Keeneland Barn Notes — Tuesday, Oct. 17

By Amy Owens —-

TUESDAY, OCT. 17
Keeneland’s 17-day Fall Meet concludes Saturday, Oct. 28, with racing
on Wednesdays through Sundays. Post time for the first race each day is 1:05 p.m. ET.

**********
When racing resumes tomorrow, Keeneland will offer a Pick Six carryover of $132,849.
The Pick Six begins with the third race, post time 2:12 p.m. ET.

· FAULT HEADLINES OVERFLOW FIELD ENTERED IN FRIDAY’S PIN OAK VALLEY VIEW
· CANESSAR (FR) AIMS TO KEEP U.S. RECORD PERFECT IN THURSDAY’S SYCAMORE
· HARDEST CORE AND TRAVELING COMPANION ARRIVE FOR SYCAMORE
· JOCKEYS CANCHARI, MORALES SCORE NOTABLE WINS SUNDAY
· MASSACHUSETTS HANDICAPPER MALOOF WINS BCBC/NHC CHALLENGE
· PROBABLE FIELDS FOR UPCOMING STAKES
· FALL MEET SPECIAL EVENTS
· FALL MEET LEADERS

FAULT HEADLINES OVERFLOW FIELD ENTERED
IN FRIDAY’S PIN OAK VALLEY VIEW

Agave Racing Stable’s Fault, winner of the Pucker Up (G3) at Arlington prior to finishing a close third in the Sands Point (G2) at Belmont, tops a field of 14 3-year-old fillies and one also-eligible entered Tuesday for Friday’s 27th running of the $150,000 Pin Oak Valley View (G3).
The Pin Oak Valley View, run at 1 1/16 miles on the Keeneland turf course, will go as the ninth race on Friday’s 10-race program with a 5:30 p.m. ET post time. First post time Friday is 1:05 p.m.
A $50,000 claim in May, Fault has compiled a 5-1-3-1 record for her new ownership. Trained by Michelle Lovell, Fault finished second in the TaWee at Indiana Grand before winning the Pucker Up. In the Sands Point, Fault trailed only Uni (GB) and La Coronel – the latter came back to win Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End (G1).
Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount on Fault and will break from post position seven.
Back to challenge Fault from the Pucker Up are the 2-3 finishers from that August race: Sam-Son Farm’s Journey Home and James Miller’s Lovely Bernadette.
Graham Motion, who has saddled the past two winners of the Pin Oak Valley View, trains Journey Home, who was beaten a neck in the Pucker Up. Winner of the Jimmy Durante (G3) at Del Mar last fall, Journey Home will break from post position nine and be ridden by Jose Oritz.
Lovely Bernadette, trained by Jimmy DiVito, enters Friday’s race off a 1½-length victory in the Indiana Grand Ladies on Sept. 6. Florent Geroux has the mount on Lovely Bernadette and will break from post position one.
The field for the Pin Oak Valley View, with riders and weights, is: Lovely Bernadette (Geroux, 120 pounds), Chastise (John Velazquez, 118), Let It Ride Mom (Corey Lanerie, 118), Princess La Quinta (Carlos Marquez Jr., 118), I’m Betty G (Julien Leparoux, 118), Defiant Honor (James Graham, 120), Fault (Hernandez Jr., 118), Youngest Daughter (Jon Court, 118), Journey Home (Ortiz, 118), Dolce Lili (Nik Juarez, 118), Sweeping Paddy (Robby Albarado, 118), Fizzy Friday (GB) (Ricardo Santana Jr., 118), Sully’s Dream (Channing Hill, 118) and Ladies’ Privilege (Edwin Gonzalez, 120). Also-Eligible: Dancing Breeze (IRE) (Feargal Lynch, 118).

CANESSAR (FR) AIMS TO KEEP U.S. RECORD PERFECT
IN THURSDAY’S SYCAMORE
Trainer Arnaud Delacour received a four-legged present from France in early August by the name of Canessar (FR), and the 4-year-old’s American unveiling was an unqualified success.
“We were excited to get him,” Delacour said of the gelding owned by Guy Pariente. “I had seen his races in France and he is a good long-distance horse.”
Canessar made his U.S. debut on Sept. 16, winning the Laurel Turf Cup going 1½ miles, the same distance he will have to navigate Thursday in the 23rd running of the $100,000 Sycamore (G3).
“The only question was how he would handle the firm turf,” Delacour said. “It is a different kind of firm over there, but he handled the course at Laurel well.”
On Thursday, Canessar again will be matched against the two horses that finished right behind him at Laurel: Infinite Wisdom, who was favored that day, and Renown (GB), winner of last year’s Sycamore.

