Fan Favorite Two Emmys Euthanized

According to a report by Marcus Hersh of the Daily Racing Form, Two Emmys (English Channel), the winner of the 2021 GI Mr. D. S., suffered a fatal injury during a workout Sunday morning at the Fair Grounds.

Two Emmys was a newly turned 8-year-old.

Hersh broke the news on X, writing “Confirmed tragic news circulating that Two Emmys was euthanized this morning after breaking his leg during a workout. Per trainer H Robertson the fracture occurred the knee, very unusual, & likely happened after another horse “bounced him off the fence” in upper stretch.”

At deadline for this story a call to trainer Hugh Robertson seeking additional information had not been returned.

Hersh also wrote that James Graham was aboard for the workout and took off his Sunday mounts because of overall soreness.

Two Emmys was the type of blue-collar horse that becomes a fan favorite. He was bought for $4,500 at the 2017 Keeneland September Sale. He went on to win eight race and earn $985,083. His most recent win came in the Dec. 23 Buddy Diliberto S. at the Fair Grounds. His graded stakes wins included the GIII Fair Grounds S. and the GII Muniz Memorial Classic S.

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Spooky Channel Overhauls Two Emmys In Sycamore To Give Jason Barkley First Graded Victory

NBS Stable's Spooky Channel eased past longtime leader Two Emmys just before the finish line after a protracted stretch duel to prevail by a neck and win the 27th running of the $150,000 Sycamore (G3) for 3-year-olds and up Friday afternoon at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Trained by Jason Barkley and ridden by Julien Leparoux, Spooky Channel covered the 1½ miles over a turf course labeled as good in 2:29.71.

The victory is the first graded stakes win for Barkley and his first Keeneland stakes win. It is the second Sycamore victory for Leparoux, who won in 2012 on Kindergarden Kid.

Two Emmys was first out of the gate under James Graham and led the field of 11 uncontested through fractions of :24.87, :49.51, 1:14.52 and 1:39.81 with Ry's the Guy and Spooky Channel tracking in the second and third spots.

The running order remained unchanged until the top of the stretch when Ry's the Guy dropped out of the pursuit and Spooky Channel took up the chase. Two Emmys maintained a narrow edge until deep stretch when Spooky Channel pushed by.

This is the third Grade 3 victory for Spooky Channel, whose previous scores came when trained by Brian Lynch for different ownership. Barkley claimed Spooky Channel for $80,000 at Churchill Downs in April.

Spooky Channel is a 6-year-old gelded Kentucky-bred son of English Channel out of the Kitten's Joy mare Spooky Kitten. With Friday's $90,000 check, he increased his earnings to $601,722 with a record of 25-11-4-0.

Spooky Channel returned $16.40, $6.80 and $5. Two Emmys returned $4.80 and $4.40 and finished 4¼ lengths in front of Ry's the Guy, who paid $5.20 to show under Chris Landeros.

It was another 1¾ lengths back to Bama Breeze, who was followed in order by Another Mystery, Sole Volante, Kentucky Ghost, Ajourneytofreedom, Glynn County, Yamato and Breakpoint (CHI).

Spooky Channel (left) races past front-running Two Emmys in deep stretch to win the Sycamore

Racing continues Saturday with a 10-race program beginning at 1 p.m. ET and featuring two stakes for 3-year-olds: the $250,000 Lexus Raven Run (G2) for fillies going 7 furlongs on the main track and the $150,000 Perryville going 7 furlongs on the main track. The Perryville is scheduled as the seventh race (4:12 p.m.), and the Lexus Raven Run is the ninth (5:16 p.m.).

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Mr. D Winner Two Emmys Leads Field For Friday’s Sycamore At Keeneland

Wolfe Racing and Hugh Robertson's Two Emmys, winner of the Grade 1 Mr. D. at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Ill., in his most recent start, headlines a field of 12 runners entered Sunday for Friday's 27th running of the $150,000 Grade 3 Sycamore for 3-year-olds and up going 1½ miles on the grass at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

The Sycamore will go as the eighth race with a 4:44 p.m. ET post time on the 10-race program that begins at 1 p.m.

Two Emmys has been a model of consistency in his past four starts that began with a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial Classic at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La., in March. Following a short layoff, Two Emmys returned at Arlington Park with a runner-up finish in an allowance/optional claiming test and next was second in the Grade 3 Arlington Stakes.

James Graham, who was aboard for the front-running victory in the Mr. D., has the mount Friday and will depart post position 12.

The field for the Sycamore, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Glynn County (Tyler Gaffalione, 121 pounds), Ajourneytofreedom (Corey Lanerie, 121), Hierarchy (Reylu Gutierrez, 121), Ry's the Guy (Chris Landeros, 121), Yamato (Joe Talamo, 121), Spooky Channel (Julien Leparoux, 123), Sole Volante (Florent Geroux, 121), Breakpoint (CHI) (Ricardo Santana Jr., 121), Bama Breeze (Brian Hernandez Jr., 121), Another Mystery (Adam Beschizza, 121), Kentucky Ghost (Rafael Bejarano, 121), Two Emmys (Graham, 123).

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James Graham Voted Jockey Of The Week After Mr. D. Stakes Upset

Jockey James Graham made a successful return to Arlington Park last Saturday, winning the Grade 1 Mr. D. Stakes to earn Jockey of the Week honors for Aug. 9 through Aug. 15. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

Arlington Park had been home to Graham, a native of Dublin, Ireland, for more than a dozen years before moving his tack to Kentucky tracks and Fair Grounds in Louisiana. He returned on Saturday for the first time since 2018 to ride on what may be Arlington Park's last premier day of racing. Trainer Hugh Robertson, a mainstay at Arlington Park for decades and very familiar with Graham, entered long-shot Two Emmys in the G1 Mr. D. Stakes and gave simple instructions to Graham, “Go to the front and slow it down.”

Graham followed those instructions faithfully.

Breaking from post position four in the field of eight, Graham and Two Emmys went straight to the front and controlled the pace around the first turn and down the backstretch with his half-mile in a pedestrian 52.43 seconds. In upper stretch, Graham asked Two Emmys for his best and held on when confronted late by the favorite Domestic Spending and Flavien Prat to win by a neck in 2:03.34 for the mile and one-quarter turf race.

“When I didn't see anyone behind me at the quarter pole, I knew they would really have to run to catch me,” said Graham. “He's shown he can do it before and he did it today.”

With the win, Graham posted his fifth career G1 win.

Weekly statistics for Graham were 15-2-2-2 for an in-the-money rate of 40 percent and total purses of $407,668.

Other nominees for Jockey of the Week were Alex Birzer with an in-the-money rate of 55 percent, Tyler Gaffalione who won the G1 Fourstardave, Antonio Gallardo with nine wins for the week, and John Velazquez who won two stakes races at Saratoga.

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