Musical Mischief, Tarifa square off in Falls City

Musical Mischief is riding in on a three-race win streak over Churchill Downs' main track into the $400,000 Falls City (G3), the traditional Thanksgiving Day feature at the Louisville track. The nine-furlong test for fillies and mares tops the 12-race holiday program on Thursday, with the $300,000 Cardinal (G3) also on the menu.

Bettors who focused more on Musical Mischief's fondness for the Churchill strip, rather than her recent form on the road, were generously rewarded ($35.64) when the filly turned in the best race of her career in the Sept 14. Locust Grove (G3), which she won handily by 3 1/4 lengths while earning a 100 Brisnet Speed rating. Her two prior wins over the surface were in overnight company, including an 11-length maiden win at the Falls City distance.

Tarifa, one of the more accomplished three-year-old fillies of her generation not named Thorpedo Anna, proved no match for that rival in either the Kentucky Oaks (G1) or Cotillion (G1). However, she's won three graded stakes this season, including the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) and the Mother Goose (G2), the latter in game fashion by a head over Gun Song last out.

Six others line up in the Falls City, all of whom have form to find at this level. An interesting stakes newcomer is the three-year-old Peignoir, who enters off back-to-back allowance wins over 1 1/8 miles on this circuit.

The Cardinal, also for fillies and mares, is scheduled for nine furlongs on the turf. Multiple graded winner Implicated is the most accomplished of the 11 entrants, but enters off two poor tries in which she finished ahead of only one other rival in both the Ladies Turf Sprint (G3) at Kentucky Downs and the First Lady (G1) at Keeneland.

Up in class following recent good showings in the allowance ranks are She's Lookin Lucky, Stir Crazy, and Dreaming of Mo, all of whom would be worth a look, too, if conditions happen to force the Cardinal onto the main track.