Alcibiades Stakes 2021: Odds, projections, free PPs and more

The 2021 Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series is ending and action over the next few days will help shape the field for next month’s World Championships.

That starts Friday at Keeneland, which hosts the Grade 1, $400,000 Alcibiades Stakes as its opening day feature. Post time is 5:45 p.m. EDT, with NBCSN and TVG both showing the “win and you’re in” event toward the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

The Alcibiades will see 12 2-year-old fillies go 1 1/16 miles over the main track. It is one of two Breeders’ Cup preps on Friday’s Keeneland card, along with the $250,000 Phoenix Stakes (G2) – a Sprint division qualifier – one race prior.

In all, 10 Breeders' Cup "win and you're in" races will take place between Friday and Wednesday at the Lexington, Ky., track. The World Championships are scheduled for Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar.

Brad Cox trains the Alcibiades’ morning line favorite, Juju’s Map (5-2). She won on second asking last month at Ellis Park, airing by 5¾ lengths in an effort that allowed jockey Florent Geroux to be “a statuesque rider,” per the chart.

Geroux stays aboard the Liam’s Map filly Friday at Keeneland. He has never won the Alcibiades, while Cox took the event’s 2019 running with eventual Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine British Idiom.

Cox also conditions Matareya (4-1), an Ellis Park debut winner in August. She elevates all the way to Grade 1 flight for her second career start.

Trainer Kenny McPeek has won five editions of the Alcibiades Stakes, including last October with Simply Ravishing. He has two starters Friday with Churchill Downs maiden winner Penny Saver (4-1) and Pocahontas Stakes (G3) runner-up Mama Rina (12-1).

Here is a look at the field for the 2021 Alcibiades Stakes (trainer and jockey in parentheses) with morning line odds:

1. Juju’s Map (Brad Cox, Florent Geroux), 5-2

2. Miss Interpret (Todd Pletcher, Jose Ortiz), 10-1

3. Sequist (Dallas Stewart, Junior Alvarado), 30-1

4. Dream Lith (Robertino Diodoro, Adam Beschizza), 15-1

5. Myfavoritedaughter (Jeff Engler, Corey Lanerie), 30-1

6. Mama Rina (Kenny McPeek, Julien Leparoux), 12-1

7. Matareya (Brad Cox, Joel Rosario), 4-1

8. Distinctlypossible (Chad Brown, Tyler Gaffalione), 8-1

9. Pipeline Girl (Tom Amoss, James Graham), 20-1

10. Penny Saver (Kenny McPeek, Brian Hernandez Jr.), 4-1

11. Diamond Wow (Patrick Biancone, Mike Smith), 8-1

12. Runup (Laura Wohlers, Joseph Ramos), 12-1

TimeformUS’ pace projections show Matareya going out to set a fast early pace under jockey Joel Rosario, followed by stablemate Juju’s Map.

For more information on the Alcibiades Stakes and some of the weekend’s other graded stakes races, visit Horse Racing Nation’s free past performances page.

Friday’s Keeneland card

Here is a look at other key races on Friday’s Keeneland card. All post times are EDT.

Related: Keeneland's opening weekend loaded with graded stakes

1:35 p.m. – Race 2, maiden special weight, 2-year-olds, one mile (turf), TVG

Rum ‘n Tonic (4-1) looks to bounce back from a fourth-place showing on debut last month at Kentucky Downs for trainer Mike Maker. Jockey Joel Rosario will pilot the Unified colt, a Three Diamonds Farm homebred. Todd Pletcher trains Steinbeck (9-2), who sold earlier this year for $650,000 but finished sixth in his bow at Saratoga. Gingrich (9-2) makes a fourth try at breaking his maiden, with a third-place finish at Kentucky Downs his most recent result.

3:55 p.m. – Race 6, maiden special weight, 2-year-old fillies, six furlongs, TVG

Social Matrix (3-1) debuts as a morning line favorite. Brad Cox trains the Jimmy Creed filly, who owner OXO Equine purchased as a yearling for $500,000 and who recorded two bullet works last month on the all-weather track at Turfway Park. Jockey Florent Geroux will ride. Wesley Ward trains Halo of Fire (7-2), who was fifth on debut in August at Saratoga.

