Four Graces, Mundaye Call to Meet in Eight Belles
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Photo: Keeneland/Coady Photography
Four Graces has won back-to-back grade 3 races in Kentucky
Something will have to give in the $300,000 Eight Belles Stakes Presented by Twinspires.com (G2) Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs when Mundaye Call and Four Graces meet in the seven-furlong test for 3-year-old fillies.
Both Mundaye Call and Four Graces boast three straight clear victories in sprints, with a combined margin of victory of 22 1/4 lengths between the two of them.
Starting from the inside in the expected field of seven will be OXO Equine's Mundaye Call, a daughter of Into Mischief who will make her second graded stakes appearance after rolling to a 7 1/4-length score in the seven-furlong Runhappy Audobon Oaks Aug. 9 at Ellis Park—her first stakes win. Before that victory, Mundaye Call posted back-to-back wins in 6 1/2-furlong races, closing out her juvenile season with a maiden score at Del Mar and opening her sophomore season with an allowance victory July 11 at Keeneland.
Mundaye Call, the 6-5 morning-line favorite, is trained by Brad Cox, who has won two of the past three editions of the Eight Belles. In 2017 he sent out Benner Island and he captured last year's test with Break Even.
Meanwhile Four Graces will start from the outside after delivering front-end scores in the about seven-furlong Beaumont Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G3) July 10 at Keeneland and the seven-furlong Dogwood Stakes (G3) June 6 at Churchill Downs. Whitham Thoroughbreds' Four Graces is undefeated at the distance, as she won her debut March 1 in a maiden test at Gulfstream Park, finished fourth in an allowance-level test there at one-mile, then, back at seven furlongs, posted a clear victory at the allowance level at Churchill.
Video: Beaumont S. Presented by Keeneland Select (G3)
Four Graces, 7-5 on the morning line, is trained by Ian Wilkes. Two-time Eight Belles winner Julien Leparoux is scheduled to ride. Leparoux won the 2010 edition with Buckleupbuttercup and he scored in 2016 with Carina Mia.
Wilkes said that after the Beaumont he considered the Longines Test Stakes (G1) for Four Graces but decided instead to rest his filly rather than try that seven-furlong race Aug. 8 at Saratoga Race Course. Unraced at 2, Four Graces made at least one start a month this year from March through July. August was the first month she hadn't started since March but she'll get an early start to September.
"We had to give her a freshening at some point. We just decided to do it for this race," Wilkes said, noting that racing through the hot weather in summer can be taxing. "If we'd gone in the Test, we would have had to ship to Saratoga instead of just staying in Kentucky. We have the rest of the year and we had to back off sometime so this little break made sense."
Lloyd Madison Farms' homebred Sconsin has faced both of the top two choices in recent efforts. In the Beaumont the daughter of Include finished second to Four Graces and then she finished third in the Audobon Oaks behind Mundaye Call.
Churchill Downs, Friday, September 04, 2020, Race 8Entries: Eight Belles S. presented by Twinspires.com (G2)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Mundaye Call (KY)
Florent Geroux
118
Brad H. Cox
6/5
2
2Never Forget (KY)
Javier Castellano
118
Victoria H. Oliver
20/1
3
3Extra Effort (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
118
Anthony T. Quartarolo
30/1
4
4Purrfectly Claire (FL)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
118
Philip A. Bauer
15/1
5
5Sconsin (KY)
James Graham
118
Gregory D. Foley
6/1
6
6Perfect Happiness (KY)
Rafael Bejarano
118
J. Larry Jones
8/1
7
7Four Graces (KY)
Julien R. Leparoux
120
Ian R. Wilkes
7/5
