Restless Rider Rolls to Darley Alcibiades Victory on Opening Day of 2018 Fall Meet

By Amy Owens —-

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LEXINGTON, KY. (Oct. 5, 2018) – Three Chimneys Farm and Fern Circle Stables’ Restless Rider took over from pacesetting Meadow Dance at the top of the stretch and drew clear to post a 2½-length victory over Reflect to win the 67th running of the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1) for 2-year-old fillies before a Fall Meet opening-day crowd of 15,334.

In the race prior to the Darley Alcibiades, Robert Baron’s Promises Fulfilled held off late charges from Whitmore and Limousine Liberal to win the 166th running of the $245,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2) for sprinters by a head over 2017 race winner Whitmore.

Both winners earned fees-paid berths to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs Nov. 2-3.

Trained by Kenny McPeek and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Restless Rider covered the 1 1/16 miles on a fast main track in 1:44.23. The victory earned Restless Rider a spot in the $2 million Tito’s Handmade Vodka Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) to be run Nov. 2.

The victory was the fourth in the race for McPeek. His other winners were She’s A Devil Due (2000), Take Charge Lady (2001) and Dream Empress (2008). It was the first win in the race for Hernandez.

Meadow Dance emerged with the lead going into the first turn and quickly opened a daylight advantage over Lady T N T with Restless Rider riding the rail in third through fractions of :22.86 and :46.52.

Going into the far turn, Restless Rider moved to second and swung to the outside of Meadow Dance, assuming command at the head of the lane. Reflect rallied from midpack into second but was no threat to winner.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Restless Rider has won three of four starts for earnings of $401,360, including Friday’s check of $240,000. She won the Debutante at Churchill Downs by 11¼ lengths and in her previous start was second in the Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga.

Restless Rider is a Kentucky-bred daughter of Distorted Humor out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Silky Serenade.

Sent off as the favorite in the field of 14, Restless Rider returned $4.60, $3.20 and $2.80, Reflect, ridden by James Graham, returned $9.40 and $6 with Meadow Dance finishing another 2¾ lengths back in third under Florent Geroux and returning $6.20 to show.

It was 1½ lengths back to Chocolate Kisses in fourth with Boujie Girl, Malocchio, Abbo, Somewhere, Into Trouble, Bella Ciao, My Wynter Rose, Catherinethegreat, Kim K and Lady T N T following in order.
Promises Fulfilled Wins Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix.

Trained by Dale Romans and ridden by Luis Saez, Promises Fulfilled covered 6 furlongs on the main track in 1:09.05 to win the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix and earn a berth in the $2 million TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) to be run Nov. 3.

Promises Fulfilled took the lead out of the gate but was joined quickly by Heartwood as the duo raced through fractions of :22.50 and :45.09.

Entering the stretch, Heartwood retreated and Whitmore took up the chase on the outside and Limousine Liberal tried to come through on the inside. Neither older runner ever got past Promises Fulfilled, who gave Romans and Saez their initial victories in the race.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Promises Fulfilled is a 3-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Shackleford out of the Marquetry mare Marquee Delivery.

The victory was worth $150,000 and increased Promises Fulfilled’s earnings to $920,280 with a record of 10-6-0-2. It was the fourth graded stakes victory for Promises Fulfilled and third in a row.

Promises Fulfilled, sent off as the odds-on favorite, returned $3.40, $2.40 and $2.10, Whitmore, ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., returned $2.60 and $2.10 and finished a half-length in front of Limousine Liberal, who paid $2.10 to show under Jose Ortiz.

It was another 3 lengths back to Heartwood with Dalmore finishing fifth in the field of five.
Racing continues Saturday with an 11-race program that features five graded stakes, three of which are Grade 1s. First post time is 12:40 p.m. ET.

Quotes from the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1)

Kenny McPeek (winning trainer of Restless Rider)
On his training job, taking her from winning her career debut in June at 5½ furlongs to stretching out to 1 1/16 miles of the Darley Alcibiades
“She took us. She is really, really special. It hasn’t been as easy as it might look on paper and what she did today. It wasn’t an exact straight line since the Spinaway (G1), but we got through it.
“(With) the weather changing here, there’s been a lot of horses that have been dealing with coughs here and there. She got one of them, and we were worried a little bit. But we kept on top of it. We have a great team. It’s a great team effort, and she is special.”

Brian Hernandez Jr. (winning rider)
“Kenny came up with a great game plan just to get her around the first turn in good order. Luckily we have a good filly that was able to do everything we needed her to do. Once we got in our position going around the first turn, I was pretty confident in her because she’s something special.”
On difference going around one turn in earlier races versus the two turns of the Darley Alcibiades
“She’s a smart filly. She knows what she’s doing out there. First time two turns, but there looked like quite a few fast fillies in here. She’s the type of filly where she’s got the class to her and she was able to put herself into position to make the trip as easy as it looked.”

James Graham (rider of runner-up Reflect)
“I was sitting fifth or sixth down the back, and she was more on the bridle than I wanted. (Trainer Keith Desormeaux) told me to get her away and get her running. I just couldn’t get her to come back off the bit. Took her an extra quarter of a mile to come back to me. That might’ve made the deciding factor when it was time to go. I guarantee this is a better bunch of fillies than people are giving credit.”

Florent Geroux (rider of third-place finisher Meadow Dance)
“She broke very sharply and went to the lead and relaxed nicely. The fractions were a little quick at the beginning, but she hung on for third and that was pretty big for her for her first time going two turns. I am very happy with her. She broke well and I wanted to take advantage of my post, especially in a big field like this. The first three finishers were in the one, two and three (posts), so I guess that was the place to be.”

Shaun Bridgmohan (rider of fourth-place finisher Chocolate Kisses)
“(She) tries hard. I may have given her a little bit too much to do. She never stopped trying. She gave everything she had. She ran real good.”

Cover Photo: Restless Rider; Keeneland Photo