Redwood Kitten Heads Wide Open Jefferson Cup
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Del Mar Derby (Grade II) third Redwood Kitten and Arlington Classic (GIII) winner General Election head a competitive field of nine 3-year-olds enter
for Saturday night’s 36th running of the $100,000-added Jefferson Cup (GIII) at Churchill Downs.
The Jefferson Cup, a one-mile
turf event that honors the most populous county in the Commonwealth of
Kentucky, will run as Race 8 at 9:39 p.m. (all times Eastern) on a
special 11-race “Downs After Dark Presented
by Stella Artois and Finlandia Vodka” program billed as “Homecoming Dance: A Night to Remember.”
The Jefferson Cup is the
second of two stakes events – the first is the inaugural $175,000-added
Homecoming Classic headlined by reigning Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI)
champion Fort Larned – and will be the first
leg of a $100,000-guaranteed Late Pick 4 that covers Races 8-11.
Saturday’s first race is 6
p.m. and admission gates will open at 4 p.m. It is the final Saturday
and penultimate day of Churchill Downs’ first 12-date September Meet.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Redwood Kitten is likely to vie for favoritism after a good third in the $251,250 Del Mar Derby behind Gabriel Charles and Gervinho on Sept. 1. The Wesley Ward
trainee,
who has done his best running on the front-end, won the $100,000 James
W. Murphy at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard in May and was fifth in
the $500,000 Virginia Derby (GII) at Colonial Downs in June.
Redwood Kitten, a two-time
winner and $167,050-earner from 11 starts, will break from the inside
hedge under high-percentage rider Ricardo Santana Jr., who rides the Kitten’s Joy gelding for the first time.
Redwood Kitten isn’t the only
horse with a fondness of being forwardly placed in the early stages of a
race. Saratoga maiden winner and first-level allowance runner-up Rapscallion, trained by Graham Motion;
Balino, runaway winner of Calder’s $72,200 Naked Greed in early August; and Miceli, second to Sayaad in Saratoga’s $100,000 Dance of Life on Aug. 21 for trainer Adam Kitchingman all have displayed front-running tactics.
That may bode well for WinStar Farm’s General Election,
who rallied to win the $150,000 Arlington Classic in May. The Harlan’s
Holiday colt finished three-quarters of a length behind Redwood Kitten
in
the 1 1/8-mile Del Mar Derby for trainer Kellyn Gorder. Overall, he’s won three of nine starts and a field-best $218,110 with a pair of seconds, including a runner-up effort behind Winning Cause in the $200,000 Coolmore Lexington (GIII) on Keeneland’s
Polytrack.
The field also includes Tate’s Landing,
who returns three weeks after a fourth-place finish against allowance
company at Kentucky Downs to make his second start off a layoff over a
route of ground for Motion;
trainer Wayne Catalano’s Saratoga allowance/optional claiming race winner Gentleman’s Kitten, also owned by the Ramseys; Charles Cella’s Ray’s Away, who was finished a length in front of Tate’s Landing at Kentucky Downs for trainer
Lynn Whiting; and the Mike Trombetta-conditioned One More Cat, who was fourth in the Dance of Life.
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