KY Downs Moves Sunday Card to Labor Day (Maybe?)

(Dalika edged Princess Grace in Churchill Downs’ Grade 1 Beverly D. They’ll meet again in the $1 million Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf. Coady Photography)

The biggest day in Kentucky Downs’ 31 racing seasons will be staged this coming Saturday with potentially five $1 million stakes among the six graded stakes being offered. Only the Breeders’ Cup has more seven-figure purses in a single day in America, with five on its Championship Friday and nine on Championship Saturday.

The $1 million FanDuel Turf Sprint and $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup, both Grade 2 stakes, are “Win And You’re In” Breeders’ Cup Challenge races, meaning their winners get a fees-paid berth in the corresponding Breeders’ Cup event Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland Race Course.

Inclement weather this past Saturday forced Kentucky Downs to move the $1 million WinStar Mint Million (G3) to the Sept. 10 card. Also on that day, the $750,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf (G3) and $600,000 The Mint Ladies Sprint (G3) will see their purses increased to $1 million under an incentive Kentucky Downs offered if a Grade 1 winner ran in either stakes.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, both races will receive the purse hike, which breaks down into a $550,000 base purse and another $450,000 in Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Funds for which only registered Kentucky-bred horses compete. That, however, is the vast majority of horses running in Kentucky.

Trainer Al Stall confirmed that Dalika, who became a Grade 1 winning by taking the Aug. 13 Beverly D. at Churchill Downs, will run in the Ladies Turf, a mile race in which she finished second by a half-length last year to Princess Grace, who also returns. As a German-bred, Dalika is not eligible for the Kentucky-bred money, but the $550,000 base purse still be the largest purse for which she’s competed.

Trainer Wesley Ward is running two-time European Group 1 winner Campanelle (an Irish-bred) in the Ladies Sprint. Her presence aids Stall and owner Paul Varga of Louisville as well, as they have 2021 winner In Good Spirits coming back into that 6 1/2-furlong stakes.

In fact, before Ward’s intention was announced, Stall fleetingly thought about running Dalika against her stablemate, to ensure both ran for more money. “That was only a little 10-percent chance, bar-room talk,” Stall quipped later.

While Stall and Varga had a big day last year with both mares with a win and a second, the trainer thinks they have a shot to top that. In her last start, In Good Spirits set the pace before finishing fourth in Saratoga’s De La Rose Stakes.

“Dalika has been in Kentucky for a while and has done well ever since the Beverly D,” Stall said. “She’s tough and she’s ready to go again. Spirits got a lot of out the De La Rose, a two-turn mile on the inner turf. We feel that race will make her good and fit and dialed in for 6 1/2 furlongs.”

Dalika beat Princess Grace by a half-length in the 1 1/8-mile Beverly D. Princess Grace’s trainer, Mike Stidham, said he believes the distance that day worked in Dalika’s favorite but that the mile distance works in Princess Grace’s favor.

Stall doesn’t disagree, while saying, “I think Dalika might be a tad sharper this year than last year. She was at the end of 18 straight races last year and now she’s only had three after a really good, solid vacation. She might be a hair better. She needs to be a hair better. Princess Grace likes the mile; I see where Mike’s coming from.”

Of taking on Campanelle with In Good Spirits, Stall said, “I’m hoping the 6 1/2 with some undulation softens her up a little bit. But Campanelle is a monster of a horse, for sure. She’s had a great career.”

Stall hopes to be in a third stakes Saturday with Evan Sing in the $600,000 Franklin-Simpson (G2) for 3-year-olds running 6 1/2 furlongs. Norman Cheng’s homebred gelding would be making his stakes debut, coming into the race off of a last-to-first victory in a July 28 turf sprint allowance race at Saratoga. Second that day was the 4-year-old Thin White Duke, who won Friday’s $150,000 Lucky Coin Stakes at Saratoga and who is strongly being considered to wheel right back in Saturday’s FanDuel Turf Sprint. Evan Sing also finished a good second in a Churchill Downs mile allowance to Stitched, who will be one of the Franklin-Simpson’s favorites.

