Boisterous will be heavy favorite to successfully defend his title in the
Grade 2, $200,000
Red Smith
Handicap at Aqueduct, the first of two non-Breeders’ Cup graded stakes that
will be held across the country on Saturday.
A homebred campaigned by Jockey Club chairman “Dinny” Phipps, Boisterous has
developed into one of New York’s most noted turf performers over the past 13
months. His two-length win in the 2011 Red Smith came on the heels of a victory
in the Grade 3 Knickerbocker at Belmont, a race he repeated in most recently on
October 13 by two lengths.
Boisterous was also victorious in the Grade 3 Fort Marcy earlier this season,
and placed in the Grade 1 Manhattan Handicap and Grade 3 Arlington Handicap. In
his only disappointing try against stakes foes this term, the son of Distorted
Humor never got untracked in a ninth-place effort in the Grade 1 Arlington
Million.
Should Boisterous repeat in the 1 3/8-mile Red Smith, he would become only
the second horse in the history of the race to do so. The brilliant turf mare
Drumtop won in 1970-71 when it was known as the Edgemere Handicap.
The main threat to the favorite will likely come from Bombaguia, who will
attempt to lead the field gate to wire. The gray gelding just failed to hold in
the Grade 2 Bowling Green over 1 1/4 miles two back, but was a tiring fifth
behind Boisterous in the Knickerbocker last time.
Multiple Grade 3 queen Salty Strike will face a contentious field Saturday at
Churchill Downs in the Grade 2, $150,000
Chilukki
for fillies and mares over one mile. The Kenny McPeek trainee has won five of
seven starts under the Twin Spires, including stakes triumphs in the Grade 3
Dogwood, Dream Supreme and Roxelana. A four-time stakes winner this term, Salty
Strike has added the Grade 3 Gardenia and Hoosier Park’s Mari Hulman George to
her ledger in recent months.
Salty Strike also has the benefit of having beaten some of her main Chilukki
rivals. She triumphed in the Dream Supreme last year over Dancinginherdreams,
whose lone stakes win to date was in the Grade 2 Pocahontas in 2010, and in the
August 11 Gardenia at Ellis Park she prevailed over Grade 2 vixen Joyful
Victory, who enters off a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Zenyatta at Santa
Anita.
Others of note in the Chilukki are Brushed by a Star, a two-time winner at
Churchill who upset the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher in July and was second to Salty
Strike last time in the Mari Hulman George; multiple Grade 2 queen Juanita,
whose last victory was an upset in the Grade 2 La Troienne on Kentucky Oaks Day;
and the Grade 2-placed three-year-old Jemima’s Pearl, who enters off a second in
the Remington Park Oaks.
Saturday’s Churchill card also features the $65,000
Bet on
Sunshine, a six-furlong dash that features Grade 2 winner Havelock and
multiple stakes winner Delaunay.
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