But now with the TVG Super Saturday behind us, it's time to look forward to the October 31st and November 1st Breeders' Cup. This Saturday alone had ten grade one stakes and nine of them we're "Win & You're In" races, the Keslo Handicap was the loner.
Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes
It was obvious who was the winner here. Stephanie's Kitten (Kitten's Joy-Unfold the Rose) dominated the field with a 1 3/4 length win over Abaco and Viva Rafaela. As this was her first win of the year, I'd consider Stephanie's Kitten a pretty tough contender in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
"We've been working backwards from the Filly & Mare Turf, and believed this filly could get there all year as on of the horses to beat." Chad Brown, trainer, told BloodHorse. "She got a beautiful trip, and I'm really proud of this filly: she deserved to get a good clean trip. That's the third race in a row for us that I felt she ran terrific. She was a little unlucky in the Beverly D. and Diana, and this time Johnny got away from the gate really well and gave her a beautiful trip. The filly did the rest."
Stephanie's Kitten is a homebred for Ken and Sarah Ramsey, owners of Ramsey farm. She is to be offered at the Fasig-Tipton Keeneland Fall Mixed Sale along side Kitten Kaboodle, another homebred of Ramsey Farm.
Vosburgh Invitational Stakes
The Doug O'Neill trainee, Private Zone (Macho Uno-Auburn Beauty), pulled a very gutsy race, battling from the gate to the finish with Dads Caps. In the final strides though, Private Zone proved he was the worthier horse with a head win. If the gelding can take his style to the Xpressbet Sprint we have a clear winner. Perhaps the more important note of this race is that Private Zone is now two-for-two in the Vosburgh.
Private Zone was saddled by trainer Alfredo Velazquez for O'Neill. Velazquez said, "They didn't want to ship (Private Zone) back to California (after racing him at Parx Racing). I've trained for some of (the owners) before, and Rene Douglas is the best friend I've got. They decided to leave the horse with me to run in this race.
"If he ran good, they were going back to the Breeders' Cup. I don't know if I'm going to keep him or if they're sending him back to (O'Neill). He did a good job with the horse."
Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational
Imagining lead the field for the majority of the race before being overtaken by Main Sequence (Aldebaran-Ikat) in the final strides, raising his grade one wins to three in a row. Main Sequence has punched his ticket to a spot in the starting in the Breeders' Cup Turf.
A replay showed that both Main Sequence and Twilight Eclipse made solid contact. Jockey Rajiv Maragh spoke of the inquiry, "When he made the lead, it was a little sooner than we wanted. He starting loafing a little bit; I tried to make him see the other horse and a little contact happened. I felt like I was going to be OK on the inquiry, but it was nerve-wracking."
It has been confirmed that the chestnut gelding's next start will be at Santa Anita in the Breeders' Cup Turf on November 1st. "I was kind of sick, to be honest (during the inquiry)," Main Sequence's trainer, Graham Motion said. "I thought it would have been a bit cruel to take it away, but he definitely bumped the other horse. I feel bad for West Point (owner of Twilight Eclipse). I train for them and that horse has run three big races and he's come out on the wrong end of them."
Jockey Club Gold Cup
Time for me to eat my words...Tonalist (Tapit-Settling Mist) won the JCGC by 1 3/4 lengths. Perhaps the colt can run well but he just needs to run at Belmont, where all of his grade one wins have come. Around the turn Wicked Strong stumbled after clipping heels with the Whitney winner, Moreno, and unseated jockey, Rajiv Maragh, just as he was beginning to make his move. Thankfully, though, the loose horse managed to avoid contact with the rest of the field.
"I probably should have removed the blinkers before the Travers," Christophe Clement, trainer of Tonalist, said. "He obviously was a bit too aggressive in the Travers. He doesn't need the blinkers anymore. I should have realized before that he was more mature."
An inquiry was filed aginst Moreno and the stewards ruled Moreno, winner of the Whitney Handicap, cut off Wicked Strong's path, causing the spill. Moreno was disqualifed from fourth to last. Tonalist has earned an official spot in the Breeders' Cup Classic and Clement said it was likely the next stop for the colt. Zivo's trainer Chad Brown said the same for Zivo.
Beldame Stakes
Winning by almost eight lengths, Belle Gallantey (After Market-Revealed) now has two grade on wins on her record. A former claimer, the mare won the race in an impressive wire-to-wire domination. Belle Gallantey broke alertly from post seven. She had opening fractions of :24.18 and :47.51 and led early by two lengths.
Rudy Rodriguez, trainer of Belle Gallantey, spoke of the mare, "I told Jose, 'You've got the outside and you've got the option to see what everyone else is doing, so take it from there. If they leave you alone, take it.' I think she's a pretty versatile filly where she can sit and come from behind. When they left them alone and they went in :24.18, I was very happy. She's a very nice filly and she show it today."
All-in-all, Super Saturday had really good races but I think it was lacking something. Perhaps if so many horses hadn't retired it would have been more action packed but I can't change that now. Congratulations to all of the horses that won yesterday.
Until next time,
Madison
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