Cheekaboo, My Impression headline Pin Oak Valley View

California invader Cheekaboo and Stuart Janney III’s My Impression, daylight winner of the recent Commonwealth Oaks (G3) at Laurel, head a deep field of 14 3-year-old fillies and one also-eligible entered Tuesday for Friday’s 26^th running of the $150,000 Pin Oak Valley View (G3).

Run at 1 1/16 miles on the turf, the Pin Oak Valley View will go as the ninth race on Friday’s 10-race program with a 5:30 p.m. ET post time.

Owned by Sharon Alesia, Mike Burns and Ciaglia Racing and trained by Peter Eurton, Cheekaboo won the Honeymoon (G2) at Santa Anita in June and in her most recent start three weeks ago finished fifth in the Unzip Me going 6½ furlongs down the hillside course at Santa Anita. Kent Desormeaux has the mount and will break from post position five.

Trained by Shug McGaughey, My Impression has won three of five starts this year. In her two setbacks, she finished behind Time and Motion, winner of Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End (G1). My Impression’s 3¼-length victory at Laurel in her most recent start marked her first graded stakes victory.

Jose Ortiz has the mount on My Impression and will break from post position 10.

Also figuring to merit consideration is My Meadowview Farm’s Tin Type Gal. Trained by Graham Motion, Tin Type Gal is a two-time graded stakes winner who last was third in the $500,000 Sands Point (G2) at Belmont. Trevor McCarthy has the mount and will break from post position four.

The field for the Pin Oak Valley View, with riders and weights from the inside out is: Leafy Shade (IRE) (James Graham, 118 pounds), Nobody’s Fault (Mitchell Murrill, 118), Sweet Tapper (Corey Lanerie, 118), Tin Type Gal (McCarthy, 120), Cheekaboo (Desormeaux, 120), Crooked Stick (Sophie Doyle, 118), Outsider Art (Robby Albarado, 118), Triple Chelsea (Francisco Torres, 118), Quidura (GB) (Junior Alvarado, 118), My Impression (Ortiz, 120), Azaelia (FR) (Florent Geroux, 118), Nawlins Kitty (Shaun Bridgmohan, 118), Sky My Sky (Julien Leparoux, 118) and Linda (Brian Hernandez Jr., 120). Also-eligible: Sassy Little Lila (Florent Geroux, 118).

BREEDERS’ CUP CONTENDERS STABLED AT KEENELAND: Keeneland is home to several potential contenders during the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita on Nov. 4-5.

Pre-entries for the Breeders’ Cup will be announced Wednesday, Oct. 26.

*Runhappy is based at Keeneland’s The Thoroughbred Center, located nearly 12 miles northeast of the track, and has worked at Keeneland.

GRAHAM STABLE HAS UNUSUAL TRAVELING COMPANION: Gregory S. Bentley’s Postulation, entered in Thursday’s Sycamore (G3), and Leafy Shade (IRE), who is to run in Friday’s Pin Oak Valley View (G3), arrived at Keeneland with trainer Eddie Graham’s assistants, Brianne and James Slater, and a miniature horse named Pepper.

“Pepper is becoming something of a legend,” Brianne Slater said. “He goes wherever we go to the races.”

Pepper is the companion for Postulation in his home paddock at the Bentley family’s 550-acre Runnymede Farm in the heart of Pennsylvania’s revered Chester County horse country.

“He is a great turnout buddy,” Slater said. “He is so small that he can’t kick the other horses or roughhouse with them.”

At Keeneland, Pepper is sharing a stall with Leafy Shade.

“She gets real nervous when she ships for a race,” Slater said about the 3-year-old daughter of New Approach (IRE). “In the stall she walks around, but with Pepper in there she relaxes and is much happier.”

Pepper is no one-trick pony, however. When not serving as official roadie, he is the mount for the Slaters’ 5-year-old son, William.

The 1½-mile Sycamore on turf will be the fourth U.S. start for Kentucky-bred Postulation, who spent his early career in Ireland. The 4-year-old Harlan’s Holiday gelding is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Sept. 18 Presque Isle Mile on an all-weather track.

Leafy Shade is exiting a third-place effort in the Dueling Grounds Oaks on the Kentucky Downs turf on Sept. 11. The 1 1/16-mile Valley View on grass will be her fifth U.S. start after spending her 2-year-old season in her native Ireland.

Graham and the Bentley family are adept at winning upper-level races. In 1998, Bentley’s Clearance Code won Keeneland’s Royal Chase for the Sport of Kings hurdle. Graham, who was that gelding’s exercise rider, trained Andrew Bentley’s Hardest Core to win the 2014 Arlington Million (G1).