Entries will be taken and post positions drawn Monday for Saturday’s blockbuster card, which will include coverage by NBC Sports airing CNBC. FanDuel TV (formerly TVG) also will have extensive coverage and show every race live.

Could Ready to Purrform be Donegal’s next Arklow?

The featured stakes on the Labor Day card, carried over from Sunday, would be the $750,000 Big Ass Fans Dueling Grounds Derby and the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks.

Ready to Purrform comes into the full field of twelve 3-year-olds as the 3-1 favorite in the Dueling Grounds Derby.

The son of turf champion Kitten’s Joy appears the horse to beat off his victory in Saratoga’s Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes. And if he wins the 1 5/16-mile Dueling Grounds Derby, owner Donegal Racing can really start daydreaming that he might be one to some day fill the hoof prints of 8-year-old stablemate Arklow, who on Saturday will attempt to become the first three-time winner of the $1 million, Grade 2 Kentucky Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles. It will be Arklow’s fifth time to run in Kentucky Downs’ signature race.

“He certainly could” be the heir apparent to Arklow, said Donegal founder Jerry Crawford. “He’s not there yet. I think he does maybe have the best (handicapping) numbers by a tick in the Derby. A lot of people have an unknown in this kind of a race in that location. We have two unknowns. We’ve wanted him to run this long for quite a while, but we could never get a race at that distance. We think he’ll handle the distance, and we don’t have any reason to believe he won’t be able to handle the track itself. But you don’t know until you know.”

Ready to Purrform, who won his debut as a 2-year-old at Ellis Park right before Kentucky Downs’ meet began, didn’t have a chance to run at the Franklin track last year. Instead he captured the Laurel Futurity in his second start, with both victories coming at 1 1/16 miles. Since then he’s only raced at a mile, including starting 2022 with a second by a neck in a Pimlico stakes Preakness Weekend, third in Belmont’s Manila and then winning the Hall of Fame.

“We’re very excited about him,” Crawford said. “He displayed his ability and versatility in his last out at Saratoga. He had been coming from off the pace, and Joel (Rosario) put him on the pace and prevailed wire to wire.”

California Angel returns to where she launched her wings

Among the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks capacity field of twelve 3-year-old fillies is California Angel, who flew into national prominence as the Cinderella story heading into last year’s Breeders’ Cup.

Bought for only $5,500 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales summer sale of 2-year-olds in training, California Angel immediately paid back owner Chris Walsh’s investment many times over by winning her debut at Kentucky Downs at 28-1 odds to earn $81,000. Two starts later, the daughter of 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome picked up another $120,000 in taking Keeneland’s Grade 2 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine.

That victory was the first in a graded stakes for veteran trainer George Leonard, who is based in Indiana and Kentucky. It also gave California Angel a fees-paid trip to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. While things didn’t work out at Del Mar — the filly tossed her head at the start while breaking from the disadvantageous post 13, forcing her to come very wide and ultimately winding up 11th — the experience was priceless for Walsh and Leonard, the filly’s rags-to-riches background a popular story before the race.

“She’s made life completely different for me,” said Leonard, who began training in 1991. “It’s a horse of the lifetime. She’s got a fan following like no horse I’d ever imagine that a horse I trained would have. It’s been incredible since we had her. She is a special kind of horse. Everything about her is different from the majority of horses I train. She’s just a cut above. It’s been just been a super ride since I’ve had her — the joy of my training career. She’s been absolutely the star of my whole show.”

California Angel will be making her first start since rallying to be a good second in New Orleans’ Allen Black Cat LaCombe Memorial on turf on March 12. That followed a pair of off-the-board finishes in dirt stakes that derailed any Kentucky Oaks aspirations.

