Tactius Heads List Of Nominees For Fayette At Keeneland

Juddmonte's homebred Tacitus, fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic here last fall in his lone Keeneland appearance, heads a list of 27 horses nominated to the 64th running of the $200,000 Grade 2 Hagyard Fayette going 1 1/8 miles on the main track to be run Oct. 30, closing day of the 17-day Fall Meet at the Lexington, Ky., track.

Trained by Bill Mott, Tacitus has earned more than $3.7 million in his career with five placings in Grade 1 events and three Grade 2 victories. In his most recent start, Tacitus finished fourth behind top 2021 Breeders' Cup Classic contender Knicks Go in the Grade 3 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs.

Other nominees of note with Keeneland success include Steve Landers Racing's Night Ops, who was second in the Grade 3 Ben Ali this spring; Thumbs Up Racing's well-traveled Sleepy Eyes Todd, winner of the Lafayette Presented by Keeneland Select here last fall; and Fern Circle Stables and Three Chimneys Farm's King Fury, winner of the Grade 3 Stonestreet Lexington this spring and recent 13-length winner of the Bourbon Trail at Churchill Downs.

Closing day of the Keeneland meet will feature two other stakes: the 17th running of the $150,000 Bryan Station for 3-year-olds going a mile on the turf and the new $150,000 Bowman Mill for 2-year-olds going 6 furlongs on the main track.

Homewrecker Racing's Point Me By, winner of the Grade 1 Bruce D. Stakes at Arlington Park on Aug. 14, tops a list of 38 nominees to the Bryan Station. Eddie Kenneally trains Point Me By.

Other nominees of note are Madaket Stables and Ecurie Ades-Hazen's Grade 3 Virginia Derby winner Wootton Asset (FR), trained by Graham Motion, and trainer Rusty Arnold's duo of Calumet Farm's Cellist, third in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby, and Ashbrook Farm's Ginsburned, who was third in the Bruce D.

Robert and Lawana Low's My Prankster, fourth in the Grade 1 Champagne in his most recent start for trainer Todd Pletcher, tops the list of 20 nominations for the Bowman Mill.

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Kentucky Downs Takes Entries, Draws Post Positions For Sept. 11 Graded Stakes Card

The fields are set for the summer's biggest day of turf racing, as entries were taken and post positions drawn Saturday for the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs' blockbuster Sept. 11 card featuring five graded stakes at the Franklin, Ky., track.

The Super Saturday is the marquee attraction among six huge days of racing Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sept. 11 and 12. First post is 12:20 p.m. Central. All the races will be shown on TVG.

Purses for next Saturday's 11 races total $4,692,000, of which $2.2 million comes from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund for registered Kentucky-bred horses. That's the vast majority of the horses running, but even the base purse that everyone competes for reflects some of the richest pots in the country.

“The card is amazing,” said Kentucky Downs Vice President for Racing Ted Nicholson. “Hats off to our racing office.”

The headliners are the $1 million Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles and the $1 million Grade 3 FanDuel Turf Sprint at six furlongs. Both are “Win and You're In” stops on the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and will be televised live by NBC. The Turf Cup winner will get a fees-paid berth in the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf and the FanDuel winner the same in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., on Nov. 6.

Donegal Racing's Arklow, the 2020 and 2018 Calumet Turf Cup winner, renews his rivalry with Michael Hui's 2019 victor Zulu Alpha, who was sidelined after last year's stakes and is 0 for 2 this year. Arklow would be the first three-time winner of the race. But they'll have to beat another Grade 1 winner in Channel Cat, returning to Kentucky Downs for the first time since he captured the 2018 Dueling Grounds Derby. He's owned by stakes sponsor Calumet Farm.

Arklow won Churchill Downs' Louisville Stakes and most recently was seventh in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap, but beaten only 1 3/4 lengths for everything.

Mike Maker, a five-time meet-leader and Kentucky Downs' record-holder in career wins, has five of the 12 horses in the body of the Calumet Turf Cup, headed by Zulu Alpha. The others are Tide of the Sea, a Kentucky Downs winner last year and Gulfstream's Grade 3 McKnight this year; Ellis Park's Kentucky Downs TVG Preview winner Bluegrass Parkway; Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup third-place finisher Ajourneytofreedom, and Glynn County, third in Arlington Park's Grade 1 Mr. D, the race formerly known as the Arlington Million. A sixth Maker entrant, Dynadrive, needs three scratches to get in the field.

