Ramsey, Maker, Geroux try to cap Kentucky Downs meet with Al's Gal

Kentucky Downs closes out what already has been a record-setting meet with its last of five strong racing programs held Thursday over America’s only European-style turf course. 

Through four days, all-sources wagering already has totaled $18,880,172.59. Last year’s total handle, up 6.3 percent over 2014 and then an all-time high, was $16,887,188.

As usual, admission and parking are free at Kentucky Downs. The first of 10 races is 1:25 p.m. Central.

Also on closing day, legendary Secretariat jockey Ron Turcotte will be signing autographs starting at 11 a.m. Central on the clubhouse building patio. A portion of the $20 signing fee will go to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund as part of Kentucky Downs’ annual fundraiser for the charity that provides financial assistance to some 60 former jockeys who have suffered catastrophic on-track injuries. The PDJF fundraiser is sponsored by the Jackson Kelly law firm.

Owner Ken and Sarah Ramsey, trainer Mike Maker and jockey Florent Geroux can cap a championship meet in style, teaming with 5-2 favorite Al’s Gal in Thursday’s closing-day $350,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon. Maker already has clinched his third straight trainer’s title with seven wins, the Ramseys a fourth straight owner’s crown with four. Geroux, with 11 victories, is virtually assured of his second straight title. The only way he can lose is if Robby Albarado goes 8 for 8 and Geroux is shutout. Albarado, who comes in with four wins, could tie with seven wins if Geroux is blanked.

But Maker, Ramsey and Geroux have every intention of padding their leads. Maker has eight horses in seven races. Ramsey is in four. He calls Al’s Gal his “coup de grace” horse, the one he thought he might need to clinch the title. 

The Ladies Marathon at 1 5/16 miles is the ninth race. Should she win, the 5-year-old Al’s Gal would be the fifth stakes winner this meet for Maker — and also the fifth that his stable had acquired via the claim box. It would be the third stakes for Ramsey, all with former claimers, having already won the $400,000 More Than Ready Mile with Watchyourownbobber and the $350,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Derby with Oscar Nominated. Maker also won the $350,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks with Try Your Luck the $600,000, Grade 3  Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup, the meet’s centerpiece, with Da Big Hoss for other owners.

“If we’d won the four stakes and didn’t win anything else and didn’t win the title, I wouldn’t be too worried about it at all,” Maker said with a laugh.

Al’s Gal, a Pennsylvania-born daughter of prominent turf sire English Channel, was claimed at Gulfstream Park 1 1/2 years ago for $35,000. She worked her way through her allowance conditions, also finishing second by a nose in a Pennsylvania-bred stakes, before advancing into open stakes company this year.

Second by a half-length in Keeneland’s Grade 3 Bewitch last spring, she captured Churchill Downs’ Keertana overnight stakes by 5 1/2 lengths in her only other race with Geroux aboard. In her last two races, Al’s Gal was second in Arlington’s Grade 3 Modesty and then a fast-flying second in the Grade 1 Beverly D, losing by only a half-length at 20-1.

“We’ve been chasing Chad (Brown-trained horses) from Gulfstream to Keeneland to Arlington. He keeps beating us,” Maker said. “No use going where you can’t win. Canada didn’t seem like it was long enough. Figured this was the logical spot.”

Because she’s not a Kentucky-bred, Al’s Gal will race only for the $150,000 base purse, with the other $200,000 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund. “It still more than she’s been running for” most of the time, Maker said. “I figure if she runs her last couple of races back, she’ll be tough to handle.”

So is the combination of Maker and Geroux. They are 6 for 14 together this meet, including 3 for 5 in stakes. Geroux also is going for a fifth stakes win, having won on Da Big Hoss, Oscar Nominated and Try Your Luck, as well as the Ladies Sprint on the Mark Casse-trained Mississippi Delta.

“I tell you what, especially at Kentucky Downs, those French jockeys who ride on the turf courses all the time (in Europe) and were brought up to ride on them, they fit the English-style turf course perfectly,” Ramsey said. “Uphill, downhill, those sweeping turns. And those Kitten’s Joys (offspring of his stallion, grass champion Kitten’s Joy) just love it down there and they’ve have done exceptionally well the past two or three years. We saved two horses just for the coup de grace: Walking  the Kitten (in the seventh race) and Al’s Gal, who is not a Kitten’s Joy but was a good claim.

“By the way, if you don’t want to pay top dollar out at Keeneland for the first-round draft choices, what I’d advise somebody to do is observe the claiming game and you can always pick some of them up.”

Christophe Clement has numbers in his favor, sending out 9-2 Trophee, a distance specialist with a trio of fourth places in graded stakes; 6-1 Notte d’Oro, third in the West Virginia President’s Cup in her last start; and 15-1 Paige, who won a Suffolk allowance race in her last start.

The biggest competition could come from Brazilian-bred Energia Fribby, part of the small string Hall of Fame trainer Neil Drysdale brought from California. She’s also a distance specialist, including running against males when third in the Grade 2 San Luis Rey at 1 1/2 miles and fourth in the 1 7/8-mile San Juan Capistrano (G3).

“I’m really excited to ride the horse,” said jockey Joe Rocco Jr. “Neil Drysdale does a great job. Looks like she fits in the race. She’s back in with fillies. Distance obviously is not going to be an issue. It’s definitely a horse-for-course type of place. You really don’t know how they’re going to handle it until they go over it. But horses like this, that have run in other countries and at different racetracks, been thrown out of their element before are much better at handling it than horses who have always run on like a one-mile dirt track.”

Source: Kentucky Downs