Don't count out Miss Temple City just yet

There will be four more turf stakes at Kentucky Downs on Saturday, and in the big picture, none will be more important than the result of first of the quartet. That's because Miss Temple City, a three-time Grade 1 stakes winner in 2016, looks to prove that she still has it, when she tops a field of eight in the Grade 3, $350,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf. 

Off a superlative season last year, the classy daughter of Temple City has been pointed for another crack at the Breeders' Cup Mile all season, but before she can make the starting gate at Del Mar on November 4, the five-year-old mare will need a boost in confidence. 2017 has proven to be one challenge after another for the Graham Motion trained turf star. 

First she broke loose at Palm Meadows, and returned with a minor physical issue that delayed her planned seasonal debut. Then heavy rains caused her to be scratched out of both the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile on Kentucky Derby day and New York's Beaugay Stakes one week later. This all meant that when The Club Racing, Needle In A Haystack, and Sagamore Farm owned mare traveled to Europe for the prestigious, Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes in June, she was doing so without a race in more than six months.

It should come as no surprise that one of the most difficult fields of the year was a tough ask for Miss Temple City considering everything. The classy mare tried, and was involved early, before ultimately fading late to finish 13th of 16 at Royal Ascot.

Since that unsuccessful trip to England, Miss Temple City has made only one start. That came in the WinStar Matchmaker Stakes at Monmouth Park six weeks ago. The result in the nine-furlong Grade 3, was improved and solid, but she ultimately fell short late to a couple of strong turf mares in Wekeela and War Cry. While promising, it certainly was not what we had come to expect from the millionaire mare.

Last year she won those three Grade 1 events, in the Maker’s 46 Mile in the spring at Keeneland, and the Shadwell Turf Mile in the fall at Keeneland, (both over males), before ending her excellent season with a thrilling win in the Matriarch at Del Mar. Even in her four losses last year, Miss Temple City accounted very well for herself, including losing the Breeders' Cup Mile by just over two lengths. Keep in mind, the horse that won the BC Mile, Tourist, was one of those behind her at Keeneland.

Proven at Keeneland and at Del Mar, those are the very tracks where she will look to excel after Kentucky Downs. A return to Keeneland, for either the Grade 1 First Lady or a defense of the Shadwell Turf Mile, will proceed her journey out west to Del Mar and the Breeders' Cup, but before those big races can fill her dance card, she will need to prove her doubters wrong over the unique layout at Kentucky Downs.

If Miss Temple City will indeed return to the winner's circle on Saturday, it will come at the direct expense of a slew of challengers led by the graded stakes winning Zipessa, as well as the top two finishers from the Indiana General Assembly Distaff, Beauly and Linda.