What to watch for: Stakes feast on Thanksgiving day

Stakes highlight multiple holiday cards across the country, but here's what we'll be looking forward to specifically on Thanksgiving day as all the major circuits have race cards:

Thursday under the Twin Spires

The feature race on Churchill Downs’ Thanksgiving day card is the Grade 2, $200,000 Falls City Handicap for fillies and mares 3 years old and up at 1 1/8 miles. Divine Miss Grey is wheeling back from her Chilukki Stakes (G2) win on Breeders’ Cup Saturday to attempt back-to-back victories over the track.

The 4-year-old filly has risen from the claiming ranks to graded stakes winner. Once in for a $16,000 tag, Divine Miss Grey now has compiled $807,672 in earnings. She won her first two stakes at Aqueduct early this year, placed in multiple graded stakes and won two more listed stakes in between before notching her graded status in the Chilukki.

Prior to the Chilukki, Divine Miss Grey ran second behind Wow Cat in the Beldame (G1). Wow Cat went on to finish a rallying second to Monomoy Girl in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Grade 3 winner Skeptic and multiple stakes winner Dreamcall will be looking to rebound in the Falls City and benefit the class drop from Grade 1 company against Distaff contenders.

Also on the Thanksgiving card is the Grade 3, $100,000 Cardinal Handicap for fillies and mares 3 years old and up going 1 1/8 miles on the turf. Bonnie Arch and I Remember Mama, the 1-2 finishers in the Ellis Park Turf Stakes, headline the field. Bonnie Arch is looking to rebound from an eighth-place run in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf (G3) following a third in the Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Turf. I Remember Mama last won an allowance last out after a runner-up finish in the One Dreamer Stakes.

Fall Highweight tops Aqueduct card

Up in New York, Aqueduct is celebrating the holiday with three stakes races, highlighted by the Grade 3, $200,000 Fall Highweight Handicap, for 3-year-olds and up dashing six furlongs. Stakes winners Lewisfield and Heartwood lead the way, both looking to notch their first graded stakes score.

Lewisfield enters the Fall Highweight off a commanding 8 ¾-length victory in the Maryland Million Sprint. From three graded attempts, he has an in-the-money finish, and his two stakes wins have been against Maryland-breds. But his most recent start seems to give him a leg up on the field. Heartwood was second in the Bet on Sunshine Stakes over a sloppy track last out. He’s finished off the board in all seven graded stakes tries. He’ll take a step up here from his stakes wins at Mountaineer and Mahoning Valley. 

Grade 3 winner Always Sunshine is looking for a return to form. He picked up two black-type wins over the summer – his first stakes win in over two years – before finishing eighth in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) and ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. 

The $150,000 Winter Memories Stakes features a group of talented turf fillies looking to get back in the winner’s circle, including Andina Del Sur, Got Stormy, Capla Temptress and Significant Form. Got Stormy strung together three stakes wins, topped by the Ontario Colleen (G3), before missing the Del Mar Oaks (G1) due to sickness. She returned nearly three months later to run seventh in the Pebbles.

Aqueduct will also feature the $100,000 Central Park for 2-year-olds on turf, led by stakes winners Order and Law, Wallace and Empire of War.

Del Mar rolls out the Red Carpet

Del Mar’s lone Thanksgiving Day stake is the Grade 3, $100,000 Red Carpet Handicap, and Vexatious will look to continue her success on the turf. The Calumet Farm runner showed potential on dirt at 3 last year, running fourth in the Kentucky Oaks, but has found her best stride on the grass.

She earned her first stakes win this summer in Del Mar’s CTT and TOC Stakes before she finished off the board against males in the Northern Dancer Turf (G1). She was then placed first in Keeneland’s Dowager (G3) after crossing the wire only a neck behind. Her Dowager run was still an impressive one, but the Red Carpet is a chance to win a graded stake without a boost from the stewards.

Fair Grounds showcases sprinters

Ten are lined up to contest the six-furlong feature for 3-year-olds and up, the Thanksgiving Handicap, including Switzerland and C Z Rocket.

Switzerland announced himself on the sprint scene with a win in the Maryland Sprint (G3) and the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) this year, but was fifth when on tracks rated “good” and “sloppy.” A fast track should make him a tough competitor. 

C Z Rocket should benefit from class relief in the Thanksgiving Handicap. He won the Kelly’s Landing Overnight Stakes in June, his first stakes start, before running fourth in the Forego (G1) and Ack Ack (G3).