FALLSTARS STAKES FIELDS TAKING SHAPE
BACKTALK DRILLS 6 FURLONGS FOR DIXIANA BREEDERS’ FUTURITY RUN
SHEPPARD HOPES FOR REPEAT OF STELLAR SPRING
CATALANO AIMS SHE BE WILD AT DARLEY ALCIBIADES
SWING TIME AT KEENELAND
FALLSTARS WEEKEND STAKES FIELDS TAKING SHAPE
Augustin Stable’s Forever Together and Circle E Racing’s Mr. Sidney are expected to take their shots at Keeneland racing history this weekend when the fall meeting kicks off a 17-day session on Friday that runs through October 31.
Highlighting the season is FallStars Weekend this Friday through Sunday that features nine stakes races, eight of which are “Win & You’re In” events that will punch tickets for the victors to the 26th Breeders’ Cup World Championships to be run November 6-7 at Santa Anita in Arcadia, California.
Champion Forever Together, winner of the 2008 Emirates Airlines Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1), will attempt to become the first two-time winner of the First Lady (G1) on Saturday. Trained by Jonathan Sheppard, Forever Together launched her 2009 campaign by winning the Jenny Wiley (G2) in April over Keeneland’s Haggin Turf Course.
Entries for the one-mile First Lady will be taken Wednesday and Keeneland Racing Secretary Ben Huffman lists four other graded stakes winners as likely to challenge Forever Together. They are Keeneland stakes winners Acoma and Diamondrella (GB) as well as My Princess Jess and Tizaqueena. The First Lady is a Win & You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
Mr. Sidney will attempt to become the first horse to sweep the spring Maker’s Mark Mile (G1) and Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) in the same year on Saturday as he goes postward for trainer Bill Mott. In 2003, Perfect Soul won the Shadwell Turf at age 5 and came back the following spring to win the Maker’s Mark Mile.
Joining Mr. Sidney on Huffman’s list of probables for the race are Battle of Hastings (GB); Court Vision, who was scratched out of Sunday’s Kelso Handicap at Belmont when it was taken off the turf; Justenuffhumor; Karelian; Sterwins and Tizdejavu. The Shadwell Turf Mile is a Win & You’re In race for the TVG Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1).
The FallStars Weekend kicks off Friday with two graded stakes, the Darley Alcibiades (G1) for 2-year-old fillies going 1 1/16th miles on the main track and the Phoenix (G3) for sprinters 3-years-old and up going six furlongs on the main track.
The undefeated She Be Wild heads a list of seven definites for the Darley Alcibiades that is a Win & You’re In race for the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). Other definites include Beautician, Blackwell, Decelerator, Franny Freud, Quick Breeze, Repo and Screen Legend.
Four-time graded stakes winner Capt. Candyman Can tops Huffman’s probables list for the Phoenix, a Win & You’re In race for the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1). Others include Ez Dreamer, Fatal Bullet, Formidable, Greeley’s Conquest, Hamazing Destiny, My Pal Charlie, Past the Point, Silver Edition and 2008 winner Sing Baby Sing.
Entries for the Darley Alcibiades and Phoenix will be taken Tuesday. Three other stakes are scheduled for Saturday with two, the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1) for 2-year-olds and the Thoroughbred Club of America (G2) for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, serving as Win and You’re In races for the Breeders’ Cup.
Gold Mark Farm’s two-time graded stakes winner Backtalk tops the list of probables for the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity at 1 1/16th miles on the main track. Also considered as probable for the race are Callide Valley, Make Music for Me, Piscitelli, Roman Invasion, Soundman, Stately Victor, The Skinny Man and Wildcat Nation.
Informed Decision, winner of the Vinery Madison (G1) here this spring and a stablemate of Forever Together, will be shooting for her fourth victory in as many starts over the Keeneland Polytrack in the Thoroughbred Club of America at six furlongs. West Coast shipper Carlsbad and Monmouth Park-based Bold Union are considered as probable to face Informed Decision with Selva considered as possible for the race that drew 19 nominations.