“I just gave her some time off after a tough campaign as a 2-year-old, going through the sales and everything,” Leonard said of the six-month layoff. “We decided to give her a break and do right by her. She has trained excellent since. Done everything I could ask of her. It would have been nice to get have gotten a race into her before this, but nothing ever presented itself. So we had to go with what we had in front of us.”

In the 1 5/16-mile Dueling Grounds Oaks, California Angel will be racing farther than 1 1/16 miles for the first time.

“My main issue is her being off for a long time,” Leonard said. “I’m a little worried about her being a little fresh and wanting to go a little soon. I know she can get the distance, but it’s a tough distance to get after being off for so long.”

O’Neill on Sharp Aza Tack in Juv Sprint: ‘We’re fired up’

Millionaire Grade 1 winner Sharp Azteca has gotten off to a rousing start at stud and one of the best runners from his first crop may be the horse to beat in the $500,000 Global Tote Juvenile Sprint Stakes Thursday at the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs.

Unbeaten Sharp Aza Tack drew post 2 on Friday morning for the Global Tote, a 6 ½-furlong race for 2-year-olds that lured a field of eight. Trained by two-time Kentucky Derby winner Doug O’Neill, Sharp Aza Tack has won his two starts, both five furlongs on turf, by a combined 9 ½ lengths after leading at every internal point of call.

Sharp Aza Tack, at odds of 12-1, broke his maiden by 2 ¼ lengths June 10 at Santa Anita and cruised home by 7 ¼ lengths as the even-money favorite in the $102,000 Tyro Stakes on July 30 at Monmouth Park.

“He’s always been a pretty precocious colt,” O’Neill said. “It’s safe to say he’s exceeded our expectations. He’s been a really super addition to the stable and we’re optimistic that we can keep it going.”

O’Neill purchased Sharp Aza Tack for $100,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company March Sale of 2-year-olds in training. The colt now races for R3 Racing (Ron Arakelian). O’Neill said he decided to begin Sharp Aza Tack’s career on turf because he believed the competition wouldn’t be as tough as debuting on dirt.

“I think the initial start was one where he was training good, but just thought, generally early in the year, especially with the (Bob) Baffert barn, and some of the powerful barns out here, the turf sprints are a little bit easier than the dirt sprints,” the Southern California-based O’Neill said.

“Just thought you might avoid the million-dollar horses in the turf sprints. That was kind of the mindset and so far, so good.”

Sharp Aza Tack has been based since early July at Keeneland, where he has recorded a series of swift workouts leading up to the Global Tote, a race O’Neill said he circled after the colt won his career debut.

“The purse is through the roof,” O’Neill said. “He’s a Kentucky-bred. He hasn’t done anything wrong so far, so we’re excited.”

Three-time Eclipse Award winner Irad Ortiz Jr. (2018, 2019 and 2020) is named to ride Sharp Aza Tack for the first time in the Global Tote. O’Neill is seeking his second career Kentucky Downs stakes victory after claiming the $500,000 Nevada State Bank Franklin-Simpson (G3) for 3-year-old sprinters in 2019 with long shot Legends of War.

“We’re fired up and optimistic,” O’Neill said.

Sharp Azteca was North America’s second-leading freshman sire in progeny earnings ($823,194) through Sept. 1, according to bloodhorse.com. Sharp Azteca is also the sire of unbeaten Iowa-bred sensation and Breeders’ Cup candidate Tyler’s Tribe, who has won his four starts by a combined 53 ¼ lengths. Tyler’s Tribe is a three-time stakes winner.

The Global Tote will go as the ninth of 10 races, with probable post time 4:57 p.m. (Central). First post Thursday is 12:25 p.m.

Bourbon Spirit owner Staton Flurry: Have horse, will travel

Hot Springs, Ark., owner Staton Flurry has traveled across the country this summer to watch his horses run at Del Mar, Saratoga, Churchill Downs, Ellis Park, Horseshoe Indianapolis, Parx, Louisiana Downs and Evangeline Downs.

