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Bonny South, Envoutante Headline Field of Seven For Thanksgiving Day’s Falls City

Juddmonte's multiple graded stakes-winning filly Bonny South headlines a competitive field of seven fillies and mares that entered the 106th running of the $500,000 Grade 2 Falls City, the centerpiece on the 12-race Thanksgiving Day program at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

The Thanksgiving Day card at Churchill Downs has been a Louisville tradition since 1969. There are more than 7,000 turkey dinners scheduled to be served by executive chef Dave Danielson and his team. First post is 11:30 a.m. (all times Eastern) and the 1 1/8-mile Falls City will go as Race 11 at 4:22 p.m.

Trained by Brad Cox, Bonny South bypassed the G1 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., Nov. 6 and stayed at Churchill Downs for the Falls City. The 4-year-old daughter of Munnings finished third in the $500,000 G1 Spinster to multiple G1 winner Letruska. Prior to her Spinster effort, Bonny South nearly defeated Letruska in the $600,000 G1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga but came up a half-length short. Bonny South finished second in last year's Falls City as the 4-5 favorite to Three Chimneys Farm and Walking L. Thoroughbreds' Envoutante. Bonny South will be ridden in the Falls City by Florent Geroux from post No. 6.

Envoutante is slated to defend her title in the Falls City. The 4-year-old filly by Uncle Mo won the $150,000 Shawnee Stakes at Churchill Downs in late May. Following her 4 ¼-length victory, the Kenny McPeek trainee had back-to-back third-place finishes to Letruska in the $300,000 G2 Fleur de Lis and Shedaresthedevil in the $400,000 G3 Locust Grove. In her most recent start, Envoutante finished fifth in the Spinster. McPeek's go-to rider Brian Hernandez Jr. will be in the saddle from post 4.

The Falls City field also includes Three Diamonds Farm's $1 million G1 Cotillion third-place finisher Army Wife; Lothenbach Stable's recent seven-length allowance winner Audrey's Time; owner/trainer Ignacio Correas IV's five-time winner Cheetara (CHI); WinStar Stablemates Racing's Locust Grove runner-up Crystal Ball; and G. Watts Humphrey Jr.'s four-time Churchill Downs winner High Regard.

Here is the Falls City field from the rail out (with jockey and trainer): Crystal Ball (Tyler Gaffalione, Rodolphe Brisset); Cheetara (CHI) (Julien Leparoux, Ignacio Correas); High Regard (Rafael Bejarano, Vicki Oliver); Envoutante (Hernandez, McPeek); Army Wife (Joel Rosario, Mike Maker); Bonny South (Geroux, Cox); and Audrey's Time (Corey Lanerie, Neil Pessin).

Wagering is available online at www.TwinSpires.com, the official ADW of Churchill Downs Incorporated.

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Caroom’s Tempt Fate Returns For 2022 Oaklawn Meet

Tempt Fate, the winningest horse of the 2021 Oaklawn meeting, is scheduled to be active again during the 2021-2022 live season that begins Dec. 3, owner Jerry Caroom of Hot Springs said.

A 4-year-old Arkansas-bred son of Hamazing Destiny, Tempt Fate was 4 for 4 last season at Oaklawn (all against state-breds), including the $150,000 Nodouble Breeders' Stakes and $200,000 Arkansas Breeders' Championship Stakes in his two-turn debut at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

The speedy Tempt Fate has raced just twice since the April 30 Arkansas Breeders' Championship, finishing sixth in the $100,000 off-the-turf Chamberlain Bridge Stakes May 31 at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, and fifth in his allowance comeback sprint Nov. 10 at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.

“Just tuning him back up,” said Caroom, who was Oaklawn's co-fourth-leading owner last season with 10 victories. “Almost exactly the program we did last year. He loves this track.”

Caroom said Tempt Fate will again target Oaklawn's lucrative program for Arkansas-breds. He won two allowance races last season before dipping, successfully, into stakes waters.

“Why screw up that?” Caroom said. “I hope we'll see him four times. Four wins, hopefully. His mission is to go 4-0 this year. Hoonani Road went 7-0 at this track. I want this one to do eight.”

Hoonani Road, also campaigned by Caroom, won his first seven Oaklawn starts (all against state-breds), including the $100,000 Rainbow Stakes in 2018 and the Nodouble and Arkansas Breeders' Championship in 2019. Tempt Fate ran third in the 2020 Rainbow before dominating state-bred foes in 2021.

