Keeneland, Race 8 – Thursday, October 26, 2023
By 2YO EdgeMan
KEE8:102623 – Seven furlongs on the dirt. The perfect number of twelve guys have been dropped into the hat for this one – 10 colts and two geldings. More than half the field (seven) will be racing for their first time ever, two have been out once, another two have competed twice and one has done the racing thing four times. We’ve got some interesting stuff to share, so let’s get it on…
#1 – Charleston (9/2) – One of the seven FTSers in this field comes from the barn of Brad Cox and is sired by Tapiture. This colt is a homebred and his dam is an unraced 21 YO mare who has thrown eight other foals of racing age. Her best was a colt who went 3 for 7 and banked over a $1/2 million, including a runner up performance in the G1 Arkansas Derby. To prep for his debut, he’s worked a total of nine times, starting back in early August at WinStar’s Training Center. He then climbed in a van and headed to northern Kentucky for five spins around the Turfway Park oval. Cox then sent him to Churchill Downs for two five panel breezes. His best work was his last at TP when he zipped a half mile bullet in 47.4 seconds (1/40). Florent gets tapped to climb aboard.
#2 – Tuscany’s Eagle (15/1) – Spendthrift Farm’s terrific First-Crop sire – Vino Rosso – is the stallion that produced this firster for Dale Romans. This colt is out of an unraced Dixie Union mare. Outside of this dude, she’s foaled eight horses of racing age and one of them won at first asking in her 2YO campaign for Bob Baffert at Santa Anita, flashing an Equibase Speed Fig of 87 and one other runner that earned over $100K. Today’s competitor sold in the top 5% of his class when the Albaugh Family Stables picked him up for $300K as a yearling last year (6/128). Dale has pumped a dozen works into this colt – all at Churchill Downs – for a total 48 furlongs, however his times have been less than impressive.
#5 – Rocketeer (6/1) – Yet another debut performer for Brad Cox, this Curlin colt was never sold at public auction, but is now owned e Five Racing and partner. His Indiana Charlie dam won $277K with a flashy 6 for 13 record. She’s produced two other foals of racing age, but neither have visited the Winner’s Circle yet. Brad started his work regime with two here at Keeneland in late July, then moved him to Turfway Park for a half dozen more before shipping him back to KEE for an additional four morning efforts. His fastest two were in early September at TP when he worked successive half mile breezes, first in 47.8 seconds (3/31) and then in 47.0 flat, earning him a nice bullet (1/57). Tyler will pilot this one.
#9 – Melee (12/1) – Adele Dilschneider & Claiborne Farm will send out this homebred colt who is under the tutelage of Hall of Famer, Bill Mott. He is by Street Sense and is another First-Time starter. Mom is by War Front and she won once from eight tries and earned $61,000. She’s only thrown one other of racing age and that is a 3YO colt that has only run one time so far (did not win). Mott started working this fella all the way back in mid-April down in Florida at the Payson Park Training Center. After four efforts there, he was moved up to Saratoga in mid-May for eight spins in upstate NY. Then it was over to Long Island where he worked a half dozen more times at Belmont Park. Finally, he was sent down to Churchill for his most recent three breezes. So, all told, he shows a total of 21 morning moves, totaling 77 furlongs. As per usual with Mott juveniles, he’s never really been turned loose for too much speed as his fastest was his first at SAR on 5/15/23 when he covered three poles in 36.3 seconds for a small bullet (1/14).
#11 – Stop the Press (3/1) – The Morning Line favorite – by Uncle Mo – sold as a yearling to West Point Thoroughbred and partners for the whopping sum of – are you ready for this?….wait for it…..$1.5 million. This represents the highest sum paid for a yearling by Uncle Mo out of the 95 sold in 2022, $300K more than the next most. This colt has yet to grace the race track in the afternoon and he’s being conditioned by Shug McGaughey. His Tapit dam was unraced and she’s only produced one other foal of racing age – a three-year-old filly who is just starting her racing career – 0 for 1, so far. Similar to the #9 above, he’s been logging some miles in preparation for his debut – 65 total furlongs and that’s without one work over a half mile. He’s been working moderately, but did pop one significant bullet work – on 9/17/23 at BEL, when he traveled four furlongs in 47.63 seconds (1/67).
Pick – #2 Tuscany’s Eagle – While the million and a half dollar baby is extremely intriguing, I’m going to try to beat him while a long shot. This colt was a relatively pricey yearling in his own right. Vino Rosso is the third leading First-Crop sire and has had fourteen winners from 65 starters. Although Dale is 0 for 6 at Keeneland in the fall over the previous five years (2018 thru 2022) with juveniles making their debut, he is 4 for 21 (19.1%) with a big $3.48 ROI overall with 2YO MSWs in this time period here at the Fall Meet. Another thing that I like about him is seeing a half-sister that was precocious (mentioned above) and that his work tab is very consistent.
We’ll be right back here tomorrow delivering more analysis on our beloved baby races at Keeneland and we’ve got two to choose from – Race numbers 3 and 10. Who knows, we might even get crazy and break down both! Until tomorrow – thank you and be well.
