to the Breeders’ Cup when he starts as a likely heavy favorite in the Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct.
The Champagne, run as a one-turn mile, awards its winner a fees-paid berth into the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Oct. 31 at Del Mar.
