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Change is inevitable. Horse racing has its own trends. However, some breaks with tradition seem stranger to me than others. I am surprised that the Acorn Stakes is now described as the Belmont Stakes undercard. Here are some big reasons why should be acknowledging the Acorn, the third leg of the Filly Triple Crown, the first jewel of the Triple Tiara.
Continue reading “Acknowledging the Acorn”
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I am horsing around today for sure. I got an early start this morning at the Thoroughbred Center watching the horses breeze and petting them and a barn cat. Tonight, I am attending Downs After Dark at Churchill Downs for some live racing, including some graded stakes. In between, I am watching the Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park. It is a busy day for this blogger and I will share some trip photos and stories later but now let’s focus on the Mother Goose Stakes.
The Mother Goose Stakes started in 1957 and was named for Mother Goose, herself. She had the distinction of being the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Futurity in 1924. The Grade 1 stakes race is 1 and 1/16 miles on dirt. It is currently held at Belmont Park in New York, where we recently saw American Pharoah win the Triple Crown. The Mother Goose is for 3 year old fillies. The purse is $300,000. At different periods, in our nation’s history, this race has been considered part of the filly triple crown or triple tiara. The other legs were usually the Acorn and the Coaching Club American Oaks. Those two races and the Alabama Stakes are currently considered the New York Triple Tiara. The fastest and largest margin to win the Mother Goose was Rachel Alexandra. She also won the Kentucky Oaks and the Preakness. She holds the record for the largest win at the Kentucky Oaks too. She was the first filly to win the Preakness in 85 years. She has the record for speed at the Mother Goose and was less than a second from Secretariat’s speed record. Tonight at 5:28 pm, the Mother Goose Stakes will be race 9 at Belmont. The Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks won’t take place until late July and August. It has only been 3 weeks since the Acorn. Curalina won the Acorn Stakes and she will not be participating in the Mother Goose. In fact, only one horse in this stakes race was entered at the Acorn. The 10 featured horses are:
Embellish the Line won both of her 2 starts this year. This will be her 1st stakes race. Include Betty came in 8th at the Kentucky Oaks and 2nd in the Black-Eyed Susan stakes. She is the horse with the experience to win this, having 9 career starts including 4 graded stakes, 1 of which she won. Hot City Girl is one of only 2 New York bred horses in this race, the rest are from Kentucky. She has 7 starts but just 1 win, back in January, and none of her races have been graded stakes. Munasara is my favorite. She is undefeated but she has had just 2 entries. The last win was at Belmont Park. I like her tainer Kiaran McLaughlin and her jockey John Velazquez. Her jockey won the Mother Goose last year on American Champion 3 Year Old, Untapable. Chide has won 2 of her 3 starts. Her last two races were at Churchill Downs. Pleasant Tales has been in a total of 4 races at Churchill, of her 8 starts, and she won her last race there. Moneysoncharlotte came in lucky 13 in the Kentucky Oaks. That was her last race of 7 career starts. Danessa Deluxe was 4th in the Black-Eyed Susan when she had John Velazquez for a jockey. Tonight, Manuel Franco will ride her. She has not won in 2015 but she has 7 lifetime starts, with the last 3 being graded stakes. Eskenformoney came in 10th in the Kentucky Oaks. She has had 10 starts with 3 of them being graded. In those graded stakes she was third and then 2nd before her Kentucky Oaks race. Finally, Wondergal is considered the favorite. She is the other New York filly. She was 3rd in the Acorn as well as the 14 Hands Winery Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies race. 5 of her 6 starts were graded stakes.
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Unfortunately, I don’t have the same enthusiasm for this race as I do for the Belmont Stakes since we won’t have a Triple Crown winner in this race but I’m still really excited! We do have an amazing group of horses running and this is a very important G1 stakes race, so I am still anxious to see who wins. Also, while this is the final race of the Filly Triple Crown, it is the 1st race of the U.S Triple Tiara.