SOUTHERN GIRL SLATED FOR KEENELAND RETURN IN LEXUS RAVEN RUN: Fox Hill Farms’ Southern Girl is scheduled to make her Keeneland return in Saturday’s $250,000 Lexus Raven Run (G2) at seven furlongs, nearly a year to the day after she recorded the lone defeat in her five-race career.

“She had little issues, but the main thing is she needed to grow up and mature,” trainer Larry Jones said of the 3-year-old half-sister to 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner Mucho Macho Man. “Since she has come back, she has done pretty well.”

After a nine-month layoff, Southern Girl has won all three of her races. In her most recent start, she won her stakes debut in the Shine Again at Laurel on Sept. 10.

“Actually, we had targeted this race before her last race,” Jones said. “I loved the seven furlongs and the only question was whether she would handle the older horses as she was the only 3-year-old in there.”

Southern Girl won the Shine Again by 1¼ lengths. Since coming to Keeneland, she has worked twice, the most recent being Monday in 1:00 for five furlongs with Gabriel Saez up.

In her Keeneland start last year, Southern Girl finished third going 1 1/16 miles, her only start around two turns.

Jones said the gray daughter of Tapit might try two turns again in the future, “but she is doing OK now doing what she is doing.”

GALLOPING OUT: Declan Cannon earned his first Keeneland victory when he rode Michael Hamilton’s 11-1 shot Blonde in the City to win Sunday’s fifth race. Amalio Garcia trains the winner, a 4-year-old City Zip filly who won the six-furlong allowance race by 2½ lengths in 1:11.69.

PROBABLE STARTERS FOR UPCOMING STAKES

$250,000 LEXUS RAVEN RUN (G2) (Entries taken Wednesday, race Saturday) – Bellamentary (Phil D’Amato), Bendable (Richard Mandella), Coniah (Kiaran McLaughlin), Covey Trace (William Denzik Jr.), Grace’s Treasure (Michael Ewing), Lewis Bay (Chad Brown), Lightstream (Brian Lynch), Lucy N Ethel (Tom Amoss), Ma Can Do It (Dale Romans), Malibu Stacy (George Weaver), Mines and Magic (Vicki Oliver), Sophia’s Song (Todd Pletcher), Southern Girl (Larry Jones), Takrees (Kiaran McLaughlin).

$125,000 ROOD & RIDDLE DOWAGER (G3) (Entries taken Thursday, race Sunday, Oct. 23) – Apple Betty (IRE) (Jean-Claude Rouget), Belle De Nuit (ARG) (Mark Casse), Daring Duchess (Mike Maker), Energia Fribby (BRZ) (Neil Drysdale), Freethinker (Vicki Oliver), Goodyearforroses (IRE) (Roger Attfield), Lots o’ Lex (Gerald Aschinger), Oakley Girl (Brendan Walsh), Paige (Christophe Clement), Rachel Wall (Graham Motion), Robillard (Kiaran McLaughlin), Swear by It (Nicholas Esler), Trophee (FR) (Christophe Clement).

$200,000 HAGYARD FAYETTE (G2) (Entries taken Wednesday, Oct. 26, race Saturday, Oct. 29) – Chocopologie (Pat Devereux Jr.), Divining Rod (Arnaud Delacour), Kasaqui (ARG) (Ignacio Correas IV), (Noble Bird (Mark Casse).

KEENELAND LAUNCHES EXCLUSIVE RACING AND SALES TOURS: On Oct. 24-27, Keeneland will offer fans a unique view of Thoroughbred racing with its new Behind-the-Scenes Racing Tour. The two-hour guided tour includes an insider’s look at the Jockeys Quarters where some of the sport’s leading riders prepare for their race day, a walk through the stable area, watching morning workouts and a tour of the world-famous Keeneland Sales Pavilion.

On Nov. 4-7 and Nov. 18-19, Keeneland will offer the Behind-the-Scenes Sales Tours. During the two-hour guided tour, guests will receive an in-depth look at sales operations that includes visiting the Sales Pavilion, auction ring and outdoor show ring where some of Thoroughbred racing’s greatest horses have been sold. They likely will see horses stabled here that are consigned to Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock Sale from Nov. 8-20.

The racing and sales tours both begin at 8 a.m. ET. Tickets are $25 per person and may be purchased in advance online or at Keeneland’s Ticket Office near the Grandstand South Entrance (located at the top of parking row 7). Because tours are limited to 12 people, guests are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance.

Click here for information about these and other Keeneland tour opportunities.