Also slated for Saturday is the 13th running of the Woodford (G3) at 5 ½ furlongs on the Haggin Turf Course. Heading the list of eight probables is millionaire and 18-time winner Fort Prado, winner of the 2007 Woodford. Other probables include Atticus Kristy, Bullet from Abroad, Forest Tour, Luck Money (IRE), Silver Timber, Stradivinsky and Yankee Injunuity.
The 54th running of the Juddmonte Spinster (G1) at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares, a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (G1), highlights Sunday’s card that also features the Bourbon (G3) for 2-year-olds going 1 1/16th miles on the turf.
Icon Project, 13 ½-length winner of the Personal Ensign (G1) at Saratoga in her most recent start, tops the list of probables for the Juddmonte Spinster. Other names expected to pass the entry box on Thursday include Be Fair, Ginger Brew, Mushka, Proviso (GB) and Tizfiz with Superior Storm, Swift Temper and Tejida considered as possible starters.
Interactif, who was scratched out of Sunday’s Pilgrim at Belmont Park when it was taken off the turf, heads Huffman’s list of probables for the Bourbon. Others expected to compete are Activity Report, Asphalt, Downs Awareness, Family Foundation and Scottkeith’skitten.
BACKTALK DRILLS SIX FURLONGS FOR DIXIANA BREEDERS’ FUTURITY RUN
Gold Mark Farm’s Backtalk had his first work over Keeneland’s Polytrack surface Monday morning, breezing six furlongs in 1:12.80 and galloping out seven furlongs in 1:25.40 with Miguel Mena aboard in preparation for Saturday’s Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1).
Trained by Tom Amoss, Backtalk broke off about five lengths behind two workmates in the move that took place shortly after 6:30 a.m. with fog shrouding the infield. Backtalk sliced the deficit to a couple of lengths at the eighth pole, swung to the outside and drew even at the sixteenth pole and hit the wire a couple of lengths in front.
Amoss was happy with the work, the colt’s third since finishing fourth in the Hopeful (G1) on September 7 at Saratoga.
“He has done well since the Hopeful,” Amoss said. “That race didn’t go the way we thought. He had a bad post position (12 in a field of 12) and a jock (Richard Migliore) who was unfamiliar with him.”
Robby Albarado, who won the 2007 Breeders’ Futurity aboard Wicked Style, guided Backtalk through a bullet, six-furlong workout last Monday at Churchill Downs and will have the mount Saturday.
Although the Breeders’ Futurity will be Backtalk’s first race on Polytrack, the son of 2004 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Smarty Jones is no stranger to the all-weather surface.
“He started on Polytrack at the farm in the Florida and farm manager Todd Quast told me when I got him that we had a quality horse,” Amoss said. “We took him to Arlington (instead of Churchill Downs) because we thought the transition would be easier.”
Backtalk won his first three starts with stakes victories coming in the Bashford Manor (G3) at Churchill Downs and the Sanford (G2) at Saratoga.
“I have no doubt he’ll handle the track fine Saturday,” Amoss said of the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity, which serves as a “Win & You’re In” race for the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) to be run at Santa Anita on November 7.
“We’ll run Saturday and then evaluate where we are,” Amoss added. “It will be a team effort with Todd (Quast) and the owner (Paul Bulmahn) and then we’ll make a decision. I think we are going to have a good 3-year-old and that is first and foremost.”
SHEPPARD HOPES FOR REPEAT OF STELLAR SPRING RUN
To say trainer Jonathan Sheppard had a bang-up spring meeting here would be a gross understatement with five winners. Sheppard had a second and a third from only nine starters in April.
He is back for the fall with nine horses in Barn 25, including the two top guns in the stables: champion Forever Together and Informed Decision. Both posted graded stakes wins here this spring.
Forever Together, the reigning Emirates Airlines Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) champion, is hoping to use Saturday’s First Lady (G1 as a springboard to another Breeders’ Cup success. Her schedule in 2009 heading to Santa Anita has been identical to 2008 with the same results.
“She got beat in the Just A Game (G1) last year and this year and also in the Canadian (G2) at Woodbine,” Sheppard said. “She won the Diana (G1) last year and this year. I think she is just as good as last year.”
So, the pattern suggests Keeneland success and another Breeders’ Cup score.
“I’d settle for that,” Sheppard said with a laugh.
