Lucrative Kentucky Downs meet kicks off with three stakes

Mystical Star hopes to end a year-long stakes drought in the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography) Kentucky Downs, the all-turf track located near the Tennessee border in Franklin, Kentucky, kicks off a lucrative five-day stand Saturday with 10 races, including a trio of $150,000 stakes. Average daily purses for the meet will reach $900,000, enhanced by revenues from Instant Racing, which is pari-mutuel wagering on historical horse races. Kentucky Downs will also present 10-race programs on September 11, 14, 18 and 25. The biggest day of the meet, Kentucky Downs Million Day on September 14, features the Grade 3, $400,000 Kentucky Turf Cup and four other stakes worth $150,000 each. Arguably the most intriguing of Saturday’s three stakes, the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon at 1 5/16 miles, has attracted a full field of 12, including several that were scratched from Monday’s $150,000 Glens Falls at Saratoga after the race was transferred from turf to dirt due to inclement weather.

Mystical Star, Christophe Clement’s Grade 2-winning mare, seeks her first win
of the season after placing just two times in her last five outings. Heroine of
the 1 1/4-mile New York at Belmont Park in June 2012, the five-year-old later
finished second in the Spinster at Keeneland and the Long Island Handicap at
Aqueduct, but has not been as productive this term.

Fifth when defending her title in the June 29 New York, Mystical Star most
recently faded to third in the $100,000 Waya at Saratoga after making a short
lead in the stretch.

Also exiting the Waya is fourth-place finisher Angel Terrace, who upset a
division of the Valley View at Keeneland last fall. Angel Terrace, who is also
seeking her first win of the season, races for owner George Strawbridge and is
trained by Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard.

Beijoca, fifth in the Waya, was Grade 3-placed at Gulfstream last winter
prior to scoring in a 1 1/2-mile allowance at Keeneland in April.

Recent listed winners Left a Message and Prissy are potential threats. Left a
Message rallied from 12 lengths down to take the $101,000 Flaming Page at
Woodbine over 12 furlongs last out, while the front-running Prissy will attempt
to stretch her speed after taking a $100,000 stakes at Mountaineer going one
mile and 70 yards on West Virginia Derby day last month.

Two former European mainstays, Preferential and Midnight Music, might take to
Kentucky Downs’ undulating, European-style course better than others.
Preferential, a stakes winner at Chantilly in France prior to her importation,
has not placed in three U.S. appearances, but Midnight Music has been
stakes-placed in her last four, including the May 18 Keertana at Churchill Downs
and the July 5 Lucie Manet at Hollywood Park.

Sisterhood, twice Grade 3-placed this season, is arguably the class of the
one-mile
Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf, but might be vulnerable with just two wins and
no placings in 11 lifetime attempts on turf. Potentially more appealing is the
Grade 2-placed Drama Drama, a course-and-distance allowance winner last season
who enters the Ladies Turf off an allowance victory at Ellis Park.

Others expected to garner wagering support include last-out Saratoga
allowance scorer Run a Risk, Lady Canterbury winner Awesome Flower, Churchill
allowance winners Gleaning and Dame Marie, and the undefeated Strawbridge
homebred Nashindy.

The leading lights in the 6 1/2-furlong

Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint all drew outside posts. Grade 1-paced Magical
Moon, a close second in the $98,000 Coronation Cup at Saratoga last time,
figures along with Saratoga allowance winner To My Valentine and course
specialists Cat Lore and Soft Whisper.

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