Trainer Carl Deville, on behalf of Caroom, had claimed Tempt Fate for $40,000 out of a third-place finish in his second career start, Feb. 14, 2020, at Oaklawn.

After losing Hoonani Road to a $25,000 claim in August 2020 at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., Caroom privately purchased him shortly before the 2021 Arkansas Breeders' Championship and retired the 6-year-old gelding to a farm near Opelousas, La., where Deville's grandchildren reside.

Caroom said he could have as many as 20 horses stabled at Oaklawn in 2021-2022, mostly with Deville. Caroom could eventually have a Kentucky Oaks prospect on the grounds in Pipeline Girl, a Tom Amoss trainee who won her career debut sprinting in June at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., before finishing 11th in the $400,000 Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes Oct. 8 at Keeneland in her two-turn debut. Pipeline Girl returned to finish third in a Nov. 13 allowance sprint at Churchill Downs.

“In the Alcibiades, she just completely laid an egg,” Caroom said. “The route messed her up a little bit. My strong desire is to have her here, but if she turns out that she's more suitable for the grass, then she'll stay with Amoss at Fair Grounds.”

Caroom purchased Pipeline Girl, a daughter of Air Force Blue, a multiple Group 1 winner in Europe, for $100,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

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Popular Kid Gets First Remington Park Stakes Victory In Jeffrey Hawk Memorial

Popular Kid was racing at Santa Anita as a 7-year-old at the beginning of the year when his new owner George A. Sharp of Phoenix, Ariz., claimed him for $20,000.

The gelded son of Popular, out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Lemon Supreme, has since won 4 of 10 starts, including the $102,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial Stakes on Friday night at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla. It's rare that a 7-year-old with no promise for breeding and no more conditions to run through in his races is bought out of a claiming race for $20,000.

“Everyone thought I was nuts,” Sharp said. “I sent him straight out to the cowboy (trainer Shawn Davis). Now he's all pro. He just wins races and is going to win more. Jose (Alvarez, jockey) couldn't have ridden him any better.”

Popular Kid earned $60,000 from the purse and improved his record to 62 starts, 15 wins, nine seconds, and five thirds for $598,774. It kept the winner undefeated in three tries over the main track at Remington Park this season, with the other two victories coming in allowance company. His only loss here was on the grass in the $100,000 Remington Green Stakes.

It took Popular Kid five races before he won for Sharp after the Jan. 2 claim on the West Coast. He finally made it to the winner's circle on a muddy track at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, on June 7 against optional claiming $35,000 horses. Two races later, he found that Remington Park was turning into the land of milk and honey for him. Alvarez has been aboard for his wins on Sept. 11, Oct. 27, and Friday night, the horse's first stakes win in Oklahoma City.

Popular Kid was sent off at 3-1 odds, the second favorite in the race, and paid $8.80, $4.60, and $3.60 across the board to win, place, and show. The oddest race of all came from runner-up Catdaddy, the longest shot in the six-horse field at 26-1. He broke like a rocket from the gate, ding-donging on the front end with Absaroka, who was stepping into open company after winning the $175,000 Oklahoma Classics Cup against Oklahoma-breds in October. Catdaddy soon backed out of the 1 mile and 70 yards race after dueling early, dropping back to fourth. As they came into the stretch, however, Catdaddy found new life and began passing horses that had already passed him. When all was said and done, he had regained second place, losing by only a length to Popular Kid.

According to Brisnet statistics, it was Popular Kid's eighth win in 16 starts at or near the distance. He covered the distance in 1:43.35 over a fast track. Alvarez was never farther back than third in the early going and then gradually moved past the front-runners, who set early fractions of :24.75 for the quarter-mile, :48.58 for the half-mile, and 1:13.19 for six furlongs. Popular Kid was in front after a mile in 1:39.04.

Trainer Davis couldn't have been happier with his horse, bred in California by Rod and Lorraine Rodriguez. “We hoped he would run that way,” said Davis. “He's 7 years old and just getting better.”

Absaroka (9-2) held on for third, three-quarters of a length behind Catdaddy, and 1-3/4 lengths ahead of fourth-place finisher Trident Hit, the beaten wagering favorite at 3-5 odds. The remaining order of finish was Favorable Outcome (5-1) and Drifting West (12-1).

