Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Carribean Caper getting vacation instead of stakes
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The unbeaten Carribean Caper has been turned out in South Carolina for the rest of the year, along with the other top horses in the Al Stall Jr. barn.
Stall said he considered the upcoming Dream Supreme or Chilukki at Churchill Downs for Carribean Caper before recently sending her out with his two best turf runners, Dalika and In Good Spirits. They all have joined the 3-yearold Masqueparade, another one of Stall’s most productive performers this year, who already was at the Camden, S.C., training center of Frank Wooten.
“Old school,” said Stall. In years past, trainers such as Mack Miller, Woody Stephens, and Frank and David Whiteley would winter many of their good horses at South Carolina training centers in Camden and Aiken.
Carribean Caper, a 3-year-old Speightstown filly owned by the Columbine Stable of Andrea Pollock, has won all five of her starts by a combined 24 lengths, with her latest coming by six lengths in the Grade 3 Dogwood on Sept. 25 at Churchill.
“I told Andrea, instead of running in one of these Churchill races and then maybe the La Brea afterward,” said Stall, referring to the Grade 1 La Brea on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, “I suggested we just turn her out and regroup toward the bigger races next year like the [Derby City] Distaff, the Ballerina, and the Breeders’ Cup [Filly and Mare Sprint] at Keeneland. She was all for it. After we got everything arranged, I had a lot of inner peace.”
Stall said all four horses, all graded winners in 2021, will rejoin him sometime in January at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, his winter base.
Meanwhile, the $300,000 Dream Supreme, to be run Saturday, is coming up ultratough with Bell’s the One, Sconsin, Club Car, and Frank’s Rockette all having skipped the BC Filly and Mare Sprint to point to it. Entries for the six-furlong race will be drawn Wednesday.
The Grade 3, $300,000 Chilukki, also for fillies and mares, will be run Nov. 20 at a one-turn mile. The Churchill stakes schedule has undergone several tweaks this fall because of the unavailability of the turf course amid a $10 million renovation scheduled for completion by next spring.
‘Ladies’ clash in feature
The 3-year-old fillies Lady Frosted and Lady Traveler are among the top contenders in a field of nine in the Sunday feature at Churchill, a $127,000 mile that goes as the only allowance on a 10-race card.
Lady Frosted, already a threetime winner, will be making her first start for trainer Tom Amoss after being claimed for $50,000 from a 7 3/4-length romp on closing day of the September meet. She’ll break from post 4 with Tyler Gaffalione riding.
Lady Traveler (post 6, Joe Talamo) has not won in more than 13 months but has been good enough to finish second in the Grade 3 Forward Gal and third in the Grade 2 BlackEyed Susan among a number of respectable efforts.
First post is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going at 5:06 as race 9.
After Sunday, Churchill goes dark for two days before another five-day race week resumes Wednesday.
Mariah’s Princess’s big return
Mariah’s Princess earned an 83 Beyer Speed Figure for an eye-catching victory Thursday at Churchill in her return from an eight-month layoff. Ridden by Martin Garcia, the 3-yearold Ghostzapper filly won a first-level allowance sprint by 6 1/4 lengths, going seven furlongs in 1:22.46.
“She showed a lot of ability at 2 and came off the layoff much more mature physically,” said Phil Bauer, who trains Mariah’s Princess for Richard and
Tammy Rigney. “It’ll be pretty exciting to see how she develops and where she can take us. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of options for her, whether it’s before the meet ends here or a little later at Fair Grounds or Oaklawn Park.”
◗ Midnight Bourbon and Maxfield both have been on a regular breeze schedule at Churchill ahead of the Grade 1 Clark on Nov. 26. Both were withheld from the Breeders’ Cup Classic to run instead in the 1 1/8-mile Clark.
Midnight Bourbon had his latest work Monday before trainer Steve Asmussen left for California, going five furlongs in 1:00.60, while Maxfield, trained by Brendan Walsh, breezed Thursday, getting a half-mile in 49.40 seconds.
◗ Asmussen snapped a rare 50-race winless streak on the Kentucky circuit when Leddy ($8.40) won the fourth race Thursday. Asmussen went winless with his last 40 starters at the Keeneland fall meet after Arm Candy won Oct. 13, then also with his first 10 starters at Churchill prior to Leddy romping by 7 1/4 lengths.
During the same time frame, Asmussen won a combined 13 races at Belmont Park, Remington Park, Indiana Grand, and Delta Downs.
◗ Kukulkan, the Mexicanbred star who won 17 of 27 starts, including the Mexican Triple Crown in 2018, died from complications of laminitis in late October in Mexico, according to Fausto Gutierrez, who had trained the horse through his 5-year-old season of 2020.
Kukulkan ran 10 times in the U.S. for Gutierrez. He won three of those – two runnings of the Clasico del Caribe at Gulfstream Park and a Churchill allowance in May 2019 – before eventually returning to Mexico to a different trainer for a fourrace campaign at 6 prior to his death.