Thanksgiving is a day to feast on turkey and all the fixings, plus a variety of stakes action from New York to California. Here’s a brief glance at what’s happening in racing on Thursday’s holiday.
Churchill Downs: Divine Miss Grey will be a strong favorite to follow-up her win in the November 3 Chilukki (G2) with a victory in the $200,000 Falls City H. (G2) over 1 1/8 miles.
Older fillies and mares will also be featured in the $100,000 Cardinal H. (G3) over nine furlongs on the turf. Bonnie Arch, English Affair, I Remember Mama, and La Manta Gris are among the leading contenders.
Aqueduct: Top weighted at 131 pounds, Lewisfield is one of a number of entrants in the $200,000 Fall Highweight H. (G3) cross-entered in Wednesday night’s Fabulous Strike H. at Penn National.
The six-furlong Fall Highweight shares the card with the $150,000 Winter Memories for three-year-old fillies and the $100,000 Central Park for two-year-olds, both over 1 1/16 miles on the turf. The Winter Memories field includes graded stakes winners Got Stormy, Capla Temptress, and Andina Del Sur; the improving Chad Brown trainee Competitionofideas; and Significant Form, a stakes winner over the Aqueduct turf in April.
The likely favorite in the Central Park is Empire of War, half-length winner of the $100,000 Awad on November 4.
Fair Grounds: The $75,000 Thanksgiving H., a six-furlong dash for older horses, has attracted a quality field led by Switzerland, winner of the Maryland Sprint (G3) and Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) earlier this year. Wynn Time was narrowly beaten twice by Whitmore at Oaklawn last spring, while Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint (G3) victor Proforma tries dirt for the first time since June. Stakes winner C Z Rocket and last year’s Thanksgiving runner-up Chublicious also have merits.
Del Mar: Vexatious and The Tulip are among the leading contenders in the $100,000 Red Carpet H. (G3), a 1 3/8-mile grass test for fillies and mares.
Here are post times:
| $100,000 Central Park | Aqueduct | 2:50 p.m. (EST) |
| $200,000 Fall Highweight H. (G3) | Aqueduct | 3:20 p.m. (EST) |
| $100,000 Cardinal H. (G3) | Churchill Downs | 3:24 p.m. (EST) |
| $150,000 Winter Memories | Aqueduct | 3:50 p.m. (EST) |
| $200,000 Falls City H. (G2) | Churchill Downs | 4:22 p.m. (EST) |
| $100,000 Red Carpet H. (G3) | Del Mar | 4:30 p.m. (EST) |
| $75,000 Thanksgiving H. | Fair Grounds | 5:05 p.m. (EST) |
