Keeneland Barn Notes — Sunday, Sept. 29

By Amy Owens —-

SUNDAY, SEPT. 29

Keeneland’s 17-day Fall Meet opens Friday, Oct. 4 and runs through Saturday, Oct. 26.
First post is 1 p.m. ET. No racing Mondays and Tuesdays.
.

*************************

FALL STARS WEEKEND NOMINEES INCLUDE DEFENDING CHAMPIONS IDIOMATIC, ARZAK, GINA ROMANTICA PLUS BREEDERS’ CUP WINNER NOBALS
VOSBURGH WINNER MUFASA (CHI) RETURNING TO CORREAS’ KEENELAND BASE; TRAINER WORKS FALL STARS HOPEFULS
GALLOPING OUT: FALL STARS HORSES IN ACTION
PROSPECTIVE FIELDS FOR FALL STARS STAKES

FALL STARS WEEKEND NOMINEES INCLUDE
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS IDIOMATIC, ARZAK, GINA ROMANTICA
PLUS BREEDERS’ CUP WINNER NOBALS

Three race winners from last year’s Fall Stars Weekend – champion Idiomatic, Gina Romantica and Arzak – along with 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) winner Nobals are among the standouts who are nominated to stakes during Keeneland’s Fall Stars Weekend on Oct. 4-6, opening weekend of Keeneland’s 17-day Fall Meet.

Juddmonte homebred Idiomatic won the 2023 Juddmonte Spinster (G1) before taking the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) and being named champion older dirt female. Peter Brant’s Gina Romantica won last year’s First Lady (G1) Presented by UK HealthCare. Sonata Stable’s Arzak captured the 2023 Woodford (G2) Presented by FanDuel.

Fall Stars Weekend features 11 stakes, 10 of which are graded, worth $5.8 million – led by the $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile (G1), the richest race in Keeneland history. Five stakes are Grade 1 events, while eight are Breeders’ Cup Challenge races. These “Win and You’re In” races award the winners fees-paid berths into corresponding races for the World Championships to be held at Del Mar Nov. 1-2.

The first race each day of the Fall Meet, which runs through Saturday, Oct. 26, is 1 p.m. ET.

FanDuel TV will present extensive live coverage of every Keeneland race beginning at noon. In addition, all races will be livestreamed at no charge on Keeneland.com, Keeneland Race Day App, Keeneland Select and Keeneland’s YouTube channel.

VOSBURGH WINNER MUFASA (CHI)
RETURNING TO CORREAS’ KEENELAND BASE;
TRAINER WORKS FALL STARS HORSES

Carlos Saavedra and Stud Vendaval Mufasa (CHI) was expected to arrive back at Keeneland Sunday afternoon following his 4¼-length victory in the Vosburgh (G3) at Belmont at The Big A on Saturday.

“He has already left New York,” trainer Ignacio Correas IV said of Mufasa, who posted his first graded stakes victory in the U.S. since arriving from Chile.

The 7-furlong Vosburgh was a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race with Mufasa earning a fees-paid berth into the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Correas said the $1 million Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) also is under consideration.

Another Breeders’ Cup hopeful for Correas is multiple graded stakes winner Didia (ARG), who on Sunday worked a half-mile over a main track labeled as good in :49.60 as she began her final preparations for the $2 million Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1). Didia is owned by Merriebelle Stable and Resolute Racing.

Also working for Correas was Ikhana Farm’s Ready for Peace and Masaiva’s Give Life. Pointing toward Saturday’s Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1), Ready for Peace worked 5 furlongs in 1:01.20 later in the morning over a track rated as fast. Give Life, a possible entrant in Friday’s Jessamine (G2) Presented by Keeneland Sales, worked 5 furlongs in 1:01.20.

GALLOPING OUT: FALL STARS HOPEFULS WORK

Qatar Racing and Mrs. Fitri Hay’s Nakatomi, winner of the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) in his most recent start, completed his major preparations for Friday’s Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2) with a 5-furlong, :59.60 work for trainer Wesley Ward.

Other potential Fall Stars entrants working for Ward Sunday morning were Andrew Farm and For the People Racing Stable’s No Nay Hudson (IRE) (5 furlongs in 1:01.20 for Saturday’s Woodford-G2 Presented by FanDuel), Mrs. Fitri Hay’s Clock Tower (5 furlongs in 1:00.60 for Sunday’s Castle & Key Bourbon-G2) and John Oxley’s Dreamaway (4 furlongs in :49.20 for Sunday’s Indian Summer (L) Presented by Keeneland Sales). …

Working toward Saturday’s First Lady (G1) Presented by UK HealthCare was Fergus Galvin and Rebecca Hillen’s Safeen, who covered a half-mile in :48.40 for trainer Eddie Kenneally.