HARDEST CORE AND TRAVELING COMPANION ARRIVE FOR SYCAMORE
Andrew P. Bentley Stables’ Hardest Core, an entrant for Thursday’s Sycamore (G3), arrived at Keeneland around 6 a.m. ET Tuesday with trainer Eddie Graham’s assistants, Brianne and James Slater. The couple also brought their 6-year-old son, William, as well as Pepper, a miniature horse who is the stable’s traveling mascot.
While Hardest Core made a name for himself in winning the 2014 Arlington Million (G1), Pepper has attracted his own fan club. He first came to Keeneland last October as the companion for Postulation, who was unplaced in the Sycamore. Pepper accompanied Postulation to Woodbine this past weekend and shipped home with him to the owner’s 550-acre Runnymede Farm in the heart of Pennsylvania’s horse country. He was back on the road Monday evening for the journey to Keeneland.
“Pepper is probably wondering ‘where am I now?’,” Brianne Slater said.
When not serving as the stable’s roadie, Pepper spends time at the farm in a paddock with other horses and is adept at calming nervous fillies. Pepper also moonlights as William’s mount.
Hardest Core stretched his legs over Keeneland’s all-weather 5-furlong training track with James Slater aboard at 9:30 a.m. A three-time Keeneland sales graduate, Hardest Core has won six of 16 starts and earned $874,561. Emma-Jayne Wilson is to ride the 7-year-old Hard Spun gelding in the Sycamore.

JOCKEYS CANCHARI, MORALES SCORE NOTABLE WINS SUNDAY
Alex Canchari, who decided this year to ride regularly in Kentucky, clinched his first Keeneland victory in Sunday’s first race when he rode Boxer Boy for trainer Doug Anderson, who owns the 3-year-old Algorithms gelding with Nelson McMakin and Fred Dolezal. At odds of 13-1, Boxer Boy won the 1 1/16-mile race by a neck in 1:44.61.
“My first win (at Keeneland) – finally,” Canchari, 23, said. “It feels amazing because I ride for (Anderson) year-round at all different tracks. He’s always supporting me, and to get the first win for him was amazing, incredible.”
Canchari, who is from Shakopee, Minnesota, said the competition in Kentucky has been difficult, but he is thankful for the opportunity to ride at Keeneland.
“It’s been a little tough, it’s been a little slow because I’m used to riding every race and winning two to three a day,” he said. “But I understand it’s the best colony, so I’m happy to be here and just riding what I can.”
On Thursday, Canchari will have his first chance at a graded stakes win at Keeneland in the $100,000 Sycamore (G3) when he rides Majestic Pride for trainer Mac Robertson and owners Hugh Robertson, Jeff Ryan and Gary Chanen. The 5-year-old horse by Artie Schiller is coming off a sixth-place finish in the Aug. 26 Brook Fields at Canterbury Park, a race he won in 2016.
Four races after Canchari’s victory, apprentice Edgar Morales scored the first win of his career when he rode Kay Stillman’s Star Dog to a half-length victory. Jack Van Berg trains the winner, a 5-year-old Colorado-bred gelding by Affirmatif who took the 1 1/8-mile race in 1:51.93. Stillman and Van Berg bred Star Dog.

