Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Tequilita goes in Raven Run to stick with own age group
LEXINGTON, Ky. – No one could have blamed Michael Matz for sending Tequilita to the Breeders’ Cup after the 3-year-old filly won the Charles Town Oaks last month. But discretion is part of what has made Matz such a successful trainer, and it’s what led him to forgo the BC Filly and Mare Sprint in favor of the Grade 2, $250,000 Raven Run at Keeneland on Saturday.
“It’s just a better fit for us, staying with 3-year-olds and all,” said Matz, who trains Tequilita in the name of his wife, Dorothy Alexander Matz.
Tequilita, with Feargal Lynch to ride, is among the top contenders in the sevenfurlong Raven Run, which anchors a 10-race Saturday card expected to be run amid splendid autumn weather. The Charles Town Oaks marked the third stakes victory in the 10-race career of Tequilita, a homebred Union Rags filly who has been given her chances in major events such as the Kentucky Oaks (seventh) and Test (third).
A field of 11 3-year-old fillies was entered in the Raven Run on Wednesday. Conspicuously missing from the lineup is Valadorna, the runner-up in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Unraced since late February because of a hind-leg injury, the Stonestreet Stables homebred had been tentatively pointed to the race until trainer Mark Casse reconsidered.
“We’re going to take a different route, something a little easier,” said Casse. “Hopefully, you’ll see her in the entries real soon.”
The stakes schedule for this final full week of the Keeneland fall meet culminates Sunday with the Grade 3, $125,000 Dowager, a 1 1/2-mile turf race for fillies and mares.
Neolithic coming for Fayette
Neolithic has joined the cast for the Oct. 28 Fayette, a Grade 2, $200,000 race that also is expected to attract Honorable Duty and McCraken. The Fayette is the fall meet closingday feature.
Jack Wolf’s Starlight Racing owns Neolithic with Qatar Racing, and he confirmed this week that the 4-year-old colt was scheduled to ship from New York after having a final prerace breeze Thursday for trainer Todd Pletcher.
Neolithic most recently was a distant third behind Gun Runner in the Sept. 2 Woodward at Saratoga. In four starts this year, he has raced against Gun Runner or Arrogate, having finished third in both the Pegasus World Cup and Dubai World Cup.
Honorable Duty, first or second in his last six starts, all for trainer Brendan Walsh, had his first breeze since winning the Sept. 30 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs, going an easy half-mile last Saturday at Keeneland in 51.40 seconds.
The 1 1/8-mile Fayette will be the first race for McCraken since he was seventh in the Aug. 26 Travers.
Wilkes has two for Cardinal
Trainer Ian Wilkes said the Grade 3 Cardinal on Nov. 18 at Churchill Downs is next for both Res Ipsa and Linda, the first- and third-place finishers in a third-level turf allowance last Friday at Keeneland.
Res Ipsa, owned by Deborah Wilson, is unbeaten in two starts since undergoing minor throat surgery over the summer. Her 6-1 victory over Linda in their first head-tohead clash qualified as a mild upset, given that Linda already is a Grade 2 winner and was an odds-on favorite when finishing two lengths behind her stablemate.
◗ Friday is the once-a-meet College Scholarship Day at Keeneland, with noted horse owner Jim McIngvale funding $10,000 in a single Runhappy Scholarship for the first time. That’s in addition to the 10 scholarships worth $1,000 each offered as usual between races by Keeneland and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association.
◗ Nominations close Saturday for the $80,000 Street Sense and $80,000 Rags to Riches, twin 2-year-old stakes that help to open the Churchill fall meet on Oct. 29. A pair of $200,000 races restricted to offspring of Spendthrift Farm stallions also will be part of the Oct. 29 card, which comprises 2-year-old races.