TDN--Three Chimneys Weekend Preview: Graded Action at Del Mar and Kentucky Downs

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00:00The Weekend Preview is sponsored by Three Chimneys.

00:10This weekend we've got a lot of action.

00:12It's closing weekend at Del Mar.

00:13Usually Del Mar used to close same weekend as Saratoga, but they're going a weekend further

00:19this year.

00:20So we have the Del Mar Debutante and Del Mar Futurity, which we'll get to in a little bit.

00:23But we're going to start off talking about the card Saturday at Kentucky Downs, which

00:27is a massive, massive card with six Greatest Stakes races, all, according to Bill, our

00:33intrepid journalist here, worth $1 million.

00:36No, five or six, Joe.

00:37Five or six races are worth $1 million.

00:40Okay.

00:41All right.

00:42Thanks for jumping in, Bill, fact-checking me.

00:43But let's run down the six Greatest Stakes we've got, because it's going to be a great

00:48day of action.

00:49Twelve-race card.

00:50We've got the Mint Million, the WinStar Mint Million.

00:52That was canceled last weekend when Kentucky Downs had to cancel the rest of their Saturday

00:56card due to rain.

00:57We've got the Grade 3 Ladies Turf Stakes.

00:59We've got the Grade 2 Turf Sprint, which is a win-in year-end for the Breeders' Cup Turf

01:03Sprint.

01:04We have the Grade 2 Turf Cup Stakes, which is a win-in year-end for the Breeders' Cup

01:08Turf.

01:09We have the Grade 3 Ladies Sprint Stakes.

01:12And then we have the Grade 2 Franklin Simpson Stakes.

01:14So we have six Greatest Stakes.

01:16The last five comprise of all Greatest Stakes pick four.

01:19The pick four takeout is 14%.

01:21It sounds like such a shill for Kentucky Downs, but how could you not?

01:24Big fields, low takeout, turf racing.

01:27It really is a betters' paradise.

01:29I think the biggest name that's going to run on Saturday, and Bill will love this, is Gafo.

01:35It's going to run in the Grade 2 Turf Cup going a mile and a half.

01:39Just two weeks, two measly weeks after winning the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga.

01:46So he's going to be a short price in there.

01:48Like I said, full of fields.

01:49Every race has 12, 13, 14 horses.

01:53We've got some two-year-old stakes, I believe, that are still coming up at Kentucky Downs.

01:56We've got a Rest Me Red in the Turf Sprint.

01:58He's going to be a pretty big favorite.

02:00Just a shameless plug, I'm going to handicap the Turf Cup and the Turf Sprint on my Better

02:04Things episode later today as part of our Breeders' Cup partnership.

02:07Bill, any thoughts early on from these Kentucky Downs races?

02:11Well, I mean, the overall story is the one you already touched on.

02:14The purses and just the astronomical amount of money given away.

02:19Other than the Breeders' Cup, is there any day in American racing?

02:22I don't think the Belmont Card does, where there's five $1 million races on the card

02:29there.

02:30And the thing about Gufo, which is really cool that he's running back two weeks, but

02:33the reason why is because he's not being campaigned as a stallion prospect.

02:37Now, he is not a gelding, he is a horse.

02:39But for a horse that is a marathon turf horse, there's really no commercial value to them,

02:44at least in this country, as a stallion.

02:46So Christophe Clement is going for the money.

02:49He's going for the right thing here.

02:50And that's something we don't see too often.

02:52Also, again, we talked about it last week, too.

02:56And from a betting standpoint, there's just absolutely nothing like this.

02:59In 12 races on the card, 176 horses have been entered.

03:05Now, that includes also eligibles.

03:07They only run 12 at Kentucky Downs, which I suppose has something to do with maybe the

03:13course is narrow in some parts.

03:14Again, I'm going off on another tangent.

03:16I'd like to see them expand the course or widen it and run 20 horse races.

03:22They have the horses to do it.

03:23Wouldn't that be the coolest thing in the world?

03:25Joe, the other story, well, there's a couple other ones.

03:29But Arco comes back in the Kentucky Downs Turf Cup to go against Gufo.

03:33He won in 2020, he was second in 2021.

03:37Wesley Ward looks really strong, Campanella and the Mint Lady Sprint coming back off a

03:41third place finish at Royal Ascot.

