Just Wonderful won her second group stakes in her last three starts, and largely erased the disappointment of a recent seventh-place finish at that level, with a win in Friday’s Group 2 Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse in England.
Just Wonderful earned a fees-paid berth for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2 with the win. She is trained by Aidan O’Brien, who has never won the Juvenile Fillies Turf but has finished second twice.
The Royal Lodge Stakes is a Group 2 race for 2-year-olds that has produced some high-end Group 1 horses. Roaring Lion won it last year and has emerged as one of Europe’s best runners of 2018, and the legendary Frankel captured the 2010 edition.
ELMONT, N.Y. – That nine horses were separated by 1 3/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park 16 weeks ago shows the contentious nature of the older male turf division.
That five of those horses arre part of the eight-horse field entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational is indicative of the degree of difficulty in handicapping the race. The Hirsch offers a fees-paid berth in the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Lukas Classic isn’t the only race at Churchill on Saturday night likely to produce something for the Breeders’ Cup. The Ack Ack could do the same.
C Z Rocket, Seeking the Soul, Awesome Slew, and Giant Expectations are among the Ack Ack starters with a legitimate opportunity to stamp their ticket to the BC Dirt Mile, to be run here Nov. 3.
Here’s a quick rundown of all three supporting events on the card:
Grade 3, $100,000 Ack Ack (race 8, 9:39)
ARCADIA, Calif. – At the beginning of the year, Accelerate had yet to prove his comfort zone extended beyond middle distances, and the retirement of Gun Runner after the Pegasus World Cup made it appear that West Coast, the Pegasus runner-up, was the heir apparent as the best older horse in the country.
But over the course of 2018, Accelerate has had a jump on the competition – winning three races at 1 1/4 miles with increasingly faster Beyer Speed Figures – and West Coast, limited to a mere two starts, has been playing catch-up.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The first-place share of Saturday’s $300,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita is $180,000. That money would come in handy for expected favorite Vasilika, who might be sent to Churchill Downs for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 3 if she extends her winning streak to seven in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive.
The Breeders’ Cup Mile lost two key players on Sept. 15 but gained another the same day.
In Ireland, the imposing filly Alpha Centauri, whose connections long had harbored designs on the Mile, suffered a career-ending injury finishing second to Laurens in the Matron Stakes. On the same program, Saxon Warrior raced for the final time finishing second to Roaring Lion in the Irish Champion Stakes. Both horses were retired the following day.
The Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile will be run at a one-turn configuration for the first time since 2011 when it is renewed Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. It’s an “intriguing” twist that makes the race a potential target for a vast cross-section of horses, trainer Al Stall Jr. said.
“They’re coming from everywhere,” he said.
Stall hopes C Z Rocket will punch his ticket to the Dirt Mile – expected to be led by Catalina Cruiser, an undefeated graded stakes winner at one turn and two – when he runs Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Ack Ack at Churchill Downs.
