Competitive Field in the Falls City
Listed at 3-1 in the morning line, co-favorites Flashy American and Don’t Tell Sophia will be lining up at opposite ends of the Churchill Downs gate on Thursday for the […]
Listed at 3-1 in the morning line, co-favorites Flashy American and Don’t Tell Sophia will be lining up at opposite ends of the Churchill Downs gate on Thursday for the $150,000 Grade II Falls City Handicap for fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles on the dirt. Nine have been entered for the race, and Don’t Tell Sophia has been assigned high weight of 122 pounds. A five-year-old Congaree mare, Don’t Tell Sophia has finished in-the-money in six straight stakes races in 2013 with a win last time out in the Grade II Chilukki Stakes, and a third three starts back in the Grade I Apple Blossom.
All contenders have found graded-stakes success
Flashy American, who will break from the inside post, made her last start in the Grade I Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita where she finished fourth, six lengths back of the winner Beholder, who then went on to beat a very tough field to capture the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Prior to that Flashy American had claimed two consecutive stakes victories, both times rallying in the stretch. Fiftyshadesofhay, third choice at 5-2, has been in the money in seven-straight graded stakes, including consecutive wins in the Grade II Black-Eyed Susan and Grade III Iowa Oaks.
Longshot coming back to the dirt surface
Among the longer shots, the most serious threat may come from the Illinois-bred My Option (8-1) who earlier this year won two-straight stakes events on the dirt at Hawthorn, and then managed some good results on Polytrack, including a Grade III win in the Arlington Oaks. Since then she’s had three consecutive third-place finishes, the last in the Grade II Lexus Raven Run where she came out of the clouds to circle nine-wide before closing fast and only missing the top two placings by a neck. Wine Princess, the runner up to Don’t Tell Sophia in the Chilukka, is also in the field at 6-1.
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One of the most historic - and controversial - editions of the Kentucky Derby is in the books and the next leg of the US Triple Crown moves to Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course for the running of the Preakness Stakes. The 1 3/16 test over the Pimlico dirt track is drawing a wide-open field of three-year-old thoroughbreds gunning for the $1.5 million purse.
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