Stakes-Winning Finite Heads Golden Rod at Churchill
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Photo: Coady Photography
Finite wins the Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill Downs
If Finite can pass a two-turn test to win the 1 1/16-mile Golden Rod Stakes (G2) Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs, her connections might want to start calling her infinite instead, reflecting the unlimited things she can seemingly do.
Already the 2-year-old Munnings filly has twice placed in dirt sprints at Saratoga Race Course, won a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race on turf at Kentucky Downs, and then cruised by six lengths in the one-mile Rags to Riches Stakes out of the backstretch chute at Churchill. She prevailed on the lead at Kentucky Downs and later from a pressing position in the Rags to Riches.
Drawn inside in the eight-filly, $300,000 Golden Rod, she figures to be forwardly placed from the break under Ricardo Santana Jr. She faces opposition headed by His Glory, the runner-up in the Sept. 14 Pocahontas Stakes (G2) at Churchill and a follow-up allowance winner Oct. 27; and Turf Trax, who has notched two straight at 6 1/2 furlongs.
The surface is the wild card Saturday, given the potential for an off track. Steady rain is forecast Saturday in Kentucky, and only His Glory has experience on a wet track, and an unfavorable result at that, finishing seventh in the July 11 Schuylerville Stakes (G3) on a muddy strip at Saratoga Race Course.
Pocahontas Stakes runner-up His Glory could challenge Finite in the Golden Rod Stakes
Finite has competed only on dry dirt tracks, running quickly in the Rags to Riches. That day she sizzled a mile in a stakes-record 1:35.53, running a marginally faster time than 2-year-old colt South Bend did in winning the Street Sense Stakes in 1:35.56, also Oct. 27 at Churchill. The latter runs in Saturday's co-featured Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2).
Video: Rags to Riches S. (BT)
Finite is bred for the added distance, being out of the Tapit mare Remit, whose maiden win came in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Churchill Downs in 2009. Remit is a full sister to graded winner and current sire Tapiture , who at 2 won the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes.
Bred by co-owner Winchell Thoroughbreds, Finite is a half sister to Reride (by Candy Ride ), winner of the 1 1/16-mile Mine That Bird Derby and seven-furlong Big Drama Stakes in early 2018.
Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen trains her for owners Thomas Reiman, William Dickson, Deborah Easter and Winchell Thoroughbreds. Already she has earned $187,929 in winning two of four starts.
The Golden Rod is a qualifying race to the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), providing points on a 10-4-2-1 scale to its top four finishers.
Positioned to pick up points is Brereton Jones' homebred Turtle Trax, a two-for-three filly who jumps into stakes after a 2 3/4-length victory in an entry-level allowance Nov. 8. That victory followed an earlier triumph at Keeneland Oct. 12 in her second start. Both victories came sprinting.
"I wanted to run her one mile instead of the 6 1/2 furlongs last out but she was doing so good I had to run her," trainer Ian Wilkes said. "I don't see any trouble with her stretching out in distance. I think she can be very talented."
Turtle Trax is by Cairo Prince out of the Harlan's Holiday mare Great Family. Great Family's 2016 foal, Backtohisroots (by Mark Valeski ), won the six-furlong Atlantic Beach Stakes last year at 2.
The remainder of the field includes maiden winners She Can't Sing and Ivyetsu, allowance runner-up Motu, and stakes-placed fillies Bean, Lady Glamour, and His Glory.
Post time for the Golden Rod Stakes, the ninth race on a 12-race card strictly for 2-year-olds, is 4:57 p.m. EST.
Churchill Downs, Saturday, November 30, 2019, Race 9Entries: Golden Rod S. (G2)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Finite (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
119
Steven M. Asmussen
7/5
2
2Turtle Trax (KY)
Julien R. Leparoux
119
Ian R. Wilkes
6/1
3
3She Can't Sing (KY)
Corey J. Lanerie
119
Chris M. Block
8/1
4
4Bean (FL)
Florent Geroux
119
Larry Rivelli
12/1
5
5Lady Glamour (KY)
Julie Burke
119
Larry W. Demeritte
12/1
6
6His Glory (FL)
James Graham
119
Thomas M. Amoss
7/2
7
7Ivyetsu (KY)
Tyler Gaffalione
119
George R. Arnold, II
12/1
8
8Motu (KY)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
119
Kenneth G. McPeek
5/1