MASSACHUSETTS HANDICAPPER MALOOF WINS BCBC/NHC CHALLENGE
Tom Maloof, a 59-year-old project management consultant from Middleborough, Massachusetts, cashed big on the first and last races of Sunday’s Keeneland card to amass a final bankroll of $13,004 and win the BCBC/NHC Challenge, the richest handicapping contest of the Fall Meet. In addition to his bankroll winnings, Maloof took home a $21,000 first-place cash prize, plus an all-expenses-paid berth to the $2.9 million (est.) National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) and a paid entry to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge (BCBC).
Joining Keeneland Director of Mutuels and Simulcast Jim Goodman (center) are the top six finishers in Sunday’s BCBC/NHC Challenge (from left): Mike Maloney, Nick Tammaro, Paul Weizer, Jim Staub, Mike Deaton and Tom Maloof.Maloof got off to a fast start when he hit a $100 trifecta on the opener, which paid $8,680 thanks to the 13-1 winner, Boxer Boy. In the finale, he cashed with a $700 exacta (returning $8,120) and a $20 trifecta ($964).
“I bet with both hands when I get to the dirt sprints,” Maloof said. “I wouldn’t say they’re easier but I know I can’t figure out the rest of them. In the one-turn races I can see a little better how the pace will play out.”
The ninth-race score moved Maloof up from ninth to first.
“Because the last race was pretty chalky I figured I’d be in the top six but I really didn’t expect to leapfrog that many people,” he said.
The top 15 finishers earned cash from a $58,500 pool, with the prize amounts descending from first to 15th. After Maloof, the top 15 was rounded out by Jim Staub, Mike Maloney, Mark Deaton, Nick Tammaro, Paul Weizer, Sean Boarman, Jim Casey, Travis Stone, David Watts, Dan Slattery, Blake Jessee, Clay Sanders, Jack Jenkins and Brian Johnson.
The top six earned BCBC entries and the top 10 won NHC berths. Two players in the top 10 already held the maximum of two NHC entries, allowing Slattery and Jessee to punch tickets to Las Vegas. There were 164 entries.
Tammaro capped off a big weekend that started with a win in Saturday’s Keeneland Fall Challenge contest.
“I’m usually a big exotics player but ironically my big hit today was $300 to win on the 12 in the fifth and that was the (jockey’s) first win,” Tammaro said, referring to Star Dog’s upset with apprentice Edgar Morales aboard, paying $25.80 for $2.
For Stone, the track announcer at Churchill Downs and Aqueduct, his ninth-place finish will take him to Las Vegas for a first official NHC appearance.
“I don’t get to play in many of these because I’m always working,” Stone said. “But I always hear from my friends that go every year how much fun it is and I’m excited to be a part of it and have some fun with them.”
Final standings are available at http://www.keeneland.com/simulcast/contest-results. (Note the published standings do not reflect the disqualification of two players who failed to bet either the minimum number of required races or half of their bankroll in one of the final two races.)

PROBABLE FIELDS FOR UPCOMING STAKES
$250,000 LEXUS RAVEN RUN (G2) (Entries taken Wednesday; race Saturday) – Berned (trainer Graham Motion), Classy Tune (Simon Callaghan), Cursor (Mark Hennig), Dawn the Destroyer (Kiaran McLaughlin), Happy Mesa (Mike Maker), Miss Sunset (Jeff Bonde), Nonna Mela (Todd Pletcher), Overture (Bill Mott), Pinch Hit (Brad Cox), Tequilita (Michael Matz), Valadorna (Mark Casse) and Yorkiepoo Princess (Edward Barker).
$125,000 ROOD & RIDDLE DOWAGER (G3) (Entries taken Thursday; race Sunday) – Apple Betty (IRE) (Shug McGaughey), Coco Channel (Charlie LoPresti), Daring Duchess (Mike Maker), Grateful (Todd Pletcher), Lottie (Graham Motion), Place des Vosges (Richard Baltas) and Quiet Business (Rusty Arnold).

FALL MEET SPECIAL EVENTS
Wednesday, Oct. 18
Wear Red Day – Fans are invited to wear red to the races to help raise awareness of heart disease: the No. 1 killer of women. The first 3,000 patrons with receive a red dress pin.
WINS-Day Challenge. An inexpensive way for beginning handicappers to test their skills and give handicapping contests a try, the WINS-Day Challenge has a $2,500 guaranteed pool. Enter for $10 at Wagering Central (first floor of the Grandstand) and place a mythical $2 win and place wager – no actual money required – on Keeneland races 3-8.
Thursday, Oct. 19
Official Keeneland Tours – During the Fall Meet, guided tours are offered Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET. Fans also can receive an insider view of racing on the Behind-the-Scenes Racing Tours and a Backstretch Tour and Day at the Races on other days.
Friday, Oct. 20
College Scholarship Day – Full-time college students receive free general admission and the chance to win one of ten $1,000 scholarships awarded after each race. A $10,000 Runhappy Scholarship also will be awarded. Registration will take place in Keeneland’s College Zone in the North Terrace. Students will enjoy music, free snacks and prize drawings. Click here to preregister before 5 p.m. ET on Oct. 19. Also pre-register at the University of Kentucky on Thursday, Oct. 18, from noon to 2 p.m. during Campus Invasion outside Bowmen’s Den.
Pin Oak Bluegrass Exacta Sweepstakes. On the day of the $150,000 Pin Oak Valley View (G3), fans can sign up for a chance to win a package for Keeneland’s 2018 Spring Meet that includes a private tour of Pin Oak Stud near Versailles, Kentucky, and an afternoon at the Keeneland races with lunch in the Equestrian Room. There also will be a chance to win a Keeneland gift basket. The sign-up table is on the ground level, trackside from Elevator C from noon to 2:30 p.m. ET.

