McPeek stable loaded for CHill
Nov 8, 2013 23:53:37 GMT -5
Post by Jon on Nov 8, 2013 23:53:37 GMT -5
Am sure one member is counting the hours until next Sat night!
McPeek stable loaded for bear ahead of Churchill's final stakes
Brisnet
Trainer Kenny McPeek is planning an assault on the remaining stakes races in the Churchill Downs fall meet that could include his top performers from last week's Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita.
Rosalind, third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, and Golden Ticket, runner-up in the Dirt Mile (GI), are listed as possible starters in stakes races run during the three-day Thanksgiving weekend that wraps up the 25-day meet under the Twin Spires. But if McPeek opts to send those horses to races in other locales, his stable will be well-represented during the final three weeks of the meet.
Rosalind and Golden Ticket are getting a few days on McPeek's Magdalena Farm before they return to the track to train for races that will likely be their final starts of 2013.
Rosalind has a record of 1-1-2 in four starts following her fast-closing third-place run behind Ria Antonia and She's A Tiger, who finished in the reverse order before the latter was disqualified and placed second. The daughter of Broken Vow rallied from last in the field of 10 juvenile fillies to lose by just a half-length.
Rosalind won at first asking in an August 2 maiden race at Ellis Park, then finished third in Churchill's Pocahontas and second in the Alcibiades at Keeneland.
McPeek said Rosalind could run in the Grade 2, $175,000 Golden Rod on the "Stars of Tomorrow II" card November 30, but added that the Grade 1, $500,000 Hollywood Starlet on December 7 remains an option at Hollywood Park. She's A Tiger is among the 194 juvenile fillies nominated to run in the 1 1/16-mile Starlet.
Nominations have already closed for that race, but McPeek could make Rosalind a supplemental entry for $10,000 at the time of entry. That path worked last year when he won the race with Pure Fun.
"We still think that the juvenile filly (championship) might be wide open," McPeek remarked. "We think that if enough good ones hook up in the Starlet, there's a chance that the winner of that race could be the champion."
Golden Ticket, runner-up to Goldencents in the Dirt Mile, could be headed for a rematch with that rival in Aqueduct's Grade 1 Cigar Mile on November 30.
"It's not definite, but that's where we're leaning," McPeek stated. "We think he's really good at a mile and if all goes smoothly, we'll head that way."
McPeek said the Grade 1, $500,000 Clark Handicap on November 29 at Churchill is also a possible spot for the next outing for Golden Ticket, who dead-heated with Alpha to win the 2012 Travers and was runner-up to 2012 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Fort Larned in this year's Stephen Foster Handicap under the Twin Spires.
"We would like another Grade 1 for him," McPeek said. "But we're not ruling out the race here. We'll nominate him."
Regardless of final decisions regarding Rosalind and Golden Ticket, McPeek's team will be busy in Churchill Downs' remaining stakes events of 2013, beginning with planned runs by dual Grade 3 runner-up Praia in next Saturday's Grade 2, $175,000-added Mrs. Revere, a co-feature on the only "Downs After Dark" night racing program of the fall.
McPeek also plans to run Virginia Derby winner War Dancer and Grade 1 runner-up Frac Daddy that night in the Grade 3, $100,000 Commonwealth Turf.
Grade 3-placed Flashy American, winner of the Locust Grove two back during Churchill's September meet, is set to run in the Grade 2, $150,000 Falls City Handicap on Thanksgiving Day.
Along with a possible run by Rosalind, McPeek is pointing Streethomealabama to the Golden Rod. She recently scored her first win in six career starts in an October 23 maiden race over Keeneland's synthetic Polytrack.
Arctic Slope, third in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland after breaking his maiden at Churchill Downs in September, is tentatively set for the Grade 2, $175,000 Kentucky Jockey Club on the "Stars of Tomorrow II" program.
The status of the Van Nistelrooy chestnut for the Kentucky Jockey Club could depend on his performance this weekend in a strong 1 1/16-mile optional claiming race. That race has drawn 10 runners, including the highly-regarded two-year-old Almost Famous.
