Pocahontas, Iroquois attract 60 noms to open Churchill’s
September meet
The names of 60 promising two-year-old stars are included on
the rosters of horses nominated to compete in the Grade 2, $200,000
Pocahontas for
juvenile fillies and the Grade 3, $100,000
Iroquois for
juveniles, races that will kick-off their respective “Road to the
Kentucky
Oaks” and “Road to the
Kentucky Derby” series that will determine the
participants for the 2015 renewals of the spring classics at
Churchill Downs.
The Pocahontas and Iroquois also begin the Juvenile Fillies and
Juvenile divisions, respectively, of the
Breeders’ Cup “Win & You’re In”
series, and their winners will earn automatic starting spots in the Breeders’
Cup Juvenile Fillies and Juvenile, along with a $10,000 travel stipend
for the races to be run at Santa Anita Park on October 31-November 1.
The Pocahontas and Iroquois are part of a special Churchill
Downs racing program that will feature four stakes events on September 6,
the second day of the track’s 12-day September Meet. Nomination rosters also
have been issued for the day’s other stakes races — the 22nd running of the
Grade 3, $100,000
Ack Ack, a one-mile race for
three-year-olds and up, and the 31st running of the $100,000
Locust Grove for fillies
and mares at 1 1/16 miles.
The four events are among eight stakes races with total
purses of $925,000 scheduled during the upcoming September Meet, which opens on
September 5 and concludes on September 28. Only the second racing meet
scheduled exclusively during that month in Churchill Downs’ 140-year history,
September Meet racing will be conducted on a Friday-through-Sunday schedule
during its four-week run. “Downs After Dark” night racing celebrations are
set for opening night Friday and September 19.
The 2013 Pocahontas was won by
Untapable, who finished eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies for trainer
Steve Asmussen but rebounded this season with victories in the 140th running of
the Kentucky
Oaks, Mother Goose, Fair Grounds Oaks and Rachel Alexandra. Cleburne won the Iroquois for trainer Dale Romans
and traveled to Santa Anita for the Juvenile, but suffered an injury there that
prevented him from participating in the event.
The Pocahontas attracted nominations of 25 juvenile
fillies, a list headed by Angela Renee, the Todd Pletcher-trained
runner-up in Saratoga‘s
Adirondack; Take Charge Brandi, a
winner at first asking under the Twin Spires and runner-up in Saratoga’s
Schuylerville for Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas; Unbridled Reward, a 7 3/4-length
debut winner at Churchill and runner-up in
the track’s Debutante for trainer Mark Casse; unbeaten A. P.’s Glory, who romped
by 7 1/2 lengths in her
Arlington debut prior to taking the
Mountaineer Juvenile Fillies for Arlington
Park-based trainer James Divito; and Rachel’s Ready, who finished
third for conditioner David Vance in her most recent outing in the Mountaineer
Juvenile Fillies.
Thirty-five colts and geldings were nominated to the Iroquois. That roster is
headed by Hashtag Bourbon, a runaway winner of the
Mountaineer Juvenile for trainer Kellyn Gorder; Mr. Z, a
Lukas trainee who won at first asking at Churchill Downs and followed with
runner-up finishes in the Saratoga Special and Sanford at the Spa; W V
Jetsetter, third in the Saratoga Special and winner of the TTA Sales Futurity at
Lone Star Park
for conditioner George Weaver; Holiday
Camp, who ran last of six as the favorite in the Santa Anita Juvenile following
an impressive debut victory over the Southern California track for Hall of Famer
Bob Baffert; undefeated Private Prospect, victorious in the
Prairie Meadows Juvenile Mile and
Prairie Gold Juvenile for trainer Michael Campbell; and Gotta Get Paid,
saddled by Tom Amoss to a runner-up finish in the Mountaineer Juvenile.
Defending winner Pants On Fire as well as
Grade 1 scorers Golden Ticket and Lea head 23 experienced and accomplished
stakes veterans nominated to compete in the Ack Ack Handicap.
Pants On Fire scored a 2 1/4-length victory in the Ack Ack during last year’s first September Meet
at Churchill. The Kelly Breen charge traveled to Santa Anita to finish seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile
next out before shipping to Japan to complete his season with a last-place finish in the Japan
Cup Dirt. The son of Jump Start was third in the
Monmouth Cup to open
his six-year-old campaign on July 27 and was a half-length second last out in
the August 17 Philip H. Iselin.
Golden Ticket rose to fame when finished in
a dead-heat with Alpha to win the 2012 Travers at Saratoga, but has yet to visit
the winner’s circle this year from six prior starts. His best finishes thus far
have come as a head second in the
Gulfstream Park
Handicap to open his five-year-old season on March 8 and a half-length second in
the May 2 Alysheba. The
Kenny McPeek trainee finished second in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile
and is exiting last-of-nine placing in Saratoga’s Whitney on August 2.
Lea is two-for-two on the year after taking the Hal’s Hope and Donn Handicap at Gulfstream
Park. He hasn’t competed since that latter event on February 9 and is one of a
pair of accomplished stars nominated to the Ack Ack by
Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, which also made multiple Grade 2 hero Departing eligible for the
race.
Lea is trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the all-time
leader in victories and stakes wins at Churchill Downs, while Departing is
conditioned by Al Stall Jr. That four-year-old followed a good third-place run in the
June 14 Stephen Foster with a disappointing eighth-place finish the Whitney.
Other Ack Ack nominees include Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap winner Carve; Sir Barton
scorer Class Leader; Grade 3 hero Falling Sky, third recently in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga;
Grade 2 conqueror Flashback, unraced since a fourth-placing in the December 26
Malibu; Grade 3-placed multiple stakes king Good Lord; Mylute, fifth in the
2013 Kentucky Derby and third in the
Preakness who is exiting
a third-place effort in the West Virginia Governor’s on August 2; and Grade 1
veteran Regally Ready, winner of the West Virginia House of Delegates Speaker’s
Cup.
Nominations to the Locust Grove include Molly Morgan, who finished sixth in last
year’s running but has had a breakout year in 2014 highlighted by a runner-up
finish to multiple Grade 1 winner On Fire Baby in the La Troienne followed by a win over that rival in the Fleur
de Lis Handicap. The
Dale Romans-trained daughter of Ghostzapper also recently won the Gardenia at
Ellis Park.
The Locust Grove could serve as round three in the growing
rivalry between Molly Morgan and On Fire Baby as that two-time Grade 1 queen is
also nominated to the race. The Smoke Glacken five-year-old mare has not run since her fifth-place finish in the Fleur
de Lis for trainer Gary
Hartlage.
Also nominated is My Miss Sophia, the
Pletcher-trained runner-up to Untapable in the Kentucky Oaks who posted a 7
1/4-length decision in the Gazelle prior to the Oaks. The Unbridled’s Song filly has not competed since a seventh-place run in the Acorn
at Belmont Park on June 7.
Other nominated fillies and mares include Ria Antonia, winner via disqualification of the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
Fillies and fourth last out in the Monmouth Oaks; Grade 2 victress Don’t Tell
Sophia, last seen finishing third in the March 15 Azeri;
Honey Hues, winner of the Mint Julep and Ellis Park Turf thus far this season;
multiple Grade 3 diva My Option, a 6 1/2-length romper in the Chicago Handicap
two back; and the McPeek-trained Tapit’s World, a head second in the Gardenia.
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