Stakes Tracker: Shadwell Turf Mile field comes up big
A final major weekend of Breeders' Cup preps will tackle a number of divisions we didn't see in action last Saturday and Sunday, with the list headed by the Grade 1, $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile.
Saturday's cards at Keeneland, Belmont Park and Santa Anita Park will all offer "Win and You're In" races with the prospective fields below. We’ll look at the Sunday preps in another Stakes Tracker feature on Wednesday.
Keeneland
Grade 1, $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile
Heart to Heart, who won the Maker's 46 Mile (G1) over this course last spring, will get another try in what appears a wide-open race. Qurbaan just won Saratoga's Bernard Baruch Handicap (G2), Bound for Nowhere scored in Kentucky Downs' lucrative Tourist Mile, and Voodoo Song has proven he can contend at this level as a Grade 1 winner earlier in the season. To add, Chad Brown-trained 3-year-old Analyze It -- a narrow loser at 1 1/4 miles -- is possible to shorten up and would add plenty of intrigue for handicappers. This is the race of the weekend.
Also at Keeneland...• Grade 1, $500,000 Breeders' Futurity for 2-year-olds
• Grade 1, $400,000 First Lady for fillies and mares on turf
• Grade 2, $250,000 Thoroughbred Club of America for filly and mare sprinters
• Grade 2, $200,000 Woodford for turf sprinters
Belmont Park
Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne Stakes
This feature for the 2-year-olds brings together a number of impressive maiden winners, namely Trophy Chaser, whose 96 Beyer Speed Figure ranks second in the crop, and the Brown-trained duo of Aurelius Maximus and Complexity, to face Saratoga Special (G2) winner Call Paul. Jason Servis trains unbeaten Call Paul and won this race a year ago with Firenze Fire, who went on to run in the Kentucky Derby and win multiple stakes at age 3.
Also at Belmont…• Grade 1, $400,000 Beldame in the Distaff division
• Grade 2, $500,000 Hill Prince for 3-year-olds at nine panels
• $150,000 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational for 3-year-olds and up
Santa Anita Park
Grade 1, $300,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship
It will be a short field, so hold your bets or pick a single, but fans will enjoy a rematch of West Coast standouts Ransom the Moon and Roy H going six furlongs. Both were last seen in the Bing Crosby (G1) at Del Mar, in which Ransom the Moon upset the champion Roy H for a second straight year.
• Grade 2, $200,000 City of Hope Mile on turf
• $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes for 2-year-olds on the grass