03:43And in the Franklin spot, Clement also has big invoice, having won six straight races

03:49coming into that big race.

03:50So just a wonderful card at Kentucky Downs.

03:53They don't have to go up against Saratoga, but they do have to go up against Del Mar.

03:57So that will take away the spotlight from them just a little bit.

04:00But from a betting standpoint and a good racing standpoint, Deepfields, and also some really,

04:06really good horses, this will be the center of the racing universe on Saturday, with apologies

04:10to Del Mar.

04:11Yeah, for sure.

04:12I'm going to ask Randy too, like as a handicapper, how do you approach these races at Kentucky

04:16Downs?

04:17Do you have anything specific that you look for?

04:19I throw up a white flag when it comes to Kentucky Downs handicapping, I'm terrible at Kentucky

04:26Downs.

04:27Yeah, me too.

04:28But when you mentioned all the races and you mentioned the winning you're in for the Breeders'

04:31Cup Turf, I'll admit I just got on my formulator right here, DRA formulator, and I'm like,

04:36I guarantee you, I know one horse who's going to be running in that winning you're in a

04:39mile and a half, Arco.

04:42Now, I'm looking at his lifetime past performances, he's won $3 million, right?

04:46This is his meal ticket.

04:48In 2018, he won this race, and he beat Bigger Picture, who was a nice horse by a half length.

04:54In 2019, he was second in the Kentucky Cup to Zulu Alpha.

05:00In 2020, he won the Kentucky Turf Cup and beat a horse called Red Knight.

05:05In 2021, last year, he was beaten a neck in the Turf Cup by Imperador.

05:11And now at age eight, here he comes back again, and he comes off a really good second place

05:17finish to Rock Emperor.

05:19In his comeback race, he hadn't run since October of 2021.

05:22This was at Saratoga, he was beaten a half length and he had some traffic trouble in

05:26the race.

05:27So, Arco's primed and ready to go again at Kentucky Downs, I think he'll beat Gufo.

05:32All right, well, there you go.

05:34This is Randy's handicapping opinion, his lone handicapping opinion for the week at

05:39Kentucky Downs.

05:40You know, I think about the Turf Cup and that used to be the real centerpiece of the meet.

05:46That was it at Kentucky Downs and the old dueling grounds.

05:49Now you look at these cards and all these greatest stakes races, and shout out to the

05:52Greatest Stakes Committee because they really have rewarded Kentucky Downs.

05:56It's time for them to get a great one, but overall, they've rewarded Kentucky Downs for

06:00running these big fields and having these big purses.

06:03In general, we need fewer Greatest Stakes in America, but this is a track that deserves

06:08more Greatest Stakes and some great ones as well, and I think that they've done a good

06:12job with that.

06:13I'm interested in Campanelle running too, because this is one of the few places in America

06:17where she's going to run as close to a full field as possible.

06:21She ran against 23 horses last time in the Platinum Jubilee, was a close third, beat

06:2721 of those horses, if I did the math correctly, I think.

06:31That was at Royal Ascot.

06:32That was against boys as well.

06:34She's a really, really nice filly.

06:36She was also a head second in the Commonwealth Cup against boys last year at Royal Ascot.

06:42She has done a lot in a relatively short career.

06:45She's only run eight times, or nine times, excuse me.

06:48She's won five times, so I'm really interested in seeing her.

06:51She's going to run in the Ladies Sprint Stakes, which is the second to last race on the card.

06:55Like I said, we have Delmar as well coming up.

06:57We're going to get to that after the break, but this weekend preview is brought to you

07:00by Three Chimney Stallions.

07:02Gunrunner had his latest graded winner over the weekend with Wicked Halo in the grade

07:06two Prioress Stakes.

07:07The Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred is now undefeated in our last three starts.

07:10She's been off the board only once in her nine lifetime starts.

07:14Gunrunner also had a juvenile winner over the weekend with Red Route One, was another

07:17Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred who broke his maiden at Kentucky Downs.

07:21Gunrunner has almost 30 yearlings in Keeneland September Book One alone, including, as we

07:26mentioned earlier, the full sister to grade two Prioress winner Wicked Halo.

07:31How many of those Gunrunners are going to be in the top 10, top 15 yearlings?

07:36My guess is he's going to have at least a third of them because he's just an absolute

07:40sensation.

