Have Some Thoroughbred Racing with your Turkey

 

Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and as you plan your holiday gatherings with friends and family, please be sure to leave time for horse racing between the food and the football. Thanksgiving also starts the final big weekend of thoroughbred racing in 2014 with many graded stakes races being run at Aqueduct, Churchill Downs, and the new fall Del Mar meeting.

Let me help you complete your Thanksgiving Day menu. The racetracks are open, so be sure to leave time between the drumstick and the dessert for the six furlong Fall Highweight Handicap (G3) in Ozone Park, NY; the nine furlong Falls City Handicap (G2) for fillies and mares in Louisville, KY; and the mile and a half Hollywood Turf Cup (G2) at the beach outside of San Diego. All those races will be run on November 27^th.

While you are enjoying your Thanksgiving leftovers, there is great racing to enjoy the rest of the weekend, with your turkey sandwiches and apple pie. On Friday at Aqueduct, there is the flat mile Go For Wand (G2) for the distaffers. At Churchill the older males will run in the nine-panel Clark Handicap (G1) with Hoppertunity headlining. At Del Mar, the Seabiscuit Handicap (G2) is at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf.

Saturday, Nov. 29^th, will feature the star of this year’s Derby and also races that offer points for the 2015 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks. In New York, the Remsen (G2) and the Demoiselle (G2) both come with the 10-4-2-1 points for the road to next May’s Derby and Oaks.  Also on Saturday, the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) and the Golden Rod (G2) have similar points being offered for the 2015 Classic races.

At Aqueduct on that same Saturday, the Cigar Mile (G1), which is New York’s final grade one of the year, and the Comely (G3) for three-year-old fillies will be run. Total NYRA Thanksgiving week stakes purses add up to a minimum of $2.3 million.

California Chrome will make his first try on the grass in the Hollywood Derby (G1) on the 29^th. Also at Del Mar on that same day will be the Jimmy Durante (G3) for juvenile fillies on the turf and the Native Diver (G3). Del Mar also has on Sunday the Cecil B. Demille (G3) for the juvenile boys on the turf and the Matriarch (G1) for older fillies and mares on the grass. Total graded stakes purses at Del Mar, for their four days of racing, is $1.6 million.

The last weekend in November will provide great food and family to go with graded stakes racing that have Kentucky Derby and Oaks points as well as 2014 Eclipse Award implications in the Hollywood Derby.