Yuugiri a Looming Presence in G2 Thoroughbred Club of America

Yuugiri much the best in the Open Mind Sep. 16 at Churchill Downs (JennyPhoto/Past The Wire)

Thoroughbred Club of America Offers Free Berth Into Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint

By Amber Joyce

LEXINGTON, Ky.— Sekie and Tsunebumi Yoshihara’s Grade 3 winner Yuugiri looks to be a tough customer in Saturday’s $350,000 Thoroughbred Club of America (G2), a six-furlong main track affair for fillies and mares aged three years old and upward, at Keeneland. 

Trained by Rodolphe Brisset, Yuugiri will aim to notch her fourth stakes win this year and her first graded stakes win since wiring the field in last year’s Fantasy (G3). The four-year-old daughter of Shackleford was last seen pulling away to a three-length win in the Open Mind Sep. 16 at Churchill Downs after stumbling at the start. She covered six furlongs in 1:09.43.

Yuugiri’s other two stakes wins this year came in the Carousel Feb. 25 at Oaklawn Park and in the Saylorville July 7 at Prairie Meadows. She won both by a combined 6 ¾ lengths. Yuugiri finished a weakening sixth when trying synthetic in the Satin and Lace at Presque Isle Downs in August, and was last of nine on turf in the License Fee May 7 at Belmont Park. 

The Thoroughbred Club of America will be Yuugiri’s second race at Keeneland, her lone spin around the Lexington oval being a last-of-five effort in the Madison (G1) April 8.  

Flavien Prat was aboard for the win in the Open Mind and stays on from post position six.

The gals who ran second and third behind Yuugiri in the Open Mind will meet that rival again on Saturday and have drawn alongside each other in the seven-horse field.

Albaugh Family Stables LLC’s dual-graded stakes-placed Fire On Time [Martin Garcia, post position two] showed good early footing and led the way until the late stages of the Open Mind, settling for second. The five-year-old Not This Time mare also ran into Yuugiri in the Saylorville, crossing the wire fourth only to be disqualified and moved to last.

A six-time winner in her career (including a win at Keeneland last year), Dale Romans-trained Fire On Time will be searching for her second victory of 2023. She kicked away to a six-length allowance win May 12 at Churchill Downs, in advance of a second-place finish in the Winning Colors (G3) behind Echo Zulu, the champion two-year-old filly in 2021. 

In January, Fire On Time held on for show in the Inside Information (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

Third in the Open Mind was Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC’s Wicked Halo [Tyler Gaffalione, post position one], a millionaire and three-time graded stakes winner. Prior to the Open Mind, Wicked Halo edged clear to a 1 ¼ length score in the Twin Bridges July 23 at Ellis Park. That race followed placings in the Bed o’ Roses (G2) and Derby City Distaff (G1), as well as a win in the Matron March 31 at Oaklawn Park, her first win of the season.

Wicked Halo returns to Keeneland for the first time since finishing third behind Goodnight Olive and Echo Zulu in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. She entered that race off of a four-length win in the seven-furlong Lexus Raven Run (G2), also at Keeneland. 

Wicked Halo has won eight of her 16 career starts, finishing off the board only once. Steve Asmussen trains this four-year-old daughter of Gun Runner. 

Monarch Stables, Inc.’s Last Leaf [Luis Saez, post position three] has yet to win a race in 2023, but she did string together a trio of stakes placings, including a second-place finish behind Wicked Halo in the Twin Bridges and a third in the Winning Colors (G3) May 29.

Trained by Eddie Kenneally, Last Leaf has five stakes wins on her resume. 

Static Fire [Cristian Torres, post position four] takes on graded stakes company for the first time for Silverton Hill LLC and trainer Brian Lynch. The four-year-old daughter of Speightster has just one start under her belt this year, a gate-to-wire win Aug. 31 at Kentucky Downs.

With four wins from seven starts, Static Fire has competed in stakes four times—all sprinting on turf—and has failed to hit the board in any of those starts. She does, however, have a win over the Keeneland main track, a 1 ¾ length allowance triumph which came in October of last year.

Trainer Wesley Ward will send out Gayla Rankin’s Happy Soul [John Velazquez, post position five], who was the runner-up behind Slammed in this race last year. 

Happy Soul, a four-year-old Runhappy filly, hasn’t visited the winner’s circle since capturing the Dixie Belle at Oaklawn last February. That race capped a three-race winning streak, which also included an 11 ½ length romp as a juvenile in the Astoria at Belmont Park. 

Happy Soul returns to dirt after four unsuccessful turf attempts, her only starts this year.

Completing the field is St. George Farm Racing LLC’s three-time winner Be Like Water [Edgar Morales, post position seven], a five-year-old mare by Majesticperfection. Vicky Oliver trains. 

The Thoroughbred Club of America is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In and will provide the winner with an automatic and free entry into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. 

Four other stakes are featured on Saturday’s card, including the Woodford (G2) Presented by FanDuel, First Lady (G1) Presented by UK HealthCare, Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1), and $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile (G1). The latter two are Win and You’re In races for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1), respectively. 

The field for the Thoroughbred Club of America (G2) with riders, trainers, and weights from the rail out: