by Kellie Reilly
Grade 3 winner Super Espresso has been plying her trade unsuccessfully
against Grade 1 opponents in her last five, but the Todd Pletcher trainee might
have found a more congenial spot in Thursday’s Grade 2, $175,000
Falls
City Handicap at Churchill Downs. The Thanksgiving feature is hardly a
cakewalk, however, for celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s filly. Her opponents include
the usually reliable Ravi’s Song, the improving sophomore Juanita and the
streaking Arena Elvira, who is cross-entered to Friday’s Grade 2 Go for Wand at
Aqueduct and could well stay home in New York for the holiday.
The royally-bred Super Espresso, a $1.1 million Keeneland September yearling
purchase, scored her first stakes victory in the February 6 Sky Beauty at
Aqueduct. Three starts later, she rallied to wear down the classy Payton d’Oro
in the Grade 3 Allaire duPont Distaff on Preakness Day at Pimlico. Because the
distant third-place finisher happened to be her off-form stablemate Life at Ten,
the merit of Super Espresso’s triumph was perhaps somewhat lost in the shuffle.
Having earned her way into the top level, Super Espresso went on to finish
third in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps and second in the Grade 1 Ruffian
Invitational, but was no threat in her next three. Possibly she didn’t stay 1
1/4 miles when fifth in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Invitational, and her 10th
in the Grade 1 Spinster could be rationalized as a failure to take to Polytrack.
Super Espresso then tried the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, over the same
track and nine-furlong distance as the Falls City, and wound up seventh. But she
has signaled that she might be perking up. Typically an uninspiring worker,
Super Espresso drilled a sharp half-mile in :47 4/5 last Friday. Javier
Castellano picks up the mount on the 121-pound co-highweight, who has drawn post
8.
Arena Elvira would also tote 121 pounds, should the nine-furlong aficionado
ship in for the race. Never off the board in 11 career starts, the Bill Mott
pupil has won six of her last eight, and three stakes in a row. Arena Elvira
captured a pair of stakes at Saratoga, the Madame Jumel and the Sightseek,
before crushing the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm last time out at Aqueduct. She’s
landed in the rail post here with Junior Alvarado.
Multiple stakes heroine Ravi’s Song, who was fourth in last year’s Falls
City, employs the turf-to-dirt angle for trainer Carl Bowman. The gray tried
turf in her past three and posted runner-up efforts in each — the Grade 3 Mint
Julep at Churchill, the Grade 3 Matchmaker at Monmouth, and most recently the
Grade 3 Cardinal back at Churchill, where she threatened Juddmonte Farms’
homebred Deluxe.
“There was no scientific reason for putting her on the turf,” Bowman said.
“She had trained well over it, and there wasn’t a stake on dirt that really fit
her. After she ran so well (in the Mint Julep), we decided to keep her on the
grass for her next couple of starts. The purse money is better on the dirt and
she will probably make her following start on the dirt at Fair Grounds, so
that’s why she’s back on the main track.
“I think she’s going to run well. She’s a three-time stakes winner on the dirt, so
she’ll have no problem with the surface. I think she’ll show she can switch
back-and-forth (between turf and dirt).
“She’s run really well here (at Churchill Downs),” Bowman added of the mare,
who sports a 6-2-1-1 mark on the local dirt. “The only bad race she ran was in the
(Grade 2) La Troienne on (Kentucky) Oaks Day, but she faced some pretty nice fillies
that day in Blind Luck and Unrivaled Belle.”
Regular rider Corey Lanerie will be in the saddle as Ravi’s Song breaks from
the far outside in post 10.
Four of the last six winners of the Falls City have been three-year-olds, a
trend that Juanita will try to prolong. Since being claimed for $25,000 by Mike
Maker at Gulfstream Park in March, the daughter of Mineshaft has gone
three-for-four in front-running fashion. Juanita exits a career high in the
Grade 2 Indiana Oaks, where she drew off by 4 3/4 lengths. She could be the
controlling speed here with new rider Edgar Prado.
Maker will also saddle Riviera Chic, third in the Kentucky Cup Ladies Turf
and a Keeneland allowance in her last two. Finishing second in that same
allowance was Grade 3 veteran It’s Tea Time.
While 2011 has been a frustrating season for It’s Tea Time, the Rusty Arnold
filly has back class, and has at times seemed on the verge of a big effort. It’s
Tea Time, who was fourth in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic here, could
be rounding back to her best.
Secret File, the runner-up in the Grade 3 Gardenia, is two-for-two beneath
the Twin Spires. She represents the barn of Charles Lopresti, who boasts a 29
percent strike rate in graded stakes, and she gets a rider switch to Julien
Leparoux.
Another Churchill specialist is Afleeting Lady, a recent optional claiming
winner over the track. Trained by Dale Romans, just like her Preakness-winning
half-brother Shackleford, she will be making her graded debut in this spot.
Spring Party, winner of the Wintergreen at Turfway earlier this year, and
sophomore Brushed by a Star, who recently romped in an off-the-turf allowance in
the Churchill slop, complete the field.
Also on Thanksgiving, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint hero Chamberlain
Bridge lines up in the
6TH
race. Eighth in his Breeders’ Cup title defense from a tough post 14, he returns
to the same course to dash five furlongs from a far better post 2 this time.
Entered on a main-track-only basis is Hamazing Destiny, the runner-up in the
2010 Breeders’ Cup Sprint who comes off a fifth in the November 5 renewal.
The Falls City is carded as the 11TH race on Thursday’s 12-race program.
There is a special first post of 11:30 a.m. (EST) on Thanksgiving.