(Trainer Brad Cox trains Literate, who will run in the Likely Exchange Stakes this Saturday at Turfway Park)

From the Turfway Park Media Team / Kevin Kerstein:

G3 WINNER LITERATE RETURNS IN LIKELY EXCHANGE

FLORENCE, Ky. (Thursday, Jan. 8, 2025) – C2 Racing Stable and BAG Racing Stables’ Grade III winner Literate heads an ultra-competitive cast of eight fillies and mares entered in Saturday’s 28th running of the $125,000 Likely Exchange presented by Claiborne Farm at Turfway Park Racing & Gaming.

The Likely Exchange is the final race in the three-race “Make Your Mare Series”, which awards stallion credits at Claiborne Farm to the top three finishers. Run at one mile, the Likely Exchange goes as Race 8 at 9:25 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post is 5:55 p.m.

Literate is set to make her second start in this season’s Make Your Mare Series following a third-place finish on Dec. 21 in the My Charmer Stakes. Trained by Brad Cox, Literate scored a gutsy half-length victory five months ago in the Trillium Stakes (GIII) at Woodbine while under the care of Martin Drexler. A five-time winner from 19 starts, Literate will break from post No. 2 in Saturday’s affair with jockey Luan Machado in the irons.

The field for the Likely Exchange also includes Adele B. Dilschneider and Dell Hancock’s My Charmer second-place finisher Trial; Blackout Racing and Patricia’s Hope’s stakes-placed Velvet Deviland Town and Country Racing’s 2023 Sweetest Chant Stakes (GIII) winner Cairo Consort.

The complete lineup for the Likely Exchange from the rail out (with jockey, trainer and morning line odds):

  • Velvet Devil (Adam Beschizza, Mike Tomlinson, 3-1)
  • Literate (Machado, Cox, 5-2)
  • Devassa (BRZ) (Walter Rodriguez, Paulo Lobo, 12-1)
  • Love Song (Joe Ramos, Mike Stidham, 4-1)
  • Condone (Fernando De La Cruz, Vicki Oliver, 12-1)
  • Cairo Consort (Vincent Cheminaud, Chris Davis, 8-1)
  • Hello Hello Hello (Alberto Burgos, Michelle Elliott, 20-1)
  • Trial (Irvin