The fall meeting at Churchill Downs gets underway Sunday in what has become its traditional way, with juvenile races comprising the entire 11-race program. When the Triple Crown trail begins in earnest following the turn of the calendar, it will likely feature a handful of horses that raced on the day en route to bigger and better things, and the $200,000 GIII Street Sense S. has the feel of a key race going forward.
The form of the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity is very much on display, and while that event's top two finishers–'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner) and The Wine Steward (Vino Rosso)– will be making their way to Santa Anita for next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the two horses that finished immediately in their wake will do their part to frank the race.
Despite graduating by a distance at odds-on and earning an 86 Beyer Speed Figure, Generous Tipper (Street Sense) was friendless in the market at better than 17-1 for the Breeders' Futurity, but turned in a bold effort to be third after trailing for the opening half-mile. When all was said and done, he was a neck better than Northern Flame (Flameaway), who won his maiden in wire-to-wire fashion at this track Sept. 15.
Locked's stable companion Moonlight (Audible) is the new shooter and potential fly in the ointment, as he stretched away to break his maiden by eight lengths in a rained-off maiden at Aqueduct Sept. 28, while Liberal Arts (Arrogate) looks to improve off his closing third in the one-mile GIII Iroquois S. Sept. 16.
That's A Wrap at Keeneland…
Saturday marks the final day of racing for the Keeneland fall meet, with a pair of graded events on tap. You'd have to travel all the way back to Blame in 2009 for the last time a 3-year-old defeated his elders in the GII Hagyard Fayette S.–his sire Arch accomplished the same feat in 1998–and such is the objective for Il Miracolo (Gun Runner) on Saturday. Seventh to Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GI Belmont S. June 10, the chestnut has since held his own in stakes company, finishing second in the Curlin S. July 21 before winning the GIII Smarty Jones S. at Parx Aug. 22. The chestnut was hardly disgraced when last seen in the GI Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 23, as he rallied from behind midfield to round out the exacta behind the GI Breeders' Cup Classic-bound Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming) and Dreamlike (Gun Runner), pre-entered for two championship races.
Trademark (Upstart) is the very lukewarm 9-2 morning-line favorite off his head defeat in the GII Lukas Classic Sept. 30, but he'll have to work out a trip from gate 10, while Giant Game (Giant's Causeway) is a threat on his best, though there appears to be plenty of other speed signed on.
The co-featured GIII Bryan Station S. lures a field of 10, led by the exciting Talk of the Nation (Quality Road), who bounced back from a pair of runner-up efforts to win the $1-million Gun Runner S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 2. He squares off here with Smokey Mandate (Strong Mandate), third in the Gun Runner and second to More Than Looks (More Than Ready) in the Sept. 30 Jefferson Cup S. at Churchill. The latter was entered in the Bryan Station, but breezed Friday at Keeneland and appears headed for next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Mile.
Xigera Opts For Path of Least Resistance in NY…
For a time, Rigney Racing's Xigera (Nyquist) was under strong consideration for next weekend's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, but connections have chosen a more conservative course and have the 6-5 morning-line choice for Satuday's GII Mother Goose S. at Aqueduct. Though the $190,000 Keeneland September yearling won her maiden on the turf and added this year's Tepin S. on the grass, she could not have been more impressive in shooting clear to take the Seneca Overnight S. by a dominating 6 1/4 lengths Sept. 23. Anything approaching that effort would be tough to topple here, but she does encounter some classy rivals in the form of GI Central Bank Ashland S. victress Defining Purpose (Cross Traffic) as well as the enigmatic Julia Shining (Curlin), winner of the GII Demoiselle S. at this venue last December.
The GII Forty Niner S., formerly the GII Kelso S., serves as a course-and-distance prep for the GII Cigar Mile H. during the Aqueduct meet and looks to be a two-horse affair between Accretive (Practical Joke), runner-up to Cody's Wish (Curlin) in the GII Vosburgh S. Oct. 1, and Everso Mischievous (Into Mischief), who looks to negotiate this class hike, having drawn away for a first black-type score in the Sept. 23 Harrods Creek S. at Churchill.
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