07:41I'm sure everybody at Three Chimneys feels lucky to have him, so we'll be right back

07:44after this message from Three Chimney Stallions.

07:47Here comes Tabor!

07:50Tabor in the center of the track with good looking stride, squares off with Cyberknife!

07:55Cyberknife takes the lead!

07:56Tabor going with him!

07:57These two in a thriller!

07:58Cyberknife just in front and Cyberknife has won the TBG.com Haskell over Tabor!

08:05Jack Christopher finished third, the running time 1 minute 46.24 seconds.

08:11Gunrunners on top of the world!

08:14Come, dream with us at Three Chimneys.

08:17And it's all Tyler's Tribe to the final furlong.

08:25He's putting on another show tonight.

08:27He is 8 lengths in front, now it's 10, now it's 12.

08:31Tyler's Tribe pouring it on as they come down to the line.

08:35He's going to win by double digits and he stops the clock in 1.04.

08:47Alright, so like I mentioned, this weekend is closing weekend at Del Mar.

08:51It's a week later than it used to be because they started the meet a little bit later.

08:55We have the two grade ones for two-year-olds.

08:58That's not all, though.

08:59We do have the TBG Del Mar debutante, which is on Saturday, grade one for the Phillies.

09:04And then we have the Run Happy Del Mar Futurity, which is on Sunday for the boys.

09:08We also have some other stuff at Del Mar to look forward to.

09:10We have the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes, which is a grade three on Sunday.

09:14I think that's the first year this is graded, or maybe the second year.

09:17It's gotten some good horses in recent years, horses that have gone on the Do OK and the Breeders' Cup.

09:22We also have the grade two John C. Mabee Stakes on Saturday at Del Mar.

09:26We have a couple other races at Kentucky Downs.

09:28We have a couple other stakes on Saturday.

09:30The ACS Ladies Marathon Stakes, the Untappable Stakes.

09:33The Nelson's Greenbrier Tennessee Whiskey Music City Stakes.

09:37Got through that in one beat.

09:39I'm a professional here.

09:41It's harder to write, I think, than it is to say.

09:43And then we also have some stuff overseas to look forward to.

09:46We have the Irish Champion Stakes this weekend.

09:48I think Mishrif is going to be in there.

09:50Vadeni, who's a very nice horse, who's won some big races in France, is going to be in that race.

09:54We have the Prix Vermeil in France as well, which is a group one.

09:58Yeah, I mean, Del Mar has had a pretty good meet.

10:03I'm interested to see the handle when it comes out at the end of the meet, as well as the safety stats.

10:08Because that's been a big thing.

10:10That's a big feather in the cap for Del Mar, I think, in recent years.

10:12Is how few breakdowns they've had and how few injuries they've had.

10:16So I haven't seen any numbers yet from this meet so far.

10:19But I assume they're still chugging along in that regard.

10:22And they deserve a lot of credit for that.

10:24But yeah, I also want to mention the Wonderware Stakes is on Sunday at Woodbine,

10:28which is restricted for Ontario-bred three-year-old fillies.

10:33I'm guessing that Moira is going to go in the Prince of Wales.

10:37No, Joe, she's not.

10:39They've confirmed they're passing the Prince of Wales.

10:42And they're going to run next in either the Cotillion or the Queen Elizabeth II

10:46because they want to get graded stakes victories out of her.

10:50And obviously, you can't do that in restricted races in Canada.

10:53Oh, damn.

10:54I mean, I would have liked to see her go for the Canadian Triple Crown.

10:57But I mean, I guess that makes sense.

10:59Has she run on dirt yet?

11:01I don't believe she has.

11:03I think it's all synthetic and she's never run on the turf either.

11:06So her next start, if it's one of those two,

11:09either way, it'll be uncharted territory.

11:11Gotcha.

11:12All right.

11:13Yeah, so we'll keep an eye out for her wherever she runs.

11:15But yeah, definitely Delmar, Kentucky Downs, the places to watch and be this weekend,

11:20especially Kentucky Downs with those fields.

11:23Like Randy said, it's a tough nut to crack, especially if you do multi-race wagers.

11:28There are so many landmines in those sequences.

11:31But you can make money within the race, theoretically.

11:35Theoretically, you can make money because of the low takeout and the big fields.

11:41That's all I can think about is the opportunity.

11:45But it hardly ever works out.

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