PROSPECTIVE FIELDS FOR FALL STARS STAKES

According to Keeneland Stakes Coordinator Allison De Luca, here are the prospective fields for the stakes on Fall Stars Weekend:

Friday, Oct. 4 races. Entries taken Monday, Sept. 30

*$600,000 DARLEY ALCIBIADES (G1) – Continuity (trainer Eddie Kenneally), Immersive (Brad Cox), Liam in the Dust (Rodolphe Brisset), Long Neck Paula (Wesley Ward), Quickick (Tom Amoss), Quietside (John Ortiz), Rich City Girl (Larry Rivelli), Sherbini (Mark Casse), Sunday Disruptor (Kenny McPeek).

*$350,000 STOLL KEENON OGDEN PHOENIX (G2) – Comedy Town (Saffie Joseph Jr.), Federal Judge (Cox), Here Mi Song (Billy Stinson), Manny Wah (John Ennis), My Buddy B (Krista Hetrick), Nakatomi (Ward).

*$350,000 JESSAMINE (G2) PRESENTED BY KEENELAND SALES – Cotillard (Luis Seglin), Daisy Flyer (Rusty Arnold), Give Life (Ignacio Correas IV), Isle of Capri (Brendan Walsh), Mechaya (Jimmy DiVito), Miss Lonelle (Wayne Catalano), Reining Flowers (Ortiz), Sashay Away (Robbie Medina), Shezafunkydrummer (Larry Rivelli), She’s Got Will (Mark Casse), Shotgun Wedding (Jamie Begg), Somethinabouther (Walsh), Totally Justified (Arnold).

Saturday, Oct. 5 races. Entries taken Monday, Sept. 30

*$1,250,000 COOLMORE TURF MILE (G1) – Carl Spackler (IRE) (Chad Brown), Cash Equity (FR) (Saffie Joseph Jr.), Kikkuli (GB) (Harry Charlton), More Than Looks (Cherie DeVaux), Mountain Bear (IRE) (Aidan O’Brien), Naval Power (GB) (Charlie Appleby), Running Bee (Brown), Spirit of St Louis (Brown), Talk of the Nation (Todd Pletcher).

$750,000 FIRST LADY (G1) PRESENTED BY UK HEALTHCARE – Chili Flag (FR) (Brown), Evvie Jets (Mertkan Kantamaci), Fast as Flight (Will Walden), Gina Romantica (Brown), Implicated (Walsh), Safeen (Kenneally), Special Wan (IRE) (Walsh), Tarawa (IRE) (Dermot Weld), Walkathon (Ian Wilkes), Whitebeam (GB) (Brown).

*$600,000 CLAIBORNE BREEDERS’ FUTURITY (G1) – Big Boat (DiVito), Dapper Moon (Dallas Stewart), Ferocious (Gustavo Delgado), Filoso (Chad Summers), Handsome Pants (McPeek), Look to the Cross (McPeek), Mesero (Dale Romans), Ready for Peace (Correas IV).

*$350,000 THOROUGHBRED CLUB OF AMERICA (G2) – Brightwork (Ortiz), Clearly Unhinged (Steve Asmussen), Red Carpet Ready (Arnold), Run for the Hills (Casse), Spirit Wind (Joseph).

$350,000 WOODFORD (G2) PRESENTED BY FANDUEL – Arzak (Mike Trombetta), Charcoal (Tracey Wisner), Coppola (Romans), Gear Jockey (Arnold), Let My People Go (Vicki Oliver), No Nay Hudson (IRE) (Ward), Nobals (Rivelli), One Timer (Rivelli), Our Shot (John Terranova II), Outadore (Kenneally), XY Speed (Michael Lerman).

Sunday, Oct. 6 races. Entries taken Tuesday, Oct. 1

*$600,000 JUDDMONTE SPINSTER (G1) – Bow Draw (Monica McGoey), Candied (Pletcher), Honor D Lady (Joseph), Idiomatic (Cox), Loved (Walsh), Occult (Brown).

*$350,000 CASTLE & KEY BOURBON (G2) –Baytown Baracus (Paul McEntee), Boy Boy (Ben Colebrook), Cavallo Bay (GB) (Appleby), Clock Tower (Ward), Fleming (Walsh), Papiamento (Whit Beckman), West Beach (Walsh).

$250,000 INDIAN SUMMER (L) PRESENTED BY KEENELAND SELECT – Ace It (James Chapman), Bad Gal Party (Rohan Crichton), Dreamaway (Ward), Floodlites (Ward), Governor Sam (George Weaver), Raise the Bar (Asmussen).

*Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series races.

###