The Polytrack was fast as always. Back on the turf, and the condition was listed as soft. Seven races run on synthetic, and only one wire job as off the pace types scored six times. Stalkers and closers best on the sod.

Albarado, Graham, and Leparoux each booted home a pair.

Grade 3 Woodford:  Silver Timber wore down a game Mr. Nightlinger in this prep for the BC Turf Sprint. Leparoux booted home the winner for Chad Brown.

Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America: SoCal invader Carlsbad looked home free in the stretch, but heavy fav Informed Decision rumbled on by in deep stretch under Leparoux. Jonathan Sheppard saddled the winner, who is a top contender for the BC Filly & Mare Sprint.

Grade 1 First Lady:  Diamondrella had no problem with soft turf and two turns en route to a sharp off the pace tally in this flat mile turf test. Tizaqueena gamely held the place over heavy fav Forever Together. Angel Penna Jr. saddled the IEAH runner, and Rajiv Maragh continued his sharp riding form.

Grade 1 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity: Noble’s Promise sat the right forwardly place trip and had enough to hold off Aikenite in the 8.5 furlong test for juveniles. Willie Martinez rode the winner for Ken McPeek. Don’t think Lookin At Lucky has much to worry about from this group in the BC Juvenile.

Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile: Big day for IEAH Stable as they nabbed their 2nd grade one of the day with Court Vision, who tagged Karelian by a nose. Mr. Sidney was along for the show, and Justenuffhumor never fired in a disappointing effort.

Swift Temper tries synthetic ground in Spinster

Keeneland Preview – Oct 11th

FallStars weekend concludes on Sunday with a pair of graded races, and both have Breeders’ Cup implications. Below is a preview…

Grade 3 Bourbon: Prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and Todd Pletcher has the 5-2 favorite in Interactif, who opted for this after his first choice prep was washed off the grass in New York last week. He was last seen easily capturing a graded race in his turf bow.

Grade 1 Spinster: Prep for the Ladies’ Classic, and this crew is hoping Zenyatta decides to face the gents on Cup day. Swift Temper is the 3-1 choice, but she failed to fire in her lone synthetic try and is worth trying to beat at underlaid odds.

Image: Newscom

Post from: Thoroughbred Fever

A pair of Polytrack wire jobs on Saturday, with stalking types taking the bulk of the other synthetic races carded. Nothing wrong with outer lanes. Two of the three turf races were taken in wire-to-wire fashion.

Rafael Bejarano rode four winners on Saturday afternoon, including two stakes, and Robby Albarado also booted home a pair of stakes winners. Dale Romans saddled two winners on the card.

Sing Baby Sing stalked the pace and upset the apple cart in the 156th running of the Grade 3 Phoenix. 3-2 fav Talent Search saved the place by a neck over Keeneland specialist Carnacks Choice. The winner completed the 6f synthetic test in 1:08.48.

Chamberlain Bridge pulled off a wire job upset over Smart Enough in the 12th running of the Woodford, a five and one-half furlong turf sprint.

Square Eddie was a razor sharp winner of the Grade 1 Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity. The much the best overseas two-year-old went 8.5f in 1:43.04 and paid $20.20. Doug O’Neill is expected to take over the training duties, and he figures to take a crack at the BC Juvenile if all goes according to plan. I have added a replay of this race below, courtesy of YouTube.

Thorn Song was a strong wire-to-wire winner over fast closing 9f specialist Shakis in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile. War Monger sat a nice stalking trip and lost 2nd on the line.

Indyanne got back on the winning track with a gritty wire-to-wire head victory over defending champ Wild Gams in the Grade 3 Thoroughbred Club of America. She ran the 6f over Polytrack in 1:08.50, and the Greg Gilchrist trainee might return to her NoCal base to prepare for the BC Filly & Mare Sprint.

SUNDAY PREVIEW

Sunday’s 10-race card features a Pick 6 carryover of $121,430. The feature race is the $500,000 Grade 1 Spinster for fillies and mares traveling nine furlongs on Polytrack.

Multiple graded winner Unbridled Belle, trained by Todd Pletcher, is the 2-1 morning line fav, and note that this will be her first synthetic start.

Godolphin runner Little Belle won the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland and is the 5-1 2nd choice.

Sharp Susan should sit a decent stalking trip for Bill Mott, and Wake Up Maggie, Indescribable, Model, Carriage Trail, Jiboom, Say You Will, and Rosinka have all won on synthetic in the past.

This wide open Sunday feature is my racingonthenet free selection of the day.

Post from: Thoroughbred Fever