Churchill Downs | Horse Racing Free Tips

Just Might’s Win An Emotional One For Lovell, Griffon

It was an emotional winner's circle celebration Saturday night as trainer Michelle Lovell was able to celebrate with her 86-year-old co-owner and breeder Dr. Robert “Pappy” Griffon and his family for their homebred Just Might's gritty front-running score in the $275,000 Louisville Thoroughbred Society.

“Pappy is the greatest,” Lovell said. “He's so kind and generous. He's like family to me and that's what makes it so special when you have a horse like this. You get to celebrate with family.”

Just Might, a 5-year-old son of Justin Phillip, is out of Lovell and Griffon's mare Dynamite Babe. Griffon and Lovell have been partners on several horses since the beginning of Lovell's training career in the early 2000s.

Griffon, a Friendswood, Texas native, has been able to travel to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., in the past but described his latest trip as, “the best one of his life.”

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Major General Tops Road To Kentucky Derby Leaderboard After Iroquois Win

WinStar Farm and Siena Farm's $300,000 Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes winner Major General added 10 points on the “Road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve” and an automatic berth to the Nov. 5, $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“I thought it was an impressive performance in only his second start for him to jump up like that and progress to two turns,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I was very pleased with him. Hopefully, he continues to make progress. I haven't talked to Elliott (Walden) and the WinStar team about his next plans but I would probably think we would train him up to the Breeders' Cup.”

Major General debuted at 6 ½ furlongs at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where he recorded a front-running victory. In Saturday's Iroquois, the Constitution colt rallied from 4 ½ lengths off the early pace. He's scheduled to ship back to his New York base Sunday.

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Foley Eyeing BC Filly & Mare Sprint For Sconsin After Open Mind Win

Trainer Greg Foley's Barn 11 was buzzing with excitement Sunday morning following Sconsin's hard-fought victory over Bell's the One in Saturday's $300,000 Open Mind (Listed) at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Now, Foley and his team are eyeing a trip to Del Mar and the $1 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

“She's just a classy filly,” Foley said. “Neil (Pessin)'s mare (Bell's the One) is a really solid horse and they really battled last night. You get a little worried when the field is short about what the pace will be. They went quick last night and that helped us. In her two starts this year against Gamine they went almost two seconds slower for the opening quarter-mile.”

Sconsin improved her overall record to 15-5-4-1—$783,362. The 4-year-old Include filly is out of the former Foley-trained mare Sconnie.

“The guys with Lloyd Madison (Farms IV) have a really solid broodmare band going and it's really exciting for this filly to now have three stakes wins. I'm thrilled for those guys.”

The winner's circle was filled with about 30 members of Foley's friends and family. However, one family member was missing and that was his son and assistant trainer Travis, who was out of town on his bachelor party ahead of his Oct. 2 wedding.

“We would've loved to be there but we definitely had a good celebration after she won,” Travis Foley said.

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Shedaresthedevil Holds Off Crystal Ball In Locust Grove

Qatar Racing, Flurry Racing Stables and Big Aut Farms' 2020 Longines Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) hero Shedaresthedevil broke fast from the gate, dictated the pace throughout and determinedly held off Crystal Ball by a neck to win Saturday night's 37^th running of the $400,000 Locust Grove (Grade III) for fillies and mares at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, Shedaresthedevil, the odds-on favorite in the field of six fillies and mares, clicked off comfortable fractions of :24.32, :48.30 and 1:12.17 en route to a final time of 1:42.86 for the 1 1/16 miles.

“She's a very classy filly,” Geroux said. “Tonight we got the lead and she was moving comfortably. This was a good prep race for the Breeders' Cup. She has seven weeks until then and I think she'll get a lot out of this race.”

Shedaresthedevil, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Daredevil out of the Congrats mare Starship Warpspeed, returned $3.20, $2.40 and $2.10. Crystal Ball, ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, returned $3.40 and $2.20 with Envoutante another 1 ½ lengths back in third under Brian Hernandez Jr. and paying $2.10 to show.

Matera, Our Super Freak and High Regard completed the order of finish.

The victory was worth $244,140 to Shedaresthedevil and increased her earnings to $2,291,458 with a record of 9-2-4 from 16 starts. Shedaresthedevil, the 15-1 upset winner of last year's Kentucky Oaks, is perfect in five starts beneath the Twin Spires.

In her previous start, she won last month's $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch (GI) at Del Mar. Now 4-for-5 this year, her 4-year-old campaign includes a one-length score in the $500,000 La Troienne (GI).

“Congratulations to all of the partners who are involved in this filly,” Cox said. “Florent gave her a really good trip. She's a very classy filly and knows how to fight to get things done. She's proven how well she's done here at Churchill and this was a good spot to get her ready for the Breeders' Cup.”

The Locust Grove is named after the 1790 Georgian mansion in Louisville that played home to ancestors of Churchill Downs founder Col. M. Lewis Clark.

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