A thrilling and emotional victory by English import Makari in last month’s
Makari’s photo-finish win in the July 31 Smithwick over Demonstrative was the
A winner in five of his final seven starts in England, mostly in low-level
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The latter will not return for the about 2 3/8-mile Turf Writers Cup, but
otherwise the race looks very much like the Smithwick. Demonstrative, who ran
his best race in more than a year when beaten a nose by Makari, captured this
race by a length in 2012 over Charminster, who enters this renewal off a neck
loss against optional claiming company on July 30 in his first outing in 14
months.
Grade 3 winner Pleasant Woodman, third by 7 1/4 lengths after setting the
pace in the Smithwick, is joined by Italian Wedding and All Together, sixth and
fourth in the Smithwick, respectively. That pair finished one-two in the Turf
Writers Cup last season, with Italian Wedding the victor by a length.
Novice stakes winners Barnstorming and Staying On, both also-rans in the
Smithwick, will line up Thursday as will For Non Stop, a nine-year-old who won
by more than 27 lengths in his U.S. debut at Stone Mountain, Georgia, in April,
and followed with a third-place finish behind Divine Fortune in the Iroquois, a
Grade 1 event at Percy Warner Park in Nashville
The flat feature on Thursday’s program is the $100,000
Union Avenue,
a six-furlong dash for New York-bred fillies and mares. Risky Rachel, the 2012
Union Avenue winner, and multiple stakes winner Sunny Desert are the probable
favorites.
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