Next stop? It’s likely the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs.

That’s because Bourbon Spirit, a Liam’s Map colt Flurry co-owns with Green Bay Packers super fan Paul Farr, is entered in Thursday’s $500,000 Global Tote Juvenile Sprint for 2-year-olds.

Probable post time for the 6 ½-furlong Global Tote, the ninth of 10 races, is 4:57 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at 12:25 p.m.

Flurry said he’s spent about 3 ½ weeks this summer at Del Mar – he has small string with trainer Bill Spawr – and is there this weekend to watch his final runner of the meeting, Invincibella, run in Sunday’s fourth race.

“I get home from Del Mar Tuesday night,” Flurry said. “I want to be there for the stakes. I think we fit very well in the spot, so I do want to be there. I’ve looked at some flights getting into Nashville fairly early on Thursday. Haven’t made any concrete plans, but I expect I’ll be there.”

Trained by Brad Cox, Bourbon Spirit will be making his grass debut after a sharp debut victory at 5 ½ furlongs July 16 at Ellis Park and a runner-up finish in the $203,500 Sapling Stakes on July 27 at Monmouth Park. The Sapling was a mile.

A 6-1 choice on the morning line for the Global Tote, Bourbon Spirit is scheduled to break from post 3 under Florent Geroux in the projected eight-horse field.

“We’re obviously not the favorite,” Flurry said. “That Doug O’Neill horse (Sharp Aza Tack) and that Wesley Ward horse (Half a Chance), they look like they’ve got a lot of speed. But at the same time, it seems like the 6 ½-furlong sprint up there, it plays more like a mile, or a route race, than it does a sprint. We’re really the only horse in that race that has really gone farther than 5 ½, 6 furlongs. Hopefully, we are going to have a little bit of a fitness advantage. We are running him back pretty quick, but he bounced out of the Monmouth race really good and seems like he’s happy and well rested, so we’ll see what Thursday holds.”

Flurry’s bloodstock agent, Clay Scherer, selected Bourbon Spirit, who was a $200,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale graduate. Flurry and Scherer have already struck gold with millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner Shedaresthedevil, a two-time Eclipse Award finalist (3-year-old filly of 2020 and older dirt female in 2021) who won the 2020 Kentucky Oaks.

“There were a few horses that we really liked,” Flurry said. “Eaton Sales consigned it and we kind of bounced through their barn a few times looking at horses. We narrowed it down to two or three, but this is the one that fell within our price range. He’s done everything the right way so far. He’s been very forward. He’s a pretty cool horse to be around.”

Flurry said he and Cox believe Bourbon Spirit will be more effective around two turns and the Global Tote is a bridge to the colt’s first major target at 3, the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 1 at Oaklawn Park. The mile Smarty Jones is traditionally Oaklawn’s first of four Kentucky Derby points races.

“He’s proven he likes the dirt and I think our long-term goal, I’m not going to say the Derby trail, but we definitely have the Smarty Jones circled on our calendar right now,” Flurry said. “That’s what we talked about after the last race. Let’s kind of look at a path from the Smarty Jones and work backwards.”

Bourbon Spirit is among approximately 20 horses Flurry campaigns solely or in partnership. He and his mother, Dorothy, own several parking lots adjacent to Oaklawn and manage numerous rental properties around Hot Springs.

In addition to Shedaresthedevil and Bourbon Spirit, Staton Flurry campaigned multiple graded stakes winner Mr. Misunderstood, who finished third as the favorite in the $750,000 Tourist Mile Stakes in 2018 at Kentucky Downs.

Flurry is seeking his first career Kentucky Downs victory.

