It wouldn't be the opening day of the fall meeting Keeneland without its usual feature, the $500,000 Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1), and also without the presence of one or two Kenny McPeek-trained fillies in the 1 1/16-mile dirt race.
The 60-year-old coach, who grew up in Lexington and attended Tates Creek High School and the University of Kentucky, regularly headlines the classic fall meet. Actually more than just a participant – often a winner.
McPeek has won the race five times, most recently with Simply gorgeous in 2020, and he has two chances to win a sixth Friday if he starts Fun and lively And Stellar lady in the 14-horse race. A win by either filly would put McPeek on par with Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas and tied for the most Alcibiades wins with six.
The Alcibiades is a Breeders' Cup Challenge race that offers the winner an automatic paid place in the NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), this year on November 4th at Keeneland. Four Alcibiades winners have subsequently won the Breeders' Cup. Cup Juvenile Fillies, the last creature British idiom in 2019.
Lucky Seven Stable's Fun and Feisty are among Friday's favorites after winning two straight, including their most recent, the Pocahontas Stakes (G3), by 3 1/2 lengths Churchill Downs September 17th. Stellar Lady, who drives for Tommie Lewis, James Chambers, Craig Benoit and Sherri McPeeks Magdalena Racing, is an underdog and took her first victory in a mile turf race last month Kentucky Downs.
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Video: Pocahontas S. (G3)
Julien Leparoux drives Fun and Feisty and Brian Hernandez Jr. is Stellar Lady.
Other main contenders in the Alcibiades are established stakes competitors Chop, chop , Just Cindy , Kaling And wonder wheel, plus promising first winners Infinite Diamond And Raging sea .
Fun and Feisty, who finished sixth and second in her first two starts before recording her two wins, is the only winner and graded stakes winner on dirt at 1 1/16 miles.
“She begged to stay longer,” McPeek said of that Midshipman Filly. “I was pleasantly surprised when she won when she came up miniature. We kind of expected her to want more ground.
Stellar Lady won't pose such an obvious threat in the eyes of the betting public, but McPeek believes she could improve by moving from grass to clay. He believes she won her last race at Kentucky Downs because of her talent, not necessarily because she prefers running on turf.
“I think she really wants dirt; she doesn’t want grass,” he said.
Like his previous Alcibiades winners, Fun and Feisty and Stellar Lady were selected by McPeek as an agent in public auctions. Fun and Feisty was a $100,000 yearling purchase at last year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July Sale from the Machmer Hall Sales consignment. Stellar Lady, a Shackleford The filly was purchased by McPeek for $40,000 last year from consignment from Eaton Sales during the Kentucky October Yearling Sale in Fasig-Tipton.
It is typical for a youth race at this time of year that most participants have no long-distance experience.
Wonder Wheel wins the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs
DJ Stable's Wonder Wheel didn't go further than seven furlongs, but the Into disaster Filly has experience in top company, having been second Leave no trace in the Spinaway Stakes (G1). Saratoga Race Track September 4 for Hall of Fame coach Mark Casse. Before this start, she confidently won two sprints at Churchill Downs.
She appears poised to save ground from Post 1 in the Alcibiades, which, like other two-lap, 1 1/16-mile dirt races at Keeneland, begins and ends at the sixteenth pole.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' KalingThird in spinaway, lining up for Hall of Fame coach Todd Pletcher. The Practical joke The filly was a debut winner at Saratoga before the Spinaway.
Alpha Delta Stables' Raging Sea looks like a filly that should enjoy some extra terrain when she's around Lure from the unrunned Storm cat Mare Stormy welcome. Her second dam, Welcome Surprise (Seeking the Gold), who won Class 3, is a half-sister of the classic winners Summer Squall and AP Indy.
Raging Sea (black cap) scores in her debut at Saratoga Race Course
Raging Sea recovered from fourth place to break her first race over seven furlongs at Saratoga on August 7.
Previously entered in the one mile Frizette Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct race track On October 1, she was scratched by trainer Chad Brown. Brown trained her on the morning of the Frizette, focusing on the Alcibiades.
The Alcibiades is the last of three appearances at Keeneland on opening day, all Breeders' Cup qualifiers. The Alcibiades, marked as the ninth race on a 10-race card, is preceded by the JPMorgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (G2T) and the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes (G2). Airtime for Alcibiades is 5:16 p.m. ET.
Entries: Darley Alcibiades S. (G1)
Keeneland, Friday, October 7, 2022, Race 9
- Class I
- 1 1/16m
- dirt
- $500,000
- 2 year ancient filly
- 5:16 p.m. (local)
