Churchill Downs, Race 4 – Friday, June 14, 2024
By The 2YO EdgeMan
CD4:061424 – 5f on the Dirt. The ladies get the chance to dance in this affair and there are ten gals that have passed through the entry box. Nine of them are debut runners and one has competed one time previously. Cox, John A. Hancock, Kenneally, Amoss, Romans, Asmussen, Walsh, and Stewart make up a terrific list of trainers. As far as sires, we have starters from Into Mischief (Spendthrift Farm), Mitole (Spendthrift), Munnings, Twirling Candy, and Mendelssohn. We’ve also got some interesting Freshman sires represented – Thousand Words (Spendthrift), Honor A.P., and two by Vekoma (Spendthrift). If this race don’t get you fired up, I’m not sure what will! Time to break down five of these young ladies…
#1 – Aurelia’s Mischief (5/2) – The Morning Line favorite draws the rail and comes out of the powerful Brad Cox barn; she’s a Stonestreet homebred. As her name implies, this firster is from the mighty Into Mischief and was thrown by a Scat Daddy mare who was also a fantastic racer in her day, winning $834K by going five for ten, including two Grade One events and one G2 affair, all three on the other side of the pond. She also scored at first asking in March of her 2YO season at Keeneland posting an outstanding 95 EBSF. Lastly, she’s produced one other foal of racing age and that 3YO colt by Curlin won last year as a baby in his first try at KEE in April and bested his mama by flashing an astounding EBSF of 99. Today’s runner will be making her first start, but Brad has pumped a half dozen works into her (22 total furlongs). Her first two moves were at Keeneland at and each covered three poles. Then he vanned her west to Churchill for her most recent four works, all at a half mile. Her next to last, was likely her best – she went in 47.8 seconds on 5/31/24 (9/88). Brad’s main man Florent will ship his toes into the irons.
#6 – Kimchi Cat (8/1) – The always dangerous Tom Amoss has been prepping this FTS Twirling Candy filly who comes by way of a Sky Mesa mare. Mama won her first start at two over the Saratoga strip and posted a fine 86 EBSF, but she never found the Winner’s Circle after that day in 11 additional starts; she ended her racing career with $71,000 in the bank and has thrown two other foals of racing age, but neither have been too successful as of yet. The hammer came down on today’s competitor after a bid of $185K from owner Joel Politi last year as a yearling (17/70). Tom schooled her at Keeneland three times and her last there was eyecatching – 46.6 for a half mile on 5/21/24 (2/54). He has since worked her twice over today’s strip at CD, both covering 5/8th of a mile. In fact, her last was a small bullet on 6/5/24 when she went in an outstanding 59.8 seconds (1/5). Edgar Morales will be her passenger guiding her round the track.
#8 – Viggiedal (6/1) – Debut sire – Vekoma – who already has four winners is responsible for this debuting gal on a mating with a mare by Unbridled’s Song. Mom was only one for 11 ($24,000) and she’s had two undistinguished foals of racing age. It took $160K to buy this gal as a yearling (22/114), but they pinhooked her back at Ocala’s March Sale of Two-Year-olds and CJ Stables plunked down $350K on her (5/41). Conditioner Steve Asmussen has put seven works into her, all at Keeneland. Her first three spins were 3/8th of a mile and her most recent four have all been over four furlongs (for a total of 25 total furlongs). Her last drill was swift – she went in 47.6 from the gate (8/143). Cristian Torres gets the call to tickle the leather.
#9 – Somethinabouther (12/1) – Brendan Walsh will sling the saddle across this FTS filly who is by Mendelssohn. Her dam is by Ghostzapper and she did pretty well on the track – three for 17 with $162K in prize money; this is her first foal of racing age. The powerful ownership group of X-Men Racing/Madaket Stables/SF Racing plucked this gal out of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $210K (3/65). Walsh officially started working her in the mornings back in mid-April at Turfway Park. She drilled eight times there in northern Kentucky, then vanned to Churchill for one spin under the spires; all told she’s logged 30 furlongs of work. Her best effort probably dates back to 5/22/24 when she went a half mile in 48.6 seconds from the gate (4/24). Tyler will be her pilot.
#10 – Anakarina (3/1) – The lone filly with experience in this field is from the newby sire Vekoma and she’s was tossed by a Tapit mare that was two for 13 on the track with $86,000 in earnings, including a win in her third start at Fairplex in September of her two-year-old season. She also has thrown two other foals of racing age – one of those was a filly who cracked the $100K earnings mark ($116K) by going three for seven. Today’s runner is a homebred from Dream Team One Racing Stable. Her start was back on 5/17/24 over this same CD strip and it was at the same distance as today – five panels. She didn’t start fabulously and was fourth a length or so behind her rivals early before finally finishing 5th, beaten by almost 10 lengths. Trainer Dallas Stewart has found time for two half mile works since her last run. He’ll give the mount to a Derby Champ, Brian Hernandez, Jr. for the first time with her.
Pick – #1 Aurelia’s Mischief – This is a very solid field of fillies (the #6 horse especially), but we may have a monster among us. Aurelia’s Mischief’s mom was not only very precocious, but also a two-time G1 champ who threw a colt that excelled in the spring of his two-year-old campaign – and that guy is by Curlin and you just don’t see Curlin’s win first out in April of their 2YO year and you definitely don’t see them flashing a 99 EBSF that earlier in their career. This filly’s gate move on 6/8/24 was impressive. Her workmate (a colt) was all over the place down the lane and she was on the rail but was professional as could be, even as he veered over bumping her a couple of times. She also galloped out strong on that morning. Into Mischief – Stonestreet – Cox – Geroux – what more can I say? The only question is how much money she’ll take? I’ll likely be willing to back her down as low as even money, even in this strong field.
There are a couple of Auction Restricted 2YO MSW affairs at Churchill on Sunday, 6/16/24 that we’ll take a look at, but as all you sharp Edgies know, they are not my preference. I was recently reminded, however, that Thorpedo Anna started her career out in such a race, so you never know when there might be a star in one of these events.
Take care – be safe and be well. Thank you for all of your support!