Thin White Duke could run in Turf Sprint 8 days after Spa win

Right after Thin White Duke crossed the finish line first by a nose at odds of 4-1 in the $150,000 Lucky Coin at Saratoga Race Course on Sept. 2, trainer David Donk and co-owner Phil Gleaves looked at each other and had the exact same thought.

“We were both thinking about Kentucky Downs,” Gleaves said Saturday.

Gleaves, who retired from training exactly one year ago to the day (Sept. 4) after 37 years in the business, leads the ownership group of Thin White Duke, which also includes Stephen Crist, Ken deRegt and Bryan Hilliard. The 4-year-old New York-bred gelding is nominated to the 24th running of the Grade 2, $1 million FanDuel Turf Sprint at six furlongs this Saturday. Because he was not bred in Kentucky, Thin White Duke would be running for a purse of $550,000.

“We are open to running in it, we are contemplating it,” Gleaves said. “But it all depends on the horse. A lot of horses can do it; Thin White Duke will tell us whether or not we go to Kentucky Downs.”

Before he retired, Gleaves bred and trained Thin White Duke. He saddled him in his first 10 starts. He stopped on him after a 12th-place finish in an allowance race at Belmont. When Gleaves retired that September, he sent Thin White Duke and a couple other of his horses to Donk’s barn.

Before going out on his own as a trainer, Gleaves worked eight years as an assistant for Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens. When he left, his assistant position was filled by Donk. The two have been close friends ever since.

“I know how Dave thinks and Dave knows how I think,” Gleaves said. “We both went to the same school, Woody U. If we question something between ourselves, the same thing comes out of our mouths at once: ‘What would Woody do?’ That’s the reason we don’t have any disagreements on where to run or when to run.”

Thin White Duke, a son of Dominus, has returned after short rest recently. After he finished second in an allowance race at Saratoga on July 28, he came back on Aug. 5 to be part of a three-horse photo in the Grade 3 Troy at 5 1/2-furlongs. He was third behind the highly regarded Golden Pal.

“He has shown a good turn of foot the last few races,” Donk said. “He has a big finish and the (Lucky Coin) kind of validated the last race, whether it was a fluke or not. We needed to see him come back and run well.”

In eight starts this year, Thin White Duke has two wins, a second and a third.

In order to get a trip to Kentucky, Thin White Duke will have to show Donk and Gleaves that he has bounced out of the Lucky Coin in great shape. So far, that is what they are seeing.

If they still see that on Monday, they will pay the entry fee for the Turf Sprint and then get on a van from Saratoga to Kentucky on Thursday.

“Neither Dave nor I am worried about the eight days,” Gleaves said. “That was Woody to a T. The horse is doing well. It would be wonderful if the horse can make it to Kentucky.”

Stephens’ most famous training feat in a Hall of Fame career came when Conquistador Cielo beat older horses to win the Metropolitan Mile and five days later captured the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes — Stephens’ first of a record five straight victories (1982-’86) in the Triple Crown finale.

Reylu in the rain

Jockey Reylu Gutierrez’s second career mount at Kentucky Downs was much more memorable than his first.

After finishing seventh in his local debut last year, Gutierrez returned Saturday to the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs and guided unbeaten Chop Chop ($10.22) to a nose victory in the $500,000 Aristocrat Gaming Juvenile Fillies Stakes for two-time reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox.

The mile Aristocrat, contested in torrential rain over a yielding course, represented the most lucrative career victory to date for Gutierrez, 26, and propelled his 2022 purse earnings to a career-high $5,198,730, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization. Gutierrez’s mounts earned $5,075,404 in 2021.

Chop Chop (2 for 2) won her Aug. 14 career debut at Ellis Park under Gutierrez, who also rode two other winners at the meeting for Cox. Represented by agent Joe Santos, the son of retired Hall of Fame jockey Jose Santos, Gutierrez moved to 4 for 9 this year in his budding relationship with Cox. All four victories have come since July 9. They had been winless together in four previous starts – two in 2020 and two last year.

