The holiday weekend's Thoroughbred action is highlighted by the final live racing dates of the year at Churchill Downs, featuring the Grade 1 Clark, and at Del Mar, featuring both the G1 Hollywood Derby and G1 Matriarch, as well as the opening weekends at both the Fair Grounds and Tampa Bay Downs. At Laurel Park, the Fall Festival of Racing is offering six stakes on a nine-race Saturday program that gets under way at 12:25 p.m. ET.
Here's a brief look at some of the graded stakes action (all times Eastern):
Friday, Nov. 27
5:27 p.m. – $500,000 G1 Clark at Churchill Downs
W.S. Farish's multiple G1 winner Code of Honor will take on 13 rivals including graded stakes winners By My Standards, Mr Freeze and Owendale in the 146th renewal of the $500,000 Clark presented by Norton Healthcare (G1) – the marquee race of the Fall Meet at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/CD112720USA10-EQB.html
6:30 p.m. – $200,000 G2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar
A wide-open edition of the Hollywood Turf Cup – a handicapping delight for those who like the challenge of a well-matched and highly competitive field – will be the day-after Thanksgiving treat this Friday at Del Mar. A trio of out-of-towners add special spice to the handicapping stew – Donegal Racing, Bulger and Coneway's Arklow, Manfred Ostermann's Laccario and Agave Racing Stable or Sam-Son Farm's Say the Word. They'll all be making their Del Mar debuts. The race also has drawn its defending champion – Messineo or Sands' Oscar Dominguez, who rallied through the lane to win by a neck over turf star United in last year's running. It additionally has lured back a pair of runners who have been there before – Mr. & Mrs. Larry Williams' Ward 'n Jerry, third in the Turf Cup last year, and Little Red Feather and Tavares' Marckie's Water, fourth in the 2018 edition of the race.
https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/DMR112720USA7-EQB.html
Saturday, Nov. 28
4:57 p.m. – $200,000 G2 Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill Downs
Harold Lerner LLC, Magdalena Racing and Nehoc Stables' Alcibiades (G1) winner Simply Ravishing will lead a field of 10 promising juvenile fillies in Saturday's Golden Rod. Among the other rivals to Simply Ravishing in the Golden Rod is Kueber Racing's undefeated $98,000 Rags to Riches winner Coach. Trained by Brad Cox, Coach is a perfect 3-for-3 in her young career. She'll be joined in the starting gate by stablemate Travel Column. Owned by OXO Equine, Travel Column dazzled on debut by 4 ¼ lengths and returned with a third-place effort behind Simply Ravishing in the Alcibiades.
https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/CD112820USA9-EQB.html
5:56 p.m. – $200,000 G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs
Cypress Creek and Arnold Bennewith's Breeders' Cup Juvenile third-place finisher Keepmeinmind will be in search of his first-career victory against a competitive field of nine 2-year-olds, which includes stakes winners King Fury and Sittin On Go, in Saturday's 94th running of the Kentucky Jockey Club.
https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/CD112820USA11-EQB.html
6:27 p.m. – $200,000 G2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar
The Seabiscuit Handicap this Saturday at Del Mar brings together a big field of 13 turf horses from around North America in what should be an extraordinary race to watch and to wager on. Leading the field in career earnings at $1.8 million is Next Shares, who posted the 27 to 1 upset winning the 2019 Seabiscuit but who is winless this year in six races. Close at hand in terms of career accomplishments is Bowies Hero, who has earned more than $1.5 million with his last big win coming in the 2019 Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile. Next is My Boy Jack, who has banked more than three-quarters of a million. Starting his career on dirt, My Boy Jack was a top 3-year-old in 2018, including a fifth place effort in the Kentucky Derby before going on the sidelines in the fall of 2019 and making his return to the races in this race. Flavius appears to be a strong contender as well, having won the Tourist Mile Stakes this past summer before a troubled effort in the Shadwell Turf Mile.
https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/DMR112820USA7-EQB.html
7:27 p.m. – $300,000 G1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar
A field of 13 3-year-olds of both quality and quantity was entered the 79th running of the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar. Among the group were five shippers from East Coast-based trainers with two from Christophe Clement and one each from Chad Brown, George Weaver and Thomas M. Bush. Clement is sending out Decorated Invader, a winner of the G2 Pennine Ridge Stakes at Belmont Park and the G2 Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga last summer and Gufo, a winner as the favorite of the Belmont Derby on Oct. 3. Brown is dispatching Domestic Spending, a winner of the Saratoga Derby Invitational in August by a head over Gufo; Weaver will be represented by Ever Dangerous, fresh from a win in a $150,000 stakes at Keeneland on Nov. 6, and Bush sends Get Smokin, a wire-to-winner of the G2 Hill Prince on a yielding Belmont turf on Oct. 18.
https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/DMR112820USA9-EQB.html
Sunday, Nov. 29
7:00 p.m. – $300,000 G1 Matriarch at Del Mar
A field of nine, one-third from the stable of mega-trainer Chad Brown, was entered today for Sunday's G1 Matriarch Stakes, the signature event of the final day of the Bing Crosby Season. Brown's trio of shippers from New York is comprised of graded stakes winners Tamahere and Viadera and graded stakes-placed Blowout.
https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/DMR112920USA9-EQB.html
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