Tag: McCraken

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Christmas came early for 8 lucky Thoroughbreds yesterday.  Two races held at Los Alamitos, in California, on December 10th were the end of the road to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks for this year.  Fortunately, on 1/7/17 prep races continue as they will until mid April.

I covered the top of the KY Derby leaderboard in my last post.  The Grade 1 CashCall Futurity held yesterday awarded 10 points to Mastery, 4 points to Irap, 2 points for Dangerfield and 1 point to Bobby Abu Dhabi.  This resulted in some changes in the top of the leaderboard bumping Mastery into 5th place and knocking Klimt out of the top ten.  The KY Derby top ten as 2016 ends:

1. Classic Empire
2. Practical Joke
3. Gunnevera
4. Lookin At Lee
5. Mastery
6. Gormley
7. Mo Town
8. McCraken
9. Wild Shot
10. No Dozing

Changes in the top ten KY Oaks contenders were similar.  The Grade 1 Starlet Stakes gifted 10 points to Abel Tasman, 4 to American Gal, 2 to Mopotism and 1 point for Tapped.  This moved Farrell from the 8th to 9th position as Abel Tasman took over the 8 spot and Ever So Clever fell to 12th as American Gal filled in the 11th position.  The current KY Oaks contenders:

1. Champagne Room
2. Daddys Lil Darling
3. Miss Sky Warrior
4. Dancing Rags
5. Yellow Agate
6. Shane’s Girlfriend
7. Noted and Quoted
8. Abel Tasman
9. Farrell
10. Valadorna

Unlike the KY Derby where the favorite is my favorite, Classic Empire, I’m uncertain as to which filly in this field I’m a fan of?  The KY Oaks was inaugurated on 5/19/1875.  The 143rd Oaks will be held 5/5/17.

Champagne Room won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and that is where she picked up 20 of her 21 points. Valadorna was second, American Girl was third , Daddys Lil Darling finished fourth, Noted and Quoted was 7th, Dancing Rags ran 8th and Yellow Agate finished 10th.  Therefore, Champagne Room beat many in this field once but she didn’t win it by lengths.  She has finished in the top 4 in her 5 career races, 4 of which were graded stakes.  She got just 1 point when she finished fourth in the Chandelier Stakes.  Noted and Quoted won that race.

Daddys Lil Darling has worked hard for her 20 points.  She has finished in the top 4 of 4 KY Oaks prep races.  She was 1st in the Pohahontas, 2nd in the Alcibiades and the Golden Rod and 4th in the BC Juvenile.

Miss Sky Warrior has finished 1st in the last 3 of her 4 starts.  The last 2 were graded stakes and she took her Oaks points when she won the Demoiselle Stakes.

Dancing Rags won the Alcibiades but finished near the back in the BC Juvenile.  She has won 2 of her 4 starts.

Yellow Agate has only raced 3 times.  She won the Frizette Stakes grabbing 10 points but then did poorly in the BC Juvenile.

Shane’s Girlfriend is undefeated in her 2 starts.  She won the Delta Downs Princess Stakes less than a month after breaking her maiden.

Noted and Quoted has raced 5 times.  She got her Oaks points when she won the Chandelier but she did not excel in the BC Juvenile.

Abel Tasman won the Starlet yesterday.  It was her 1st graded stakes race.  She has won 3 of her 4 lifetime races.

Farrell is my homegirl, LOL.  All 4 of her starts have been at Churchill Downs.  I saw her there this Fall.  It is her picture at the top of the post.  She broke her maiden that day.  The following month she won the Golden Rod Stakes.

Valadorna broke her maiden her 2nd time out.  That was on opening day at Keeneland.  Her next race was the BC Juvenile Fillies where she took 2nd place.  She has not raced since.

With just 9 preps finished and 21 to go I have a while to go before I pick my favorite KY Oaks horse.  2017 is going to be very interesting!  Keep checking my page out as we continue down the road.  Who do you like?

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