Rallying into contention on the far turn, Temple City Terror overtook Stand Tall in deep stretch to win Saturday’s $160,000 Keertana Overnight S. for the second straight year. The six-year-old mare had recorded three wins over the old turf at Churchill Downs that was replaced last fall, and she continued to relish the new course under the Twin Spires, scoring by a half-length as the 5-2 co-second choice.
Her lone stakes wins have come in the 1 1/2-mile Keertana, and Adam Beschizza has been up each time for trainer Brendan Walsh and owner Pocket Aces Racing.
“She loved the old turf course and loves this new one,” Walsh said. “She was always traveling well, I thought. At the three-eighths pole, she started to make her move and was passing horses quickly. She didn’t quite go by (Stand Tall) as easily as I thought she would but was still able to get the job done.”
“She loves this distance and the ground here at Churchill,” Beschizza added. “Just like last year she was able to relax and had a good kick coming home down the lane. I think this race gives her a good steppingstone for graded stakes down the road.”
Temple City Terror, who rated last of seven before launching her move, stopped the teletimer in 2:31.76.
Stand Tall tracked pacesetter Undisturbed before advancing to take a short lead into the stretch, and the co-second choice battled determinedly to the wire before coming up a little short. It was four more lengths back to La Lune in third, and Undisturbed, Luck Money, Go Big Blue Nation, and 5-2 favorite Disappearing Act completed the order of finish.
Bred in Kentucky by Upson Downs Farm, Temple City Terror was purchased for $22,000 as a yearling. The daughter of Temple City is the first stakes winner from the More Than Ready mare It Take Two.
Temple City Terror made only two more starts last year following her Keertana victory, placing third in the Glens Falls (G2) at Saratoga and the Robert G. Dick Memorial (G3) at Delaware Park, and she was making her second start of 2022 on Saturday.
The dark bay has now earned more than $435,000 from a 24-5-4-5 career record.
