Aye a Song won the Rachel’s Turn in September. Photo by Coady Photography.
The 2015 Charles Town Races stakes schedule closes Saturday night with an intriguing renewal of the $50,000 Eleanor Casey Memorial Stakes for West Virginia-bred two-year-old fillies.
While a dozen are entered — two are on the also-eligible list — the seven-furlong test looks to be a three-horse race (four if one of the two on the AE make the race).
One of those three, Charitableprincess (7-2), could give owner-breeder-trainer James W. Casey a win in the race named for his late wife. Charitableprincess, a daughter of his stallion, Charitable Man, acquitted herself extremely well last out in her first try against winners. Fresh off a five-length maiden score, she was dogged in pursuit, falling just a half-length short in second in the West Virginia Futurity. Antonio Lopez will ride.
The horse who beat her that day is Aye a Song (2-1), who has won four of five starts, including three stakes wins, for trainer-owner-breeder John McKee. The lone blemish on Aye a Song’s record to date is a narrow, neck defeat to the speedy male Bullets Fever in the Tri-State Futurity. Aye a Song was 1-9 in the West Virginia Futurity, and while, with Charitableprincess here, she won’t be that short again, she likely will be favored again. Christian Hiraldo will ride.
Stoweshoe, trained by Jeff Runco for David Raim, rounds out the trio of top contenders. She won her first two starts, including the Henry Mercer Memorial over boys, before falling short in the Triple Crown Nutrition Breeders Classic on West Virginia Breeders Classics night, a race won by Aye a Song. That was Stoweshoe’s first try beyond 4 1/2 furlongs, and she hasn’t raced in the two months since, though she shows three solid works in the interim. Arnaldo Bocachica will ride.
One of the most intriguing challengers to Aye a Song likely will not draw into the race. All About Attitude (4-1) will need a pair of scratches to draw in, but whether she does or not, she certainly looks to have a promising future. Trained by David Walters for Fairview Farm, All About Attitude broke her maiden at first asking by nine lengths in a 6 1/2 furlong maiden race at Charles Town. She earned an 83 Brisnet speed figure — a figure that none of the others here has exceeded and which has been equaled only by Aye a Song. If she does draw in, Jose Montano is named.
Post time for the Eleanor Casey Memorial Stakes, carded as race 7, is 9:55.
