Keeneland Barn Notes — Monday, Oct. 8
By Amy Owens —-
Keeneland’s 17-day Fall Meet concludes Saturday, Oct. 27, with racing
Wednesdays through Sundays. Post time for the first race each day is 1:05 pm. ET.
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• BLUE PRIZE (ARG) FINE MORNING AFTER EVENTFUL JUDDMONTE SPINSTER WIN
• CURRENT’S DIXIANA BOURBON VICTORY CAPS OFF BIG DAY FOR PLETCHER BARN
• STRIKE SILVER EN ROUTE TO BREEDERS’ CUP AFTER INDIAN SUMMER SCORE
• TRAINER ABREU FIRING TWO SHOTS IN WEDNESDAY’S JPMORGAN CHASE JESSAMINE
• GALLOPING OUT
• 2018 FALL MEET LEADERS
BLUE PRIZE (ARG) FINE MORNING AFTER EVENTFUL
JUDDMONTE SPINSTER WIN
Trainer Ignacio Correas IV said Merriebelle Stable’s Blue Prize (ARG) was “very well” Monday morning, the day after she turned in a memorable performance to win the $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster (G1).
With Joe Bravo aboard, Blue Prize ducked out sharply beyond the middle of the track before the eighth pole. That allowed Champagne Problems on the rail to reach near-even terms. Bravo got Blue Prize straightened out inside the sixteenth pole and drew clear for the victory by three-quarters of a length.
Blue Prize, who was third in last year’s Juddmonte Spinster, gave Correas his first Grade 1 win in North America and is headed to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. He said the 5-year-old mare will remain at his Keeneland base to continue preparations for the Breeders’ Cup but had not determined her training schedule.
Blue Prize will mark the second Breeders’ Cup starter for Correas, who sent out Humble and Hungry to run eighth in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G2) at Churchill.
Sunday’s stretch run might have reminded racing fans of another eventful running of the Juddmonte Spinster from 10 years ago when Stuart S. Janney III and Phipps Stable’s Carriage Trail won the race.
According to the chart, “Carriage Trail close up off the rail, angled out after a half, challenged four wide after six furlongs, took over for the drive and drew off while drifting out badly in the final furlong to finish near the outside rail.”
Even with that detour, Carriage Trail and jockey Kent Desormeaux still won the Juddmonte Spinster by 7¾ lengths They next ran fourth behind future champion Zenyatta in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (now Distaff) (G1) at Santa Anita.
Six Column Stables, Randall Bloch, John Seiler, Fred Merritt and David Hall’s Champagne Problems was scheduled to return to the Skylight Training Center in Goshen, Kentucky, on Tuesday for trainer Ian Wilkes.
Wilkes said Monday morning that no decision has been reached on which direction to go with Champagne Problems, who has run second in her past two starts against Blue Prize.
Whit Beckman, assistant to Chad Brown, said Peter Brant and Ciaglia Racing’s Pacific Wind came out of her third-place finish in the Juddmonte Spinster fine.
“She looks good this morning,” Beckman said. “She got a good trip yesterday and saved ground.”
Beckman said plans going forward for Pacific Wind are undetermined.
Trainer Kenny McPeek reported on Twitter Sunday evening that Eskimo Kisses came back fine after her seventh-place finish as the 9-5 favorite. For owners Gainesway Stable, Harold Lerner, Andrew Rosen, Nehoc Stables and Magdalena Racing, the 3-year-old filly entered the race off a win in the Alabama (G1).
“Eskimo Kisses came back fine,” McPeek tweeted. “It wasn’t her day. We will regroup and figure if Breeders’ Cup is right move with her.”
CURRENT’S DIXIANA BOURBON VICTORY CAPS OFF BIG DAY
FOR PLETCHER BARN
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Robert LaPenta’s Current prevailed in a three-horse photo in Sunday’s Dixiana Bourbon (G3) despite having the shoe on his left front foot come loose.
“I don’t know where it happened in the race,” said Ginny DePasquale, assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher. “He is good this morning.”
Even though there were three noses on the wire, DePasquale thought Current had won.
“I was watching on the monitor in the Grandstand and all the commentators (on TVG and NBC) thought he won,” DePasquale said. “I was surprised it took so long to put the result up.”
The end result was a fees-paid berth into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2 for Current. DePasquale, who will be with Pletcher’s Churchill string, was uncertain when Current would move on to Louisville but expected the colt would remain at Keeneland for the time being.
Current was ridden by Jose Ortiz and was the third winner of the day for the trainer-jockey combination. They won the third with D’ambrosio and the seventh with Into Mystic. It marked the first three-win day for a rider or trainer during the meet.