Informed Decision, who is undefeated in three Keeneland starts, could punch her first Breeders’ Cup ticket with a victory in Saturday’s Thoroughbred Club of America (G2) at six furlongs.
“She is cutting back in distance, but this is the best race I could find timing-wise for the Breeders’ Cup,” said Sheppard, who shipped his stable stars to Keeneland from Presque Isle Downs on Saturday. “I am happy with both horses. They haven’t missed any races and have been very consistent.”
Informed Decision, who won the Vinery Madison (G1) this spring over 2008 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Ventura, also won the Raven Run (G2) here last fall but did not go to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup.
“I didn’t know she was that good. She had not won a Grade 1 yet,” Sheppard said of not sending Informed Decision to the Breeders’ Cup.
CATALANO AIMS SHE BE WILD AT DARLEY ALCIBIADES
Four days before opening day of the fall meeting, one of the busiest trainers in the Keeneland barn area is Wayne Catalano, whose 30 horses include the undefeated 2-year-old stakes winners She Be Wild and Dixie Band. She Be Wild, a daughter of Offlee Wild, is scheduled to make her next start in Friday's $500,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1). On Sunday, the filly worked at Keeneland, breezing five furlongs in 1:00.40.
“We're happy with the performances by both horses at the moment,” said Catalano, the leading trainer this year at Arlington Park, where She Be Wild and Dixie Band won the track's signature 2-year-old stakes. “She Be Wild will run (in the Darley Alcibiades); the other one we're going to look at the race (Grade 1 Dixiana Breeders' Futurity on Saturday) and see what we're going to do with Dixie Band. He's run pretty good for us, and we'll just see.”
She Be Wild, a homebred racing for Nancy Mazzoni, dominated her competition at Arlington, where she won a maiden-claiming event in her debut by 7 ¼ lengths. She returned to win the Top Flight by 5 ¼ lengths and capture the Arlington-Washington Lassie (G3) by 5 ¾ lengths.
“She's a small filly, but she's feisty,” said Catalano., who also trains the 2-year-old filly She Be Classy for Mazzoni. “She looks like she'll do anything. She went to the lead (in her debut), and she laid right off it and she rated (in her two most recent races). She looks like she's a handy little horse.”
Catalano is accustomed to having an undefeated 2-year-old filly. In 2006, he trained Dreaming of Anna to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) to conclude her juvenile season and earn an Eclipse Award as division champion. Does he think She Be Wild might be able to repeat Dreaming of Anna's success?
“I would love to,” Catalano said. “Dreaming of Anna was a great horse. We had a lot of fun. She brought a lot of joy to the stable. We're looking forward to doing it again.”
Entries for the Darley Alcibiades will be drawn on Tuesday. Catalano said Garrett Gomez will be aboard She Be Wild for the first time.
Dixie Band, a gelding by Dixie Union, is coming off a 1 3/4-length victory in the Arlington-Washington Futurity (G3). The Dixie Union gelding, who also won the Spectacular Bid Stakes, races for Darrell and Evelyn Yates.
SWING TIME AT KEENELAND
As they say, “It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing.”
Keeneland will celebrate the swing style with “Swinging at Sunset,” a trackside party featuring a 17-piece jazz orchestra, immediately following the races on opening Friday.
Presented by Stoll Keenon Ogden, Swinging at Sunset will be the centerpiece event of an opening day filled with fan festivities and spectacular racing, including the Darley Alcibiades (G1) and Phoenix Stakes (G3). Gates open at 11 a.m. ET, with a special post time on Friday of 2:15 p.m.
Beginning at 7 p.m., Swinging at Sunset will transform Keeneland’s trackside apron into a magical party under the stars. As the sun sets, the grandstand will be flooded with colored lights, and the Kentucky Jazz Repertory Orchestra will perform big-band music from the ‘30s and ‘40s on the racetrack.
Patrons are welcome to join in the swing dancing fun alongside members of the local HepCats Swing Dance club, or enjoy multiple bars and food offerings trackside. Grey Goose will serve its signature opening weekend drink, “FallStars Fizz,” mixed with a glowing swizzle stick.
Swinging at Sunset is free with a $5 race-day General Admission.