The Filly Triple Crown consists of the Kentucky Oaks, The Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and the Acorn Stakes. See the stories of the former two races here: Get Stoked For The Oaks and Filly Friday.
The American Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing consists of the Acorn Stakes, ran at Belmont Park, The Coaching Club of American Oaks, ran at Saratoga race track, and the Alabama Stakes also held at Saratoga. All 3 parts of the Tiara are for 3 year old fillies and they all take place in New York. Historically, on occasion, the Mother Goose has replaced either the Acorn or Alabama stakes, in other configurations.
This is the 85th running of the Acorn Stakes. It is a mile race on dirt. The winning purse is $750,000. It will take place in the 7th race, about 3:15 P.M. EST on Saturday June 6th, 2015, the same day and place as the Belmont Stakes. Some years this race was held at Aqueduct. This year will feature 12 fillies:
We have seen Oceanwave before in the KY Oaks where she finished 7th. Her other past performances had her coming in at 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Her current odds place her about middle. Wonder Gal has the same odds presently. She is trained by last years winning trainer, Leah Gyarmati, who won this race in 2014 with Sweet Reason with a time of 1:34.98. By the Moon has worse odds. She is very unpredictable having often ran 1st and 2nd but also once coming in 5th and 8th each in past performances. Calamity Kate is the longest shot of this race. She did come in second to the favorite for this race, last November, in the Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct. She also won the only race she entered this year, at Monmouth Park, last month. Bar of Gold does not have good odds at this time. This is somewhat surprising since she is undefeated. However, she has only ran three races, once in August of last year and again this past March and April . Curalina has better, about mid range odds but also just has the experience of 3 races total. She came in 2nd and then 1st the past 2 races. Her biggest advantage might be that she has the excellent trainer, Todd Pletcher and her sire is Curlin . Curlin won the Preakness Stakes, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Horse of the Year in 2007. In 2008 he was Horse of the Year again, which it is very rare to win twice, and he won the Dubai World Cup. Also, she has jockey Jorge Velazquez. He is tied for the jockey with the 2nd most wins in the Acorn. Eddie Arcaro has him beat with 5 wins but has not won the Acorn since 1961. Condo Commando ran ninth in the KY Oaks. However, she looks to be the favorite for this race. That was her seventh race. Previously, she has always ran 1st except for once when she came in fourth. Shook Up placed in the KY Oaks. She is favored second to win this race. In her former 6 races she has always been second except for 1 win and 1 time in fifth place. Promise Me Silver has the third best odds. She is undefeated in all 8 of her races. Due to the experience she has over the other horses and her winning streak she is my favorite. This is an opinion and not a tip. Only her last race was graded. It was the G3 Eight Bells Stakes at Churchill Downs. She has jockey Mike E. Smith. He is tied for 2nd as the jockey with the most wins in the Acorn at 4 wins. Light the City has jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. who rode last years winner. She has 7 starts in which she has ran 1st twice, 2nd twice, 3rd once and 5th once. Her last race she was pulled up to score last at 7th or in other words, she did not finish. Miss Ella has very good odds. She is also undefeated but she has only ran twice. Her last race was on 4/12/15 at Keeneland in the G2 Adena Springs Beaumont Stakes. Finally, Danzatrice has unfavorable odds but she has been 1st in all 4 of her previous races except for once, placing second last October. Also, she is getting faster. The speed record for the Acorn was made by You in 2002, at 1:34.05.
Not a single horse from The Black-Eyed Susan stakes is participating in the Acorn. Only 2 of these horses ran in the KY Oaks. Hopefully, we will see more continuity into all parts of the Triple Tiara. I am putting this out a little early because I have to get in my Belmont story soon too. So much racing so little time for blogging. Have a great weekend!
Update: Curalina took 1st place, By the Moon was 2nd, Wonder Gal came in 3rd and Danzatrice was 4th.
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