Chilukki Top Two Meet Again in Falls City
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Photo:
Coady Photography
Brushed
by a Star and Joyful
Victory were separated by only a head in the Chilukki (Grade II) at
Churchill Downs on Nov. 3 and those two will hook up again in the 97th running of the $150,000-added Falls
City Handicap (GII) on Thanksgiving Day.
One
of four stakes races created by Churchill Downs founder Col. M. Lewis Clark for
the inaugural meet in 1875, the 1 1/8 miles Falls City will go as Race 11 on
the 12-race program with a post time of 4:21 p.m. (all times Eastern). Post
time for the first race is 11:30 a.m.
Brushed
by a Star came out on top in the Chilukki to score her third stakes victory of
the year for owner Team Forster and trainer Grant Forster. A
4-year-old bay daughter of Eddington, Brushed by a Star was sold for $400,000
at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale just days after her Chilukki triumph and the
Falls City will be her first start for her new connections of owner Unlimited
Equine LLC and trainer Eddie Kenneally.
“She
came to us very good,” Kenneally said. “She’s sound and healthy. We’ll try not
to change anything. She just won a Grade II. They did a fine job with her.”
Brushed
by a Star will break from post six in the field of seven fillies and mares
under Corey Lanerie and carry the top weight of 122 pounds.
Fox
Hill Farms Inc.’s
Joyful Victory recorded her third straight runner-up performance in the
Chilukki. She also was second in the Zenyatta (GI) to Love and Pride and
the Gardenia (GIII) to Salty Strike.
“We’ll
have to see if (Brushed by a Star) improves first time in a new home because
sometimes they do that, but maybe Grant had the key to her,” trainer Larry
Jones said. “We’ll see, but our horse is good and we’re ready.”
Winner
of the 2011 Fantasy (GII) and Honeybee (GIII) at Oaklawn Park, Joyful Victory
will tote 119 pounds when she breaks from the rail under Robby Albarado.
The
main rivals to Brushed by a Star and Joyful Victory could be Arena Elvira
and Afleeting Lady.
Arena
Elvira used the Turnback the Alarm (GIII) as a prep for last year’s Falls City
and won both events for Carolyn Wilson and trainer Bill Mott, a
four-time winner of the Falls City. In this year’s Turnback the Alarm, she was
sixth beaten 10 lengths by Afleeting Lady. Arena Elvira will carry 118 pounds
when she breaks from post two under Junior Alvarado.
Afleeting
Lady will seek her third straight victory in the Falls City after wins in the
Turnback the Alarm and Lady’s Secret at Monmouth. A three-time winner at
Churchill Downs, Afleeting Lady will carry 119 pounds and break from post seven
under Joel Rosario.
The
field for the Falls City Handicap, with jockey and weight, from the rail out:
Joyful Victory (Albarado, 119), Arena Elvira (Alvarado, 118), Aint She a
Saint (Malcolm Franklin, 113), Sea Level Drive (Brian Hernandez Jr.,
114), Maristar (David Cohen, 114), Brushed by a Star (Lanerie, 122) and
Afleeting Lady (Rosario, 119).
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