It's already been a successful week for owners Susan and John Moore as their homebred 3-year-old colt Catnip broke his maiden impressively Tuesday at Colonial Downs. Now, the Moore family could complete a double Saturday with Catnip's half-sister Princess Grace as one of the top choices in the $500,000 Beverly D. (Grade 1) at Churchill Downs.
The Mike Stidham-trained Princess Grace, by Karakontie (JPN), is out of the Moore's dam Masquerade. Stidham campaigned Masquerade for four of her six lifetime victories and jockey Florent Geroux, who will ride Princess Grace in the Beverly D., piloted the Silent Name (JPN) mare for two wins.
Princess Grace, a seven-time winner from 11 starts, won the last two runnings of the $200,000 Dr. James Penny Memorial Stakes (G3) at Parx. Geroux was aboard Princess Grace for her win in the 1 1/16-mile turf event four weeks ago.
“You can tell she's really matured over the winter and the Stidhams have done a good job getting her back to the races,” Geroux said after her three-length win. “She gets very comfortable on the front end when she's able to make the lead but she's pretty versatile and can come from off the pace, too.”
Geroux has been in the saddle for three of Princess Grace's victories. He previously rode the 5-year-old mare to a win in last year's $750,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf (G3) and the $200,000 Mrs. Revere (G2) at Churchill Downs in 2020.
The 36-year-old Geroux is no stranger to success in the Beverly D. The French-born rider won the 2015 edition aboard the Chad Brown-trained and Martin Schwartz-owned Sea Calisi (FR).
The one trend in the Beverly D. that Princess Grace does not have on her side is that she was bred in Kentucky. In 19 of the last 20 runnings of the Beverly D. the winner was bred internationally: Ireland (6), France (5), Great Britain (4), Germany (2), Chile (1) and South Africa (1). The internationally-bred horses in this year's Beverly D. are Dalika (GER), Lily Pond (IRE) and Rougir (FR).
The 1 1/8-mile Beverly D. will go as Race 5 of 11 on the Arlington Million Day program at 3:01 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post is 12:45 p.m. with the $1 million Arlington Million slated as the finale at 6:25 p.m.
The Beverly D. is part of the Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” series. The winning horse will get an automatic berth into the $2 million Filly & Mare Turf (G1), which will be held Nov. 5 at Keeneland Race Course.
Here is the complete field for the Beverly D. from the rail out (with jockey and trainer):
- Dalika (GER) (Brian Hernandez Jr., Al Stall Jr., 8-1)
- Family Way (Tyler Gaffalione, Brendan Walsh, 3-1)
- Princess Grace (Geroux, Stidham, 3-1)
- Rougir (FR) (Manny Franco, Chad Brown, 2-1)
- Lily Pond (IRE) (John Velazquez, Aidan O'Brien, 5-2)
The Beverly D. will be run in Lane 3 on the Matt Winn Turf Course, 24 feet from the inside rail.
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