Weekend Watch: Kentucky Downs takes center stage
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Photo:
Reed Palmer/Kentucky Downs
Each weekend, Horse Racing Nation previews the top races to tune into coast to coast and runs down the main contenders. Post times are all in Eastern Time.
Kentucky Downs hosts five stakes on Saturday
Wesley Ward sends out two fillies in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint. Royal Ascot veteran Moonlight Romance and Colleen winner
I’m Betty G tops the one mile Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf Stakes and enters on a three-race win streak, including two stakes. Wilshire (G3) winner Storm the Hill ships in from California as the 4-1 second choice on the morning line. Stonestreet Stables' homebred Valadorna will try turf for the first time for trainer Mark Casse. Those three will face seven others.
Lull is back to defend her Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint title, now a Grade 3 since being upgraded after last year’s edition. Caress winner Ruby Notion gets a nod off her last out win at long odds. The field is otherwise fairly competitive with a total of 10 runners.
Wes Welker-owned Undrafted is the tepid 4-1 choice in the Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint. The 8-year-old gelding last won back in November at the allowance level. He ran third in this event last year. Troy Handicap (G3) runner-up Blind Ambition checks in as the 9-2 second choice on the morning line. Conquest Panthera enters on a nine race skid dating back to August of last year. He has run third in each of his last three races and will be looking to sit off the pace.
As with Lull, Oscar Nominated is back to defend his title. Last year the now 5-year-old won the Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes by a head and will be seeking to repeat that effort this year. He is the 7-2 favorite despite not winning a race since January. Likewise, Bigger Picture has not won since the beginning of the year but is the 9-2 second choice on the morning line. Also part of the field is Multiplier who recently switched from dirt to turf.
Post times for Kentucky Downs:
KD Juvenile Turf Sprint, 4:55 p.m.
KD Ladies Turf, 5:26 p.m.
G3 KD Ladies Sprint, 5:57 p.m.
G3 KD Turf Sprint, 6:29 p.m.
G3 Kentucky Turf Cup, 6:59 p.m.
Gas Station Sushi headlines Beverly J. Lewis
Winner of her first two starts, Gas Station Sushi tasted her first defeat last out when she finished third in the Eight Belles (G2). She drops into the Beverly J. Lewis off that race and is the 8-5 morning line favorite Saturday at Los Alamitos. Trained by Richard Baltas, the filly will run her fourth race and at a fourth different track. She will face Bob Baffert-trained Rayya, who was a disappointing 13th in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) after running a distant second to Mendelssohn in the UAE Derby (G2). She will be cutting back to the six-furlong distance, as Rayya last raced at nine furlongs. Grade 2-placed Steph Being Steph also gets some class relief after facing the likes of Moonshine Memories, Dream Tree, and Midnight Bisou in her last three starts. She also has the advantage of having raced at and won at Los Alamitos. Four additional fillies complete the field. Post time is 7:28 p.m.
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