Keeneland

Coolmore Turf Mile (Grade 1)

THE feature race tonight stateside is the Grade 1 $1 Million Coolmore Turf Mile (Sky 10.45pm).

It’s a quality field headed by the home team of Godolphin’s Santin along with Smooth Like Strait, the one-two in the Grade 1 Arlington Million at Churchill Downs in August, in the field of 12.

In addition to Santin and Smooth Like Strait, four other US Grade 1 winners are in the field: Classic Causeway, Order Of Australia, Ivar and Casa Creed with two.

Order Of Australia will be ridden by Christophe Soumillon and the five-year-old son of Australia who won the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Mile has held his form pretty well with a second place last time out in the Prix du Moulin which gives him a shout here.

Presumably Classic Causeway will again make the running and Soumillon should elect to sit handy, with 12 runners possibly expecting some traffic problems.

Trained by Brendan Walsh, Santin is a dual Grade 1 winner this year with his other Grade 1 triumph also coming at Churchill in the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic on Kentucky Derby Day. He should be very competitive again.

Walsh said this week: “It is a deep field, and you could make a case for a half dozen of them and still not pick the right one. But Santin fits really well in there and if he gets a good trip, he’ll be right there at the end.”

Smooth Like Strait has been placed in all eight of his starts in Grade 1s. Ivar was no match for Modern Games in Woodbine last time and Bill Motts’ Casa Creed, coming off two Grade 1 wins looks the danger to Santin. Classic Causeway needs to get clear early and may find the drop back to a mile a tougher task.

SELECTION: SANTIN

Next Best: Casa Creed

First Lady Stakes

Peter Brant’s Regal Glory, a triple Grade 1 winner including in this spring’s Jenny Wiley at Keeneland, headlines a field of six fillies and mares in the Grade 1 First Lady (Sky 9.42pm) over a mile on the turf course.

Regal Glory is one of three for trainer Chad Brown, who has saddled the First Lady winner for the past four years and she was also second in last year’s First Lady to stablemate Blowout.

Regal Glory has won three of four starts this year with the only defeat coming with a second-place finish against males in the Grade 1 Fourstardave on her most recent start.

Brown’s other runners cannot be dismissed and are Peter Brant’s second runner In Italian, winner of the Grade 1 Diana, and multiple graded stakes winner Technical Analysis for Klaravich Stables.

Futurity

Todd Pletcher’s three-length Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes winner Forte, returns in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity.

The form was boosted last week when the third Blazing Sevens went on to win the Champagne at Belmont, but this is a big field of 14 two-year-olds.

The Grade 2 Woodford Stakes Presented by FanDuel over five and a half furlongs features Wesley Ward’s favourite Golden Pal, prepping for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, with the opposition including the former Joseph O’Brien trained Cadamosto.

Santa Anita

There are two Grade 1s on the Santa Anita card with the 10-furlong Rodeo Drive Stakes for fillies and mares on the turf the highlight.

Phil D’Amato’s five-year-old Going To Vegas bids for a repeat of her win last season.

The Goldencents mare has not won this season but has been placed in four consecutive graded races, including the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes and Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes.

Chad Brown’s Fluffy Socks, second in her last two graded outing on the east coast, looks the big danger.

Also on the card are two graded two-year-old contests, the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes and a Grade 2 for fillies, the Chandelier Stakes.

Justique, a John Shireffs-trained daughter of Justify, tops a tight field for the Champagne ahead of Bob Baffert’s two Home Cooking and Huntingcoco. She made a big impression on her debut, coming from well back to beat Home Cooking who was since second in the Grade 1 Debutante.

Baffert’s Grade 1 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity winner Cave Rock heads his four runners in the American Pharoah, a race the trainer has won 10 times including with the Triple Crown winner.

Baffert has also entered Gandolfini, National Treasure and Hejazi. Gandolfini and National Treasure are expensive purchases who have each won their only starts.

AT Belmont on the turf tonight in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes, Bill Mott puts his Grade 1-winning mare War Like Goddess in among the older turf stars including one of the top turf performers in Grade 1 winner Gufo. The five-year-old was very unlucky last time with a poor ride leaving her too much to do in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl Stakes. Her turn of foot should be a good asset here.

The last female to win the Joe Hirsch was the brilliant All Along, and War Like Goddess will head for the Breeders’ Cup Turf if she prevails against six males in the mile-and-a-half contest.

Christophe Clement’s Gufo won the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes with stable companions, the Frankel gelding Soldier Rising back in third and the Chad Brown pair Adhamo (earlier the winner of the Grade 1 United Nations) and Rockemperor well back. Gufo has had a busy campaign, second in a big money race at Kentucky Downs since and this is his seventh run of the season.

Mott could have a big race double as he sends off the favourite Elite Power in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Vosburgh where David Duggan’s star Drafted has a good chance of decent place prize money.

Woodbine

Nine fillies and mares, including Queen’s Plate Stakes winner Moira will contest the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes. Moira romped to victory in the Plate on August 21st by seven lengths, three weeks after an over-10-length success in the Woodbine Oaks.

Fellow three-year-old filly Mylady makes her first start outside of Germany after a third-place finish, just three-quarters of a length in the Group 1 German Oaks while Fev Rover, well known to European fans, comes off a nose win in the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes.

Other notables include the Chad Brown duo Lemista and Rougir but Moira

Aqueduct Sunday

Sunday’s features put the spotlight on fillies and the best three-year-old female – Nest, a three-time Grade 1 winner, will take on older fillies and mares in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Beldame Stakes at Aqueduct.

She comes off dominant efforts at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks and the Alabama Stakes.

In the field of five, her biggest rival appears to be Travel Column, who tries nine furlongs for the first time since finishing fifth in last year’s Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

A dual graded stakes winner, she emerged from a nearly 13-month layoff to capture a seven-furlong allowance optional claiming event on June 29th at Churchill Downs in her first start for Bill Mott.

Santa Anita

At Keeneland, the older fillies Letruska and Malathaat will clash for a fourth time as they headline a field of five fillies and mares entered for the Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster over nine furlongs.

Trained by Fausto Gutierrez, Letruska will be bidding to become the fifth horse to win the Juddmonte Spinster in back-to-back years.

She has won two of four starts this year, but most recently was third behind Malathaat in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign and she disappointed in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont previously, so has questions to answer.

Malathaat also finished in front of Letruska in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff as well as in the Ogden Phipps has won her two starts at Keeneland including the Grade 1 Central Bank Ashland in 2021.

Played Hard comes into the race off a five-and-three-quarter-length victory in the Grade 3 Locust Grove at Churchill Downs in September and was fifth behind Malathaat in last year’s Alabama at Saratoga.