After a “soft” opening Nov. 22-24, the 2024-25 Fair Grounds meet kicks into high gear on Thanksgiving, which for many years was the starting point of the racing season in New Orleans. The first open stakes of the meet, the $225,000 Thanksgiving Classic, has evolved into a graded quality race in recent years, and the 2024 edition of the six-furlong dash is a case in point.
To find the winner of Thanksgiving Classic, one might start with a look back at the action during Keeneland’s fall meet. On Oct. 12, Giant Mischief returned from a lengthy absence to wire a 6 1/2-furlong, third-level allowance by 1 3/4 lengths while earning a 105 Brisnet Speed rating. It was the Brad Cox trainee’s first start under silks since finishing third in the Malibu (G1) last December.
Turn back the calendar to Oct. 4, when second-time starter Montalcino demolished first-level allowance competition at Keeneland by six lengths (101 Brisnet Speed rating) to remain unbeaten for trainer Cherie DeVaux. The three-year-old had won a key maiden at first asking on Sept. 1 at Saratoga, so the innate talent is there. Whether he can provide the class against a far more experienced group of rivals remains to be seen.
Bo Cruz is also a last-out winner from Keeneland, albeit more than seven months ago when he captured the Commonwealth (G3) by 2 1/2 lengths over Minnesota Ready, who dazzled winning an off-the-turf edition of the Colonel Power S. at Fair Grounds last February. Miles Ahead, who won the 2023 Thanksgiving Classic by more than four lengths, also made his last appearance at Keeneland, though it was a highly disappointing effort as the odds-on choice in an early April allowance.
Champlin kicked off his career at Fair Grounds winning his first two starts by a combined eight lengths, and most recently finished a neck second in the Bet On Sunshine S. at Churchill Downs. The Japan-bred Komorebino Omoide was twice graded placed in West Virginia over the summer and enters off as 5 3/4-length tally in the Delta Mile over a muddy Delta Downs strip. California invader Red Flag, meanwhile, has been claimed out of his last three races, all wins at Del Mar, for $40,000 tags. He will attempt to make it four in a row on Thursday for his new trainer Bob Hess.
The field of 11 is rounded out by Bourbon Heist, The Donegal Clan, and Happy American.
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