McPeek stable loaded for bear ahead of Churchill's final stakes
Brisnet
Trainer Kenny McPeek is planning an assault on the remaining stakes races in the Churchill Downs fall meet that could include his top performers from last week's Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita.
Rosalind, third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, and Golden Ticket, runner-up in the Dirt Mile (GI), are listed as possible starters in stakes races run during the three-day Thanksgiving weekend that wraps up the 25-day meet under the Twin Spires. But if McPeek opts to send those horses to races in other locales, his stable will be well-represented during the final three weeks of the meet.
Rosalind and Golden Ticket are getting a few days on McPeek's Magdalena Farm before they return to the track to train for races that will likely be their final starts of 2013.
Rosalind has a record of 1-1-2 in four starts following her fast-closing third-place run behind Ria Antonia and She's A Tiger, who finished in the reverse order before the latter was disqualified and placed second. The daughter of Broken Vow rallied from last in the field of 10 juvenile fillies to lose by just a half-length.
Rosalind won at first asking in an August 2 maiden race at Ellis Park, then finished third in Churchill's Pocahontas and second in the Alcibiades at Keeneland.
McPeek said Rosalind could run in the Grade 2, $175,000 Golden Rod on the "Stars of Tomorrow II" card November 30, but added that the Grade 1, $500,000 Hollywood Starlet on December 7 remains an option at Hollywood Park. She's A Tiger is among the 194 juvenile fillies nominated to run in the 1 1/16-mile Starlet.
Nominations have already closed for that race, but McPeek could make Rosalind a supplemental entry for $10,000 at the time of entry. That path worked last year when he won the race with Pure Fun.
"We still think that the juvenile filly (championship) might be wide open," McPeek remarked. "We think that if enough good ones hook up in the Starlet, there's a chance that the winner of that race could be the champion."
Golden Ticket, runner-up to Goldencents in the Dirt Mile, could be headed for a rematch with that rival in Aqueduct's Grade 1 Cigar Mile on November 30.
"It's not definite, but that's where we're leaning," McPeek stated. "We think he's really good at a mile and if all goes smoothly, we'll head that way."
McPeek said the Grade 1, $500,000 Clark Handicap on November 29 at Churchill is also a possible spot for the next outing for Golden Ticket, who dead-heated with Alpha to win the 2012 Travers and was runner-up to 2012 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Fort Larned in this year's Stephen Foster Handicap under the Twin Spires.
"We would like another Grade 1 for him," McPeek said. "But we're not ruling out the race here. We'll nominate him."
Regardless of final decisions regarding Rosalind and Golden Ticket, McPeek's team will be busy in Churchill Downs' remaining stakes events of 2013, beginning with planned runs by dual Grade 3 runner-up Praia in next Saturday's Grade 2, $175,000-added Mrs. Revere, a co-feature on the only "Downs After Dark" night racing program of the fall.
McPeek also plans to run Virginia Derby winner War Dancer and Grade 1 runner-up Frac Daddy that night in the Grade 3, $100,000 Commonwealth Turf.
Grade 3-placed Flashy American, winner of the Locust Grove two back during Churchill's September meet, is set to run in the Grade 2, $150,000 Falls City Handicap on Thanksgiving Day.
Along with a possible run by Rosalind, McPeek is pointing Streethomealabama to the Golden Rod. She recently scored her first win in six career starts in an October 23 maiden race over Keeneland's synthetic Polytrack.
Arctic Slope, third in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland after breaking his maiden at Churchill Downs in September, is tentatively set for the Grade 2, $175,000 Kentucky Jockey Club on the "Stars of Tomorrow II" program.
The status of the Van Nistelrooy chestnut for the Kentucky Jockey Club could depend on his performance this weekend in a strong 1 1/16-mile optional claiming race. That race has drawn 10 runners, including the highly-regarded two-year-old Almost Famous.