KEENELAND’S NHC-BCBC CHALLENGE DRAWS RECORD 145 ENTRANTS; RYAN STEIGMEIER CAPTURES THE CROWN: Thanks to the NBA champions Cleveland Cavaliers and World Series hopefuls Cleveland Indians, the Ohio city is enjoying a banner year. On Sunday at Keeneland, Cleveland-area native Ryan Steigmeier made a memory of his own, capturing the track’s National Handicapping Challenge/Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Handicapping Challenge.

The 145 players – a record for the contest – competed for seven fully paid entries to both the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and the DRF/NTRA National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas, three partially paid entries to the BCBC and $45,000 in prize money.

Steigmeier, a 38-year-old insurance executive from North Royalton, Ohio, parlayed his original $2,000 live bankroll into a final total of $13,870. His noteworthy play was keying favorite Verve’s Tale in the third race over four horses in second with Sardinia in third. One of the four horses he used in the second spot was 43-1 longshot Sacred Luna. Ryan cashed a $50 exacta and a $20 trifecta for a total of $14,343 in winnings.

David Gamble of Brentwood, Tenn., who entered the contest courtesy of TVG, finished second with $9,991.40. He hit a $25 trifecta in the eighth race when 4-1 shot Moiety headed up a trifecta that netted him $2,022. Gamble then nailed the trifecta for $2 in the ninth race when 28-1 shot Long Ago keyed an all-longshot trifecta that paid him $7,730.

Third-place finisher Cheryl McIntyre of Massillon, Ohio, played patiently until the eighth race then went all in ($1,890) to win on 4-1 shot Moiety, netting $10,017 in winnings on one race. McIntyre has had a banner year on the NHC Tour, and this third-place finish in a big on-track tournament could move her to the top of the Tour and toward a possible million-dollar bonus if she wins the NHC.

Click here for more information about Sunday’s Handicapping Challenge.

COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP DAY ATTRACTS 1,871 STUDENTS: Keeneland welcomed 1,871 college students last Friday for College Scholarship Day, one of the track’s most popular promotions. College students received free general admission with a valid student ID and a chance to win one of 10 college scholarships awarded after each of the day’s races.

Keeneland hosts College Scholarship Day in partnership with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association. Since it began in October 2002, the program has distributed a total of $292,000 here.

Scholarship winners are Rachel Poole from Asbury University; Cheyenne Hobbs and Lucy Ritter from Eastern Kentucky University; Corey Kramer from Northern Kentucky University; Cole Lancaster and Kelli Padgett from Transylvania University; and Hannah Moriarty, Brooklyn Payne, Rachel Stone and Mason Thompson from the University of Kentucky.

THIS DAY IN KEENELAND HISTORY, OCT. 18: Keeneland’s 2016 Fall Meet, which runs through Oct. 29, marks the track’s 80^th anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, Barn Notes throughout the Fall Meet will look back at memorable races and highlights from Keeneland’s rich history.

Here are a few memorable moments from Oct. 18:

1941: Greentree Stable’s Racing Hall of Famer Devil Diver wins the Breeders’ Futurity (now the Grade 1, $500,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity won by Classic Empire on Oct. 8) over Miss Dogwood, whose dam, Hall of Famer Myrtlewood, won three races during Keeneland’s inaugural 1937 Fall Meet. Conn McCreary rides the winner for trainer John Gaver.

1952: Mrs. E.E.D. Shaffer’s champion Sweet Patootie wins the inaugural Alcibiades (now the Grade 1, $400,000 Darley Alcibiades won by Dancing Rags on Oct. 7). The race is named for Alcibiades, a foundation mare owned by Keeneland co-founder Hal Price Headley. Sherman Armstrong rides the winner for trainer H.H. Battle.

1956: Racing Hall of Famer Nashua, with Eddie Arcaro aboard, makes his final public appearance under saddle at Keeneland prior to entering stud at Spendthrift Farm.

1975: Mrs. Bertram R. Firestone’s Optimistic Gal posts the first of her three Keeneland stakes triumphs by winning the Alcibiades (G3) by a record 21 lengths. Darrel McHargue rides the winner for trainer LeRoy Jolley. Optimistic Gal will win the Ashland (G3) and Spinster (G1) the following year.

1997: Former President George Bush presents the trophy after the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (G2) (now the Grade 1, $500,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity) to Joseph LaCombe, winning owner of Favorite Trick. This marks the first time a former U.S. President makes a trophy presentation at Keeneland.

KEENELAND NOVEMBER SALE OPENS NOV. 8, FEATURES EXCEPTIONAL OFFERINGS: Keeneland has cataloged 4,762 horses for its premier November Breeding Stock Sale, which kicks off Tuesday, Nov. 8 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 20.