Also in the field: Breakpoint, a triple Grade 1 winner in his native Chile, goes for his first U.S. win in three starts; Irish Group 3 winner Crossfirehurricane; Grade 1 United Nations runner-up Imperador and United Nations third Epic Bromance. Big Dreaming, second in last year's Dueling Grounds Derby, needs a defection to get in.

The FanDuel Turf Sprint brings back last year's top three finishers in Imprimis and the dead-heat runners-up Bombard and Front Run the Fed, who finished a neck behind the winner. But the favorite is likely to be boys-beater Got Stormy, winner of last year's Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint over very soft turf in her first attempt at sprinting. Got Stormy is the only filly or mare to win Saratoga's Grade 1 Fourstardave, having done so in her last start and in 2019 after taking second last year. She has been second in three other Grade 1 starts against males, including in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Mile.

“We've never backed down from a challenge,” says Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who acknowledges his desire to pad Got Stormy's own Hall of Fame credentials.

Other challengers: Casa Creed, winner of Belmont's Grade 1 Jackpocket Jaipur at the six-furlong distance; multiple graded stakes-winner Diamond Oops; the blossoming Fast Boat, a past winner over the course who last out won Saratoga's Grade 3 Troy Stakes, and Born Great, who last year won a Kentucky Downs maiden and allowance race in the span of a week.

The Richard Baltas-trained Venetian Harbor ships in from California for the $600,000 The Mint Ladies Sprint. The 4-year-old filly has been worse than second only once in 10 starts. In two turf races, she was second in her debut and won Santa Anita's Grade 2 Monrovia.

Also in from the West Coast is the multiple stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Superstition for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. John Sadler sends out Santa Anita stakes-winner Constantia in the overflow field of 14.

The beer will be flowing in Henderson if Yes It's Ginger prevails. There were so many people connected to Henderson beer distributor Mike “Hotdog” Utley, as well as the Brilliant Racing and Tagg Team Racing partnerships, that the winner's circle presentation had to move to the main track after “Ginger” prevailed in the Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Ladies Sprint, which gave her a free roll in this 6 1/2-furlong race.

The Casse-trained Jeanie B lost a Grade 2 stakes at Woodbine by a nose in her last start for owner CJ Thoroughbreds, whose managing partner Corey Johnsen was president and part-owner of Kentucky Downs before its sale to Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone.

Violenza enters the race off victory in a $100,000 turf sprint at Colonial Downs in her stakes debut for trainer Ian Wilkes and his son-in-law jockey Chris Landeros. The Maker-trained Jakarta has been off form but won a starter-allowance race here last year.

The $750,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Mile is headlined by 5-for-6 Princess Grace, winner of three straight stakes capped by Del Mar's Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon. The Mike Stidham-trained Princess Grace shares the 126-pound high-weight with 2020 One Dreamer winner Dalika.

She'sonthewarpath, an eight-time winner out of 19 starts, is in peak form off of two stakes victories at Ellis Park. Florida trainer Saffie Joseph has the horse to catch in Shifty She, a two-time stakes-winner at Gulfstream and a good third in Saratoga's De La Rose won by 2020 Ladies Mile winner Regal Glory.

Summer in Saratoga, an allowance winner here last year for trainer Joe Sharp, won Indiana Grand's Indiana General Assembly Distaff in her last start.

With The Lir Jet, Qatar Racing will try to win the $600,000 Franklin-Simpson for the third straight year, and the first time with the stakes a Grade 2. Qatar Racing won last year's stakes with Guildsman, who like The Lir Jet is trained by Brendan Walsh, and in 2019 with the Doug O'Neill-trained Legends of War. The Lir Jet won Royal Ascot's Group 2 Norfolk as a 2-year-old but is winless since. He makes his debut both in the United States and as a gelding.

Sharing high weight status of 124 pounds with The Lir Jet is the Eddie Kenneally-trained Point Me By, winner of Arlington Park's Grade 1 Bruce D. Stakes (formerly the Secretariat).

The field of twelve 3-year-old stakes-winners, with three others on the also-eligible list, includes the filly Miss Amulet, a Group 2 winner in England and a close second in a Group 1. Other contenders in a talented field: Woodbine's Grade 3 Marine winner Easy Time; the Wesley Ward duo of Churchill Downs' War Chant winner Next and Ellis Park's Dade Park Dash victor Into the Sunrise, and American Derby winner Tango Tango Tango. Other stakes-winners are Bodenheimer, King of Miami, Omaha City, and County Final. Last year's Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint runner-up Fauci, also trained by Ward, needs a scratch to get in the field.