The Woodford Humane Society will have an information table where fans can sign up to win a Keeneland gift basket. Sign-up table is located on the ground level, trackside from Elevator C from noon to 3 p.m.
The Keeneland Shop’s Milliners Corner presents a trunk show with Lela Ray Jewelry adjacent to the Walking Ring from 11 a.m. to 30 minutes after final post.

Tailgating on The Hill. Keeneland’s popular tailgate lot, located adjacent to the Keene Barn & Entertainment Center, features local food trucks, a jumbo television screen, wireless wagering and wagering terminals, race-day programs, The Keeneland Shop kiosk and free shuttles to the track. BETologists will be available to answer fans’ handicapping questions.

Friday Pick 4 Presented by TVG. A $200,000-guaranteed pool will be offered on the final four races of the day, including the Pin Oak Valley View (G3).

Saturday, Oct. 21
Sunrise Trackside. Keeneland shares a special side of Thoroughbred racing that is worth getting up early to enjoy. Sponsored by LEX18, Sunrise Trackside is a free, family-friendly event with activities for all ages: Breakfast With the Works features breakfast for purchase and trackside commentary (7-8:30 a.m.) while Thoroughbreds train on the main track; children’s activities in the Kids Club Corner (7-9 a.m.); Keeneland tours (7:30-10 a.m.); Paddock demonstration with Hagyard Equine Medical Institute (9 a.m.); trackside handicapping seminar with Paddock Host Katie Gensler (11 a.m.); and Q&A session with jockey James Graham in the Paddock (12:05 p.m.).

The Keeneland Shop’s Milliners Corner presents a trunk show with Lela Ray Jewelry adjacent to the Walking Ring from 11 a.m. to 30 minutes after final post.

Tailgating on The Hill. Keeneland’s popular tailgate lot, located adjacent to the Keene Barn & Entertainment Center, features local food trucks, a jumbo television screen, wireless wagering and wagering terminals, race-day programs, The Keeneland Shop kiosk and free shuttles to the track. BETologists will be available to answer fans’ handicapping questions. On Saturdays, the area’s favorite bluegrass bands perform from 12-4 p.m.

$350,000 Guaranteed Pick 4 Presented by TVG. Features races 7-10, including the Lexus Raven Run (G2).
Sunday, Oct. 22
Heroes Day Delivered by Papa John’s – Keeneland recognizes the men and women who serve our community. All military (active duty and veterans), first responders – law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs – and their families will receive free general admission and access to reserved Grandstand seating. Free food, children’s activities and more will be offered in the North Terrace from Noon-4 p.m.

FALL MEET LEADERS
Through Oct. 15 (eight days of racing)
Jockey
Starts
Wins
2nd
3rd
Purses

Julien Leparoux
41
9
6
1
$857,007
Florent Geroux
41
8
6
6
$648,507
Ricardo Santana Jr.
37
8
5
1
$342,909
Robby Albarado
44
6
5
7
$679,061
Corey Lanerie
59
5
7
4
$224,205
Joe Rocco Jr.
27
4
0
3
$117,668

Trainer
Starts
Wins
2nd
3rd
Purses

Mike Maker
26
7
4
0
$307,833
Mark Casse
21
6
5
2
$927,777
Steve Asmussen
18
4
4
1
$258,365
Rusty Arnold
12
4
1
3
$488,347
Dale Romans
9
4
1
2
$444,805

Owner
Wins

G. Watts Humphrey Jr.
4*
John C. Oxley
4
Kenneth L. and Sarah K. Ramsey
4
Breeze Easy (Mike Hall)
2*
L. William and Corinne Heiligbrodt
2
Three Diamonds Farm (Kirk Wycoff)
2
*includes partnerships