“Ellis Park,” Gutierrez said moments after his Aristocrat victory. “I’m not sure what happened, what the cards played, but Mr. Cox just decided to name me on a couple of horses I had been working in the morning. Credit to his assistant, Jorje (Abrego), for pushing me to work and to be there. I’ve never expected anything. I just wanted to work for him and for him to see that I’m capable.

“I’m so blessed and honored. (Joe) was actually the first person to text me, saying, ‘She’s going to be really good and I think she can run on the turf and I think she’s going to be really good on the dirt if they ever decide to go that way because she works really good over it.’”

After breaking her maiden, Cox wheeled back Chop Chop in 20 days. She tuned up for the Aristocrat with a half-mile breeze on the dirt under Gutierrez on Aug. 27 at Ellis Park. Chop Chop, who is from the first crop of Pegasus World Cup Invitational and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner City of Light, was clocked in :49.40 over a fast track.

“He’s worked hard for us this summer,” said Cox, who was at Saratoga on Saturday. “I watched him ride over the winter. I remember him from New York and if you can ride in New York, you can ride anywhere. It’s really the toughest colony there is, obviously. He had a really good winter at the Fair Grounds. Rode a couple of horses for us at the Fair Grounds. I’ve been trying to connect with him since last winter, here and there, and things kind of worked out this summer at Ellis. Hopefully, it parlays over to the fall and he’s a guy that we would like to add to our rotation.”

Gutierrez rode 51 winners at the 2021-2022 Fair Grounds meeting to finish fifth in the standings. He made a huge splash in treks to Oaklawn Park during its 2021-2022 meeting, collecting 13 victories and $1,078,916 in purse earnings. Five of the victories were in six-figure allowance or allowance/optional claiming events for trainer John Ortiz, a major client.

“We’ll be based at the Fair Grounds this winter, but we’ll be at Oaklawn quite a bit,” Gutierrez said. “I hope Brad uses me over there, but we’ll be there a lot with that Johnny Ortiz support.”

Gutierrez recorded his first career victory in 2017 and entered Sunday with 476 overall and purse earnings of $20,209,102, according to Equibase. He won the $300,000 Pocahontas Stakes (G3) for 2-year-old fillies aboard Hidden Connection in September 2021 at Churchill Downs for trainer Bret Calhoun.

Gutierrez’s only other Kentucky Downs mount was aboard the Calhoun-trained Street Tapper last September in an entry-level allowance/optional claiming sprint for 2-year-old fillies. He is named on three horses Monday at Kentucky Downs.

Dirt in Aristocrat winner Chop Chop’s future?

Trainer Brad Cox said next-race plans are pending for unbeaten Chop Chop following her victory in the $500,000 Aristocrat Gaming Juvenile Fillies Stakes for 2-year-olds Saturday afternoon at the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs.

Racing over yielding course, saturated by heavy rain, Chop Chop ($10.22) edged Towhead by a nose under Reylu Gutierrez. The winning time for the mile over yielding turf was 1:43.86.

Chop Chop, who races for Selective, LLC (Jerry Bach), broke her maiden in a mile turf race Aug. 14 at Ellis Park.

“I’m not going to rule out the dirt for her,” Cox said, referring to Chop Chop’s next start. “I pretty much got her started on the turf, more so, because of distance, as opposed to surface. She’s a really big filly. Covers a lot of ground. Then, obviously, I thought about a dirt option for her. But this race come up the way it did, I thought for a half-million dollars, we probably should give her an opportunity and it worked out.”

Chop Chop earned $300,700 for her Aristocrat victory, pushing her career bankroll to $336,700. Chop Chop is from the first crop of millionaire City of Light, a multiple Grade 1 winner on dirt. City of Light, in his final career start, won the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at 1 1/8 miles in January 2019 at Gulfstream Park.

Chop Chop, the first stakes winner sired by City of Light, was a $230,000 yearling purchase.