Among the individuals featured are such Grade 1 stakes-quality mares as champion Stellar Wind, Celestine, Lady Eli, My Conquestadory (in foal to Tapit), Paola Queen, Peace and War (in foal to Tapit), Personal Diary, Street Fancy and Secret Gesture (GB) (in foal to War Front).

Also cataloged are the dispersals of Ernie Semersky and Dory Newell’s Conquest Stables, for which Lane’s End will serve as agent; Marc Ferrell’s VinMar Farm (St. George Sales, agent); and Jim Eigel’s Rosemont Farm (Trackside Farm, agent).

Claiborne Farm will consign Phipps Stable’s 11-horse reduction, comprising fillies and mares from some of racing’s most productive families. Among the offerings are Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) winner Pleasant Home, in foal to Orb; Satisfaction, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Dancing Forever and from the immediate family of champion Heavenly Prize, in foal to Point of Entry; graded stakes-placed Sea Island, a full sister to Grade 2 winner Sightseeing, in foal to Hard Spun; Secret Agenda, a 3-year-old daughter of Malibu Moon out of champion Smuggler; and Sound the Trumpets, a 3-year-old filly out of multiple Grade 1 winner My Flag and a half-sister to champion Storm Flag Flying.

Click here to visit the November Sale microsite for details about featured mares, notable weanlings, prominent broodmares and broodmare prospects and horses of racing age cataloged to the sale.

UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS

Wednesday, Oct. 19

Wear Red Day. Fans are encouraged to wear read to the races to help the American Heart Association shine the light on heart disease in women – the No. 1 killer of women.

WINS-DAY Challenge. Place a mythical $2 win and place wager on Keeneland Races 3-8. Entry fee is $10 with a guaranteed $2,500 pool. Limit three entries per person. The first 200 participants receive a free Daily Racing Form and an appetizer card from Malone’s. Visit Wagering Central to sign up.

Thursday, Oct. 20

Official Keeneland Tour. Available Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in October at 8:30 a.m. ET. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets ($8 per person; 12 and younger free).

Friday, Oct. 21

seeblue. Day at the Races. The day before the University of Kentucky hosts Mississippi State University in football, Keeneland will be a sea of blue. UK students, alumni, faculty and staff with valid UK IDs will receive free general admission and access to reserved Grandstand seating. The Wildcat will make special appearances.

Official Keeneland Tour. Available Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in October at 8:30 a.m. ET. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets ($8 per person; 12 and younger free).

The Hill. The popular free tailgate area, available Fridays and Saturdays, is located adjacent to the Keene Barn & Entertainment Center (accessible via Gate 4) and features food trucks, a jumbo TV screen to capture all the racing and college football action, wagering facilities, The Keeneland Shop kiosk and complimentary shuttles to the track. On Saturdays, fans can enjoy live Bluegrass music from noon-4 p.m. BETologists will be available to answer fans’ questions.

Friday Pick 4 Presented by TVG. A $200,000-guaranteed pool will be offered on Races 7-10.

Saturday, Oct. 22

Sunrise Trackside, sponsored by LEX18 and Dunkin’ Donuts, offers activities for people of all ages beginning at 7 a.m. ET: Breakfast With the Works, a Southern-style breakfast (until 8:30 a.m.) while horses train on the main track; children’s activities in the Kids Club Corner (7-9 a.m.); guided walking tours departing from the welcome stand near the Paddock (8-10:30 a.m.); demonstration by the Kentucky Horse Park in the Paddock (9 a.m.); trackside handicapping seminar with expert handicapper Katie Gensler and Keeneland Select’s Jonathan Fowler (11:30 a.m.); and Q&A session with jockey Robby Albarado in the Walking Ring (12:05 p.m.).

The Hill. The popular free tailgate area, available Fridays and Saturdays, is located adjacent to the Keene Barn & Entertainment Center (accessible via Gate 4) and features food trucks, a jumbo TV screen to capture all the racing and college football action, wagering facilities, The Keeneland Shop kiosk and complimentary shuttles to the track. On Saturdays, fans can enjoy live Bluegrass music from noon-4 p.m. BETologists will be available to answer fans’ questions.

$1 Pick 6 on final six races of the day.

Sunday, Oct. 23

Heroes Day Delivered by Papa John’s. All active-duty members of the military along with military veterans, law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs and their families will receive free general admission and access to reserved Grandstand seating. They also can enjoy free food and children’s activities in the North Terrace from 12-4 p.m. ET. Those who order pizzas from Papa John’s will receive 20 percent off online orders at regular menu price when they use PROMO CODE: HERO20. Twenty percent of the purchase price will be donated to Supporting Heroes.

$1 Pick 6 on final six races of the day.

FALL MEET LEADERS

Through Oct. 16 (eight days of racing)

Source: Keeneland