Midlantic Breeders’ Cup, more: The week in social media
Youthinkthatsfunny. Photo by Coady Photography.
Breeders’ Cup weekend is almost here, Maryland-bred Knicks Go has been entered in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, and a West Virginia-bred has won his second stakes race in a row at Charles Town Races this past weekend.
Here is the 411 on what racing fans in the Mid-Atlantic region have been buzzing about on social media this past week:
Breeders’ Cup arrives
The Breeders’ Cup races will take place this Friday and Saturday at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. Post positions for all the races have been drawn and the fields are set, with the highlight of the event, the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, attracting a competitive field of ten.
Contested at 1 ¼ miles on the main track, the Breeders’ Cup Classic will play host to a rematch between this year’s Belmont Stakes winner, Tiz the Law, and Kentucky Derby hero and Preakness runner-up Authentic. Other key players lining up to do battle are multiple graded stakes winner Maximum Security (7-2) and the 5/2 morning line favorite, Improbable, who is hot off three consecutive Grade 1 wins this season.
Other contenders in the Breeders’ Cup Classic include Tacitus, By My Standards, Tom’s d’Etat, Title Ready, Higher Power, and Global Campaign. The Preakness winning filly, Swiss Skydiver, will skip the Classic and will instead race against her own gender in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, which has a post time on Saturday of 3:54 p.m. EST.
The Breeders’ Cup Classic will take place on Saturday as the final Breeders’ Cup race of the weekend. Post time for the event is scheduled for 5:18 p.m. EST.
Midlantic-breds tackle the Breeders’ Cup
Three horses bred in the Mid-Atlantic will compete in the Breeders’ Cup races.
Those include: Knicks Go, 7-2 in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile; Horologist, 8-1 on the morning line for the Distaff; and After Five, 6-1 on the morning line for Friday’s Juvenile Turf Sprint. Knicks Go and After Five were both bred in Maryland, while Horologist is a New Jersey-bred.
The Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile attracted a field of 12 contenders for the 2020 edition of the race. Graded stakes winner Complexity is the 2-1 morning line favorite for the race, but with morning line odds of 7/2, Knicks Go is not far behind.
Bred by Angie and Sabrina Moore, Knicks Go is owned by Korea Racing Authority and is regularly ridden by Joel Rosario. The gray colt will be breaking from post 5 in Saturday’s race, which has a post time of 1:18 p.m. EST.
After Five, a Wesley Ward trainee, is winless in two career tries, having finished second both times, most recently in the Grade 3 Futurity on the turf at Belmont Park. He was bred by Mary Eppler Racing Stable and A. Leonard Pineau.
Horologist enters the Distaff off a win in the Grade 2 Beldame. She is trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott for an ownership group including There’s A Chance Stable, et. al. She was bred in the Garden State by Holly Crest Farm.
Laughing all the way
The West Virginia Futurity took place this past weekend at Charles Town Races, with Youthinkthatsfunny stealing the show.
A total of six two-year-old thoroughbreds took off in in the West Virginia Futurity, with Youthinkthatsfunny stalking the early pace. After passing the seven sixteenths pole, the young gelding made a determined bid for the lead. Youthinkthatsfunny managed to strike the lead in mid-stretch and left his rivals behind, sailing home a two-length winner. The final time for the seven-furlong contest around two turns was 1:28.23. Juba Did It and Just Gets Better rallied to complete the trifecta in second and third, respectively.
Youthinkthatsfunny is bred, owned, and trained by John D. McKee and is ridden by jockey Reshawn Latchman. By McKee’s stallion Fiber Sonde, the gray gelding is out of the Distorted Humor mare Humored. Youthinkthatsfunny has now won three of his five starts, including the West Virginia Vincent Moscarelli Memorial Breeders’ Classic Stakes back in the beginning of October.
Youthinkthatsfunny possesses current earnings of $103,260.
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