Bloom Racing Stable’s Dixiana Bourbon runner-up, Henley’s Joy, is scheduled to return Tuesday to trainer Mike Maker’s home base at Trackside Training Center in Louisville.
Maker said Monday that the Breeders’ Cup remains under consideration.
David Carroll, assistant to trainer Mark Casse, said plans are undecided for Gary Barber’s War of Will, who set the pace as the favorite in the Dixiana Bourbon before finishing fourth.
“He looked like he had control of the race turning for home,” Carroll said. “He might have lost his momentum when he switched leads but we still think a lot of him and hopefully he has some big days ahead of him.”
STRIKE SILVER EN ROUTE TO BREEDERS’ CUP
AFTER INDIAN SUMMER SCORE
John C. Oxley’s Strike Silver has the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on his calendar after clinching a fees-paid slot with his triumph in Sunday’s $200,000 Indian Summer. The inaugural running of the Juvenile Turf Sprint will be at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2.
“The game plan is to go for the Breeders’ Cup,” trainer Mark Casse’s assistant David Carroll said. “He will probably stay at Keeneland for a little while before shipping to our barn at Churchill Downs.”
The Indian Summer marked the turf debut for Strike Silver, who won his career debut at Churchill in June and was a close second in the Sanford (G3) at Saratoga in July.
Trainer Wesley Ward was pleased with the second-place effort by Hat Creek Racing’s Chelsea Cloisters in the Indian Summer.
“You look like you’re a winner and then you get nailed at the wire,” Ward said.
TRAINER ABREU FIRING TWO SHOTS IN WEDNESDAY’S
JPMORGAN CHASE JESSAMINE
Trainer Jorge Abreu, who went out on his own in 2016 and saddled his first Keeneland winner this spring, will be gunning for his first Keeneland stakes victory Wednesday when he sends out two runners in the 28th running of the $200,000 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G2) for 2-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
Representing Abreu will be Steve Weston’s Moravia (GB) and NY Final Furlong Racing Stable and Maspeth Stable’s Espresso Shot in the stakes, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race that awards the winner a fees-paid berth in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Churchill Downs on Nov. 2.
Moravia has made all four of her starts in Ireland with a maiden victory and a Group 3 runner-up finish coming at Leopardstown, the latter being her most recent start July 26.
“Mr. Weston bought her just before her last start and we got her in the barn in July,” Abreu said. “The plan all along was for this race and then the Breeders’ Cup.”
The acclimation process for Moravia has gone well.
“I like what I have seen and she has trained really well since we got here,” Abreu said of the filly, who last worked Sept. 29 at Saratoga.
Manny Franco will have the mount Wednesday.
Flavien Prat comes in from California to ride Espresso Shot, who comes into the race off a maiden victory at Belmont Park on Sept. 14.
“She has a lot of ability,” Abreu said of Espresso Shot, whose two starts have come against fellow New York-breds. “She ran a good race at Saratoga going 5½ furlongs on the turf and then won the off-the-turf race (at 1 1/16 miles) at Belmont. She has got some class to her.”
GALLOPING OUT
Trainer Brian Lynch said Terry Hamilton’s Heart to Heart is out of Breeders’ Cup consideration following his ninth-place finish in Saturday’s Shadwell Turf Mile (G1).
“He is definitely off the (Breeders’ Cup) trail,” Lynch said Monday morning. “He is going to go to Florida and freshen up. He got caught in a speed duel Saturday, and he doesn’t really like ground that is soft. There are three stakes that he likes at Gulfstream Park and that is a speed-favoring track.” …
Starlight Racing’s Sombeyay likely will remain at Keeneland for the time being following his troubled fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1).
“He had a rough trip and got banged around and he sprung a shoe in the race,” said Ginny DePasquale, assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher. She said plans are uncertain for the colt’s next start. …
Here are the invitees and probable starters for Saturday’s $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End (G1): Beyond Blame (trainer Brad Cox), Capla Temptress (IRE) (Bill Mott), Daddy Is a Legend (George Weaver), Fatale Bere (FR) (Leonard Powell), Mission Impassible (IRE) (Jean-Claude Rouget), Nyaleti (IRE) (Mark Johnston), Princess Warrior (Kenny McPeek), Rushing Fall (Chad Brown) and Secret Message (Graham Motion). Entries will be taken Wednesday.
FALL MEET LEADERS
Through Oct. 7 (3 days of 17-day season)
Jockey Starts Wins 2nd 3rd Purses
Jose Ortiz 15 4 2 3 $309,506
Julien Leparoux 18 3 1 1 $233,441
Eight jockeys tied with two wins each.
Trainer Starts Wins 2nd 3rd Purses
Todd Pletcher 8 4 1 1 $290,030
Five trainers tied with two wins each.
Owner Wins
John C. Oxley 2
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