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All Stakes Cross Country Pick 5 Pays $93,103

Saturday's all-graded stakes Cross Country Pick 5, featuring top-caliber action from Saratoga and Arlington Park, paid $93,103 for selecting all five winners for the 50-cent wager. The total pool was $328,609.

Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., started the action when High Oak drew away for an impressive 4 1/4-length win in the $200,000 Grade 2 Saratoga Special presented by Miller Lite in Race 9. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, High Oak won the 6 1/2-furlong main track sprint for juveniles in a final time of 1:16.53 under jockey Junior Alvarado. Off at 10-1, he returned $22.40 on a $2 win wager.

The remainder of the sequence featured all Grade 1 contests, commencing with the $400,000 Beverly D. for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up competing at 1 3/16 miles on the Arlington turf in Race 7. Even-money favorite Santa Barbara [$4], the winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational last month at Belmont Park, posted a three-length win under rider Ryan Moore, who traveled from Europe for the mount. Conditioned by internationally acclaimed trainer Aidan O'Brien, Santa Barbara completed the course in 1:54.55.

In Saratoga's 10th race, Got Stormy bested males to win the $500,000 Grade 1 Fourstardave for 3-year-olds and up for the second time in her career. Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Got Stormy, the 2019 Fourstardave winner, bested Set Piece by 1 1/2 lengths under Tyler Gaffalione, hitting the wire in 1:33.09 for the one-mile inner turf contest. Got Stormy [$27] won at 12-1. Her sire, Get Stormy, won the 2010 edition of the Fourstardave.

The premier race day at Arlington – located in Arlington Heights, Illinois – closed the wager with the final two races, starting with Point Me By's 2 3/4-length win in the $300,000 Bruce D. for 3-year-olds going one mile on the turf in Race 8. The Bruce D., formerly known as the Secretariat, saw the Eddie Kenneally-trained Point Me By win as the favorite, returning $5.40. Luis Saez, who traveled from Saratoga for the card, piloted Point Me By to victory, notching a final time of 1:37.70.

Arlington's Race 9 concluded the sequence when Two Emmys edged heavy favorite Domestic Spending by a neck in a thrilling finish to the $600,000 Mr. D. for 3-year-olds and up competing at 1 1/4 miles on the turf. It was potentially the last running for the contest formerly known as the Arlington Million and renamed for long-time Arlington owner Richard Duchossois, honoring the 99-year-old World War II veteran. Two Emmys, trained by Hugh Robertson and ridden by James Graham, went gate-to-wire and put his nose on the wire at 2:03.34 to get the win.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, on ADW platforms, and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

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Point Me By Gets First Graded Stakes Win In Bruce D At Arlington

With only two starts in his short career, Point Me By made his third outing a Grade 1 winning one, taking the Grade 1 Bruce D Stakes (formerly run as the Secretariat Stakes) at Arlington Park on what may be its final Arlington Million card. Facing a field of nine that included a variety of horses from stakes winner Tango Tango Tango to the maiden New Year Surprise, Point Me By bided his time midpack and closed with a rush to win the one-mile Bruce D by 2 3/4 lengths.

Breaking from the six post, Point Me By settled in behind Like a Saltshaker as the 3-year-old gelding grabbed an early lead, with Tango Tango Tango in second on the rail. Luis Saez kept Point Me By off the rail, running in fifth on the backside as Like a Saltshaker set fractions of :25.03 for the first quarter and :50.04 for the first half. On the far turn. Saez took his mount to the outside of horses, as Tango Tango Tango moved to the lead entering the stretch.

With Tango Tango Tango on the lead, Point Me By found running room down the center of the track, closing fast to win. Tango Tango Tango and Ginsburned needed a photo to determine second and third, with Tango Tango Tango notching second by a nose. King of Miami was fourth, with Like a Saltshaker, Therideofalifetime, Mr. Universe, New Year Surprise, and Shadizaar rounding out the field.

The final time was 1:37.70. Find this race's chart here.

Point Me By paid $5.40, $2.80, and $2.40. Tango Tango Tango paid $3.00 and $2.40. Ginsburned paid $3.80.

Bred in Kentucky by Winchester Farm, Point Me By is by Point of Entry out of Viva Allegiance, a Proud Citizen mare. He is owned by Homewrecker Racing Stable and trained by Eddie Kenneally. This was Point Me By's second win in three lifetime starts, for career winnings of $238,268.

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