The Kentucky Downs effect has crashed like a wave over the Jessamine Stakes, the Grade 2, $350,000 turf route for 2-year-old fillies Friday at Keeneland. Once the province of horses coming out of races in New York, this Jessamine drew 16 entrants, 13 of whom last raced at Kentucky Downs, where purses have gone through the roof.
One could argue – and trainer John Ortiz would – that Quietside ran just as well finishing second in the Spinaway Stakes as the filly who beat her 1 1/2 lengths, Immersive.
That theory converges with reality Friday at Keeneland when Quietside and Immersive meet again in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alcibiades.
Run at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, the Alcibiades is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, a key prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies next month at Del Mar, and a chance for horses who’ve shown talent at one turn to try route racing.
Grand Sonata will join a rare group if he records a surprise win in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
In the last decade, two winners of the BC Turf have won their first Grade 1 or Group 1 race in the richest grass race in the United States – Talismanic in 2017 and Yibir in 2021. They both won the BC Turf at Del Mar.
The picture for the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint should become a bit clearer after four domestic prep races this weekend – but “clearer” is a relative term. An overflowing entry box is likely later this month for the newest Breeders’ Cup race, which has been a popular addition to the program, and the makeup of the field is likely to come down to the final stages of the process.
What we know about the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf these first few days of October is that we don’t know all that much.
The Summer Stakes at Woodbine, the Pilgrim Stakes at Aqueduct – those key prep races have been run. Sunday, the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland and to a lesser extent the Zuma Beach at Santa Anita should bring further clarity. But what we’re really waiting to take shape is the European contingent, and Sunday’s Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp, which could include as many as three horses ranked in the Juvenile Turf Top 10 this week, ought to help in that regard.
It’s been 20 years since a horse based in California won the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and when Singletary did so in 2004, his success came not in California but at Lone Star Park in Texas. When the 4-year-old colt Johannes, all being well, starts in the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 2 at Del Mar, he’ll be racing much closer to home – and racing with a decent chance to become the first California-based Mile winner since Singletary.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After spending the summer at Del Mar for the second year in a row, trainer Sandino Hernandez has returned to South Florida with Paleo’s Princess, a new acquisition who will go postward among the leading contenders in Friday’s $61,000 main event at Gulfstream Park. The six-furlong allowance and optional-claiming race is carded at five furlongs on the turf, weather permitting, for older fillies and mares.
Chancer McPatrick and Ferocious, the one-two finishers in last month’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, have gone in different directions, but hope to find their way back toward a rematch in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
In 2022, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf was contested at 1 3/16 miles. Last year’s edition covered 1 1/4 miles.
That’s too short for War Like Goddess, who opted instead to face males at 1 1/2 miles in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Third in the 2022 Turf at Keeneland, the English Channel mare placed seventh last year at Santa Anita.