The Jeffrey Hawk Memorial is named in honor of prominent Remington Park owner and breeder Bryan Hawk's brother who passed away in 2017.

The score with Popular Kid was one of three on the night for Alvarez. He also triumphed with Young Skywalker ($4.80 to win) in the sixth race and Sierra Summer ($32) in the ninth race. Alvarez now has 29 wins on the season, tying him for fifth in the Remington Park standings with Leandro Goncalves. David Cabrera is well on his way to a fourth-consecutive leading rider title with 75 wins.

Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Nov. 20 with the first race at 7:07 pm Central.

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Scratched From Breeders’ Cup With Foot Abscess, Arrest Me Red Returns In Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship

Trainer Wesley Ward said Lael Stables' Arrest Me Red will make his next start in the $150,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up on Nov. 27 at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Arrest Me Red was scratched out of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar, which was won by the Ward-trained Golden Pal. Arrest Me Red breezed a half-mile in :48 flat Wednesday over the Keeneland main track.

“He had a little foot abscess issue we were dealing with out in California, so we erred on the side of caution and scratched him,” Ward said. “We brought him back and he's had a great work here at Keenland, so he should be ready to go.”

The Pioneerof the Nile sophomore joined Ward's stable for his 3-year-old campaign, winning the Mahony in August at 5 1/2-furlongs over firm footing at Saratoga Race Course. The talented bay followed with a gate-to-wire score in the six-furlong Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational over firm going on October 2 at Belmont Park.

Ward said Arrest Me Red had initially been under consideration for the Grade 2 Woodford at Keeneland before setting course for Belmont.

“He came back [from the Mahony] and had some nice works and we were going to go in the Woodford with him, but there was no sense in going against my other horse, Golden Pal, so we looked for another option and he ran and won nice,” Ward said.

Arrest Me Red made four starts in a juvenile campaign for his former conditioner Arnaud Delacour, posting a first-out maiden win at Laurel Park in August 2020 and a two-length score in the six-furlong Atlantic Beach last November over the Big A turf.

CJ Thoroughbreds' Miss Alacrity, a chestnut daughter of Munnings, will return to the main track in Sunday's $100,000 Key Cents, a six-furlong sprint for juvenile fillies at Aqueduct.

Out of the multiple graded-stakes winning Menifee mare Just Jenda, Miss Alacrity launched her career with a 10-length maiden win sprinting five furlongs over Big Sandy in May. She followed with an impressive score in the Colleen, a five-furlong turf test in August at Monmouth Park.

Last out, Miss Alacrity stumbled at the start of the Speakeasy, a five-furlong turf test on Oct. 1 at Santa Anita, and settled for fourth.

“I think she was soundly beaten. We went out there with her winning that race at Monmouth and we wanted to see where she was at. There were no excuses, she just got beat,” Ward said. “It was a credible race. She ran well but she just got beat by better horses on the day.”

Miss Alacrity will remove blinkers while retaining the services of Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez from the inside post in a loaded field that includes the well-regarded Classy Edition for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and the speedy Makin My Move for conditioner John Kimmel.

“This time of year, I generally take the blinkers off of everything with 2-year-olds. It keeps them focused at the beginning of the year and now that they're older and more seasoned, I like to take the blinkers off to go a little further,” Ward said. “She should be more aware of her surroundings and a little more relaxed in the race with the blinkers off.”

Lyrical Poet, a 4-year-old Kitten's Joy gelding owned, bred and trained by Ward, posted a claiming score traveling 5 1/2-furlongs over the Saratoga turf in July.

He is out of the speedy Bring the Heat mare One Hot Wish, who won a pair of sprints for Ward led by an 8 ½-length allowance romp at Gulfstream Park in 2008 that garnered a 91 Beyer.

Lyrical Poet was last seen finishing second in September in a Kentucky Downs turf allowance sprint won by Rustler, who exited that effort to win the Carle Place in October at Belmont.

Lyrical Poet breezed five-furlongs in 1:00.80 on Nov. 16 over the Keeneland main track in preparation for Race 2 on Saturday at the Big A, a six-furlong starter allowance on the turf for 3-year-olds and up.

“He's training good. I've taken my time with him. Kitten's Joys take a little time to get going and he was a late foal,” Ward said. “I own him so I can afford the time I think they need and he's rewarding that patience now. His dam was very fast.”

Listed at 3-1 on the morning line, Lyrical Poet will exit post 7 under Irad Ortiz, Jr.

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