4:30 p.m. – Race 7, allowance, 3-and-up, 1 1/16 miles (turf), TVG

Kentucky Ghost (5-2) enters off back-to-back second-place finishes in stakes races, including last month going one mile and 70 yards at Kentucky Downs. Victoria Oliver trains the 4-year-old Ghostzapper gelding, who won an allowance optional claiming race in May at Churchill. Jockey Rafael Bejarano gets the call. Maker trains Dynadrive (4-1), who drops in class after finishing ninth at Kentucky Downs in the Calumet Turf Cup (G2).

5:10 p.m. – Race 8, $250,000 Phoenix Stakes (G2), 3-and-up, six furlongs, NBCSN and TVG

Special Reserve (9-5) aims for a second graded stakes triumph of the season after winning the Maryland Sprint Match Series Stakes (G3) in May at Pimlico. Trained by Maker, he was second last out at Saratoga in July’s Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) behind Lexitonian, who is training up to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Rosario will get a leg up on the 5-year-old Midshipman gelding. Trainer Wayne Catalano sends out Aloha West (3-1), who makes a graded stakes bow after two straight Saratoga allowance scores.

6:20 p.m. – Race 10, allowance, 3-and-up, 1 1/8 miles (turf), TVG

Red Hornet (3-1), a debut winner in June at Arlington Park, makes his first start at the allowance level after running in three straight stakes events without a win. Anna Meah trains the 3-year-old English Channel gelding, who was fifth last out at Kentucky Downs in the Dueling Grounds Derby. Rosario rides yet another morning line favorite. Modern Science (7-2) finished one spot ahead of Red Hornet in the Dueling Grounds Derby for trainer Ian Wilkes.

Alcibiades preview

From Keeneland’s communications department:

A field of a dozen 2-year-old fillies, headed by Sorority winner Runup, was entered Tuesday for the 70th running of the Grade 1, $400,000 Alcibiades that serves as the centerpiece of Friday’s opening program of the Fall Meet.

The 1 1/16-mile main track test is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race with the winner getting a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to be held Nov. 5 at Del Mar.

The Alcibiades will go as the ninth race on Friday’s 10-race program with a 5:45 p.m. EDT post time. First post is 1 p.m.

Owned and bred by James McIngvale, Runup has won both of her starts on dirt highlighted by the three-length victory at Monmouth Park in the one-mile Sorority in her first two-turn test. Trained by Laura Wohlers, Runup will be ridden by Joseph Ramos and leave from post position 12.

Another entrant with two-turn experience is Mama Rina, runner-up in the Pocahontas (G3) last month while going 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs. Owned by the partnership of Harold Lerner, AWC Stables, Nehoc Stables, Scott Akman and Paul Braverman et al, and trained by five-time Alcibiades winner Kenny McPeek, Mama Rina will be ridden by Julien Leparoux from post position six.

Three runners coming out of Grade 1 tests are in the field: Sequist and Dream Lith, the fourth- and fifth-place finishers in the seven-furlong Spinaway on Sept. 5 at Saratoga, and Myfavoritedaughter, fourth in the seven-furlong Del Mar Debutante on Sept. 5.

Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Lori Gervais, Charles Pigg, Tom Andres, and Karen Kraft and trained by Dallas Stewart, Sequist won on debut at Colonial Downs before going to the Spinaway. Junior Alvarado has the mount from post position three.

Cypress Creek Equine and Arnold Bennewith’s Dream Lith won her debut outing by 2¼ lengths at Saratoga prior to the Spinaway. Robertino Diodoro trains Dream Lith, who will exit post position four under Adam Beschizza.

Average Joe Racing Stables’ Myfavoritedaughter took three tries to notch her first victory, which came by 25 lengths over a sloppy track going seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park prior to going to Del Mar. Trained by Jeff Engler, Myfavoritedaughter will be ridden by Corey Lanerie out of post position five.

The field for the Alcibiades, with riders from the inside, is: Juju’s Map (Florent Geroux), Miss Interpret (Jose Ortiz), Sequist (Albarado), Dream Lith (Beschizza), Myfavoritedaughter (Lanerie), Mama Rina (Julien Leparoux), Matareya (Joel Rosario), Distinctlypossible (Tyler Gaffalione), Pipeline Girl (James Graham), Penny Saver (Brian Hernandez Jr.), Diamond Wow (Mike Smith), Runup (Ramos). All starters carry 122 pounds.