Keeneland Opens With a Trio of Breeders’ Cup Qualifiers

Keeneland opens its highly anticipated fall meet Friday with a trio of graded stakes that each provide the winners with a spot in the gate for the Breeders' Cup World Championships to be held in Lexington the first weekend of November.

The highlight of the day will be the GI Darley Alcibiades S., a qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Ken McPeek and Brad Cox have taken turns the last few years, each winning two of the last four, and McPeek has the morning-line favorite in last-out GIII Pocahontas S. winner Fun and Feisty (Midshipman).

McPeek also saddles longshot Stellar Lady (Shackleford), who broke her maiden on grass last out at Kentucky Downs Sept. 8. The aforementioned Cox also saddles a grass filly in unbeaten Chop Chop (City of Light), who enters off a win in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies S. Sept. 3.

DJ Stable's Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief) will likely challenge Fun and Feisty for favoritism. Opening her account with a pair of wins including a dominant score in Churchill's Debutante S. in July, the dark bay checked in second in Saratoga's GI Spinaway S. Sept. 4.

Chad Brown sends out one worth a look at a price in Alpha Delta Stables homebred Raging Sea (Curlin). She rallied to victory in her debut going seven panels at Saratoga Aug. 7. Both her running style and her pedigree suggest she will only improve with more distance.

Juvenile grass fillies get their chance to secure a spot in the Breeders' Cup starting gate one race earlier in the GII J.P. Morgan Chase Jessamine S. Chop Chop would have been favored in this event, but now that will likely go to Towhead (Malibu Moon), who came up a nose short of that foe in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies S.

Jonathan Thomas saddles a live on in Augustin Stable's Delight (Mendelssohn). The $400,000 OBSMAR buy earned her diploma at Delaware last out Aug. 27 after a pair of thirds in her first two tries.

G. Watts Humphrey's Bling (American Pharoah) took a huge step forward when switched from dirt to turf in her second start at Ellis Aug. 20, earning her diploma by 3 3/4 lengths.

Also worth a look at what is sure to be a juicy price for bettors is NY-bred Recognize (Bolt d'Oro). Her freshman sire now has two graded winners on turf and her Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott is known for his patience and ability to get horses to peak at the right time. The bay graduated by 5 1/4 lengths at third asking against fellow Empire-breds at Saratoga in Aug. 18 and checked in third after setting the pace in that venue's P.G. Johnson S. Sept. 1.

Rounding out Friday's Breeders' Cup qualifiers is the GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. for male sprinters. With champion Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) and Cody's Wish (Curlin), who defeated the divisional leader in the GI Forego S., waiting for the first weekend in November, this event lacks star power. However, the horse who may be improving at just the right time is Sibelius (Not This Time), who enters off a pair of strong victories and triple-digit Beyers, including the Lite the Fuse S. at Pimlico Sept. 10, for which he warned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure.

Special Reserve (Midshipman) captured this event last year, but could only manage fourth in the Breeders' Cup. Off the board in his seasonal debut in the DeFrancis Memorial Dash July 16, he wired the Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial S. in the slop at Mountaineer last out Aug. 6.

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McPeek’s Fun and Feisty Runs Away with Pocahontas

Kenny McPeek captured his third GIII Pocahontas S. in the last eight years when Fun and Feisty (Midshipman–Grouse Grind, by First Samurai) crossed the line an emphatic winner Saturday at Churchill Downs.

The winner didn't have any speed in the 12-horse field and settled in the back, second from last yet well in front of Naughty Gal (Into Mischief), the GIII Adirondack S. winner who trailed throughout. After favored Grand Love (Gun Runner) showed the way through :23.74 and :48.07 early fractions, Fun and Feisty remained well behind but was stealthily edging up. Eyes may have been on Grand Love and Friendlypersuasion (Arrogate) exchanging bumps in the stretch, but they were both mugged as Fun and Feisty flew by cleanly on the outside for a widening 3 1/2-length score. Shoplifter (Super Saver), who had been tracking all the way, dove to the inside in late stretch and overpowered Grand Love for the runner-up spot.

“No surprise at all really,” said McPeek immediately following the race. “This was a filly we thought was really good for a long time but she's going to want to go further and I think we're going to have a lot of fun. The [Oct. 7 GI Darley] Alcibiades is next.”

Fun and Fiesty debuted July 4 at Churchill Downs with a sixth going six furlongs and improved to second July 23 when stretched out to seven furlongs at Ellis Park. Third time was a charm, as she broke her maiden Aug. 13 on the Arlington Million card at Churchill even though cut back again to six panels. The Pocahontas marked both her first stretch out and her first stakes win.

The first qualifying race toward next year's GI Kentucky Oaks, worth 10 points to Fun and Feisty, the Pocahontas also went to McPeek in 2015 with Dothraki Queen (Pure Prize) and in 2016 with Daddys Lil Darling (Scat Daddy). Fun and Feisty, a $100,000 McPeek purchase at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale, was the priciest of the three. McPeek had picked up Dothraki Queen for $35,000 at Keeneland September and eventually transformed her into a $950,000 Fasig-Tipton November broodmare prospect, while Daddys Lil Darling was a Normandy Farm homebred, eventual GISW, and brought $3.5 million at Fasig-Tipton November.

Pedigree Notes:

The unraced Grouse Grind, a $6,000 purchase by Carlisle Horse Co. at the 2021 Keeneland January sale while carrying a full-sister to Fun and Feisty, has a 2022 colt already named Rule Number Nine (Jimmy Creed) and was bred back to Gormley. The now-yearling full-sister to Fun and Feisty was sold as a weanling at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic December sale for $36,000 to Cary Frommer. With the Pocahontas score, Fun and Feisty has the first black-type in the immediate family line since her third dam produced a pair of graded winners in Fairbanks (Giant's Causeway) and Keats (Hennessy). That great-granddam is also a half-sister to GSW & MGISP Darn That Alarm (Jig Time).

The 39th black-type winner and eighth graded winner by Darley stallion Midshipman, Fun and Feisty is the 11th stakes winner out of a daughter of First Samurai, who stands at Claiborne.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
POCAHONTAS S.-GIII, $297,536, Churchill Downs, 9-17, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:45.86, ft.
1–FUN AND FEISTY, 122, f, 2, by Midshipman
1st Dam: Grouse Grind, by First Samurai
 2nd Dam: Artic Queen, by Mr. Greeley
 3rd Dam: Alaska Queen, by Time for a Change
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($13,000 Ylg
'21 KEEJAN; $100,000 Ylg '21 FTKJUL). O-Lucky Seven Stable
(Mackin); B-J Stephen McDonald (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek;
J-Julien R. Leparoux. $174,735. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-0,
$257,311. Werk Nick Rating: D+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Shoplifter, 122, f, 2, Super Saver–New Shaker, by Bernstein.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($12,000 Ylg '21
FTKOCT). O-Anderson Stables, LLC, Eddie Kenneally & Christian
Hays; B-Douglas Scharbauer (KY); T-Eddie Kenneally. $56,850.
3–Grand Love, 122, f, 2, Gun Runner–Grand Prayer, by
Grand Slam. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
O/B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen.
$28,425.
Margins: 3HF, 1 3/4, HF. Odds: 6.23, 14.73, 1.06.
Also Ran: Boss Lady Bailey, Friendlypersuasion, Jet Setting, Southlawn, Outofnothingatall, Need Some Money, Kiss Me On Oconee, Justa Warrior, Naughty Gal.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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