After Turkey Day Stakes Races

Well, hopefully everyone had a delicious Thanksgiving. We now turn our attention to some great stakes races after the feast. Shall we get some horse racing nourishment as we devour those leftovers? From Churchill to Hollywood, here we go.

Churchill Race 11 {Clark Handicap~G2~1 1/8 mile~3 year old Up~Stakes}
This race has a huge field of fourteen. Very little speed with a handful of pressers could precipitate a wall of closers heading for home. The lightly raced Etched (Garcia / McLaughlin) looks like he is fully prepared to make a dramatic run. His last out speed number is tops, he comes down in distance, and he has two quality works. Our pick. Misremembered (Espinoza / Baffert) ships in from California and looks to do very well probably taking the lead. Baffert always has his horses do top quality works and this pupil is no exception. Giant Oak (Bridgmohan / Block) will be the surprise. He has three progressively upward speed numbers, has the best work outs leading into this race, and switches to Shaun Bridgmohan. Only concern is this will be his ninth race this year, but he is a big horse and should be able to handle it. Horses that will likely be battling for a piece of the purse have been lightly raced this year. They include: Kiss the Kid (Lopez / Tarrant), Anak Nakal (Bravo / Deegan), and Timber Reserve (Desormeaux / Kimmel). Let's make a Churchill play.

$2 SHOW: #8 Etched.
10 CENT Superfecta: #8 Etched / #12 Misremembered / #3 Giant Oak / #10 Kiss the Kid, #7 Anak Nakal, #11 Timber Reserve.

Hollywood Race 9 {Citation Handicap~G1~1 1/16 mile~Turf~3 year old Up~Stakes}
A high quality field assembles for this grade one contest. The race appears to be a toss up between Proudinsky(GER) (Smith / Ascanio) and Mozante (Solis / Mitchell). Both have worked well in anticipation of this race and their speed numbers across the board are terrific. We will settle on Proudinsky as he has had a nice freshening along with the top speed number at the distance. Fluke(BRZ) (Talamo / Ascanio) has had some nice work outs after his top speed number last out. Cowboy Cal (Bejerano / Pletcher) will be the speed in this race. Blue Chagall(FR) (Gomez / Canani) will figure prominently with Gomez in the irons and some serious work outs behind him. Let's play Hollywood.

$2 SHOW: #3 Proudinsky(GER)
10 CENT Superfecta: #3 Proudinsky(GER) / #9 Mozante / #1 Fluke(BRZ) / #4 Blue Chagall(FR), #6 Cowboy Cal

Thanksgiving Day (Thursday) Results
Churchill R10. Don'twait Toolong finished 3rd for $4.60 in show money. Superfecta went 12-11-5-2.
Fairgrounds R8. Euroears won (1st) for $2.60 in show money. Superfecta went 2-6-3-4.
We had a fine Thanksgiving Day. Bankroll has moved up to $22.30.