Slammed Seeks Step Up in Thoroughbred Club of America

When considering the $350,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) Oct. 8 at Keeneland as a potential target for New Mexico-bred Slammed , the filly's connections viewed both Breeders' Cup Challenge perks and a step up in company at the track where the World Championships will be held as positive factors.

Although Slammed would have to be supplemented to the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), the winner of the six-furlong Thoroughbred Club of America for fillies and mares will earn an expense-paid berth to the seven-furlong race Nov. 5 at Keeneland through the Challenge series.

Barbara Coleman, Brad King, and Suzanne Kirby hope that winner will be Slammed, a 4-year-old daughter of Marking  who was second by half a length to 2021 Filly & Mare Sprint runner-up Edgeway  last out in the Aug. 28 Rancho Bernardo Handicap (G3) at Del Mar. Trainer Todd Fincher knows the filly well, having bred her in partnership with King, sent her through her early lessons, and conditioned her through all of her 11 starts—eight of which resulted in trips to the winner's circle.

"She's extremely tough mentally," Fincher remarked. "She's an epitome of what a racehorse should be. She's a specimen too; she looks like a big, strong Quarter Horse. She's all heart, a total racehorse."

Unraced at 2 due to physical setbacks, Slammed dominated state-bred competition in New Mexico by winning five restricted stakes before broadening her horizons with a trip to Del Mar. She posted an allowance optional claiming victory there in July before running second in the Rancho Bernardo.

"Obviously we took her to Del Mar when we could have stayed home and knocked out some $100,000 stakes races," Fincher said. "We believe she's that good. 

"(In the Rancho Bernardo) she actually pushed off so hard (out of the gate) that her back legs didn't hold; she slipped pretty bad in the back end and that cost her lots of energy getting up and taking off, using energy to catch up... all that was a detriment, and then she got a tough trip the whole race. But she showed how game she was; she fought all the way to the end."

Fincher is also hoping issues with a front right foot are behind the filly.

"She was a little, flighty yearling when we were breaking her, and I remember her coming out of the baby barn one morning heading to the track—something scared her, she reared up, and fell over backwards and fractured my exercise rider's ankle," Fincher recalled. "She was fine after that but I didn't really like the way she looked, so we gave her time and brought her back in the summer. She was doing great but she seemed a little immature, just not ready. So we turned her out at Brad King's house and he's got a very nice place but somehow she got her foot caught under something and ripped about half of it off. It was cracked, hurt, not growing back properly, so it might have all been a blessing in disguise because it forced us to wait even longer to run her."

After kicking off her 2022 season with a victory in the Feb. 6 La Coneja Stakes at Sunland Park, Slammed was seen by a specialist who made tremendous improvements to the difficult hoof, Fincher said.

"She's been good since, and that's why you're seeing her run against better competition as well," he remarked.

Slammed shipped to Kentucky immediately after the Rancho Bernardo and turned in a trio of works at Churchill Downs before heading to Keeneland, where Fincher said she is on the muscle for her biggest career test to date. 

"She is versatile so if something out breaks her, especially from the outside, the jockey can just take her back and she'll relax," he said. "But right now she's so aggressive, she's probably going to try and take herself to the lead. She's pretty geared up."

Florent Geroux has the call from post 7 in a nine-horse field on Slammed, who is expected to go through her paces tomorrow in the company of a pony to keep her exuberance in check. 

"She's pretty full of herself right now, so she's going to go with some training wheels," Fincher said. 

Lloyd Madison Farms IV's multiple graded stakes winner Sconsin  is the class of the field, with the 2020 Eight Belles Stakes Presented by TwinSpires.com (G2) and the 2021-22 editions of the Winning Colors Stakes (G3) among her career highlights. Trainer Greg Foley looks to get the 5-year-old Include  mare back to the form that saw her defend her Winning Colors title in her season debut in May, her lone win from four starts this year. She was third of three last out in the Sept. 17 Open Mind Stakes won by Bell's the One , who will bypass this race to train straight to the Breeders' Cup.

Between the two was Joyful Cadence , who set the pace, was outkicked in the final sixteenth, and reopposes here in pursuit of her first graded victory. The John Ortiz trainee was second in the Winning Colors, where Aug. 14 Groupie Doll Stakes winner Lil' Tootsie finished third. 

Completing the lineup are 2021 Dogwood Stakes (G3) winner Carribean Caper , fourth last out in the Aug. 16 Seeking the Pearl Stakes at Colonial Downs in her season debut; stakes winner Club Car , looking to put aside a case of seconditis; stakes winner Happy Soul , second by a head in the Sept. 13 Nelson's Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey Music City Stakes on the lawn at Kentucky Downs; and allowance optional claiming winner Liberty M D . 

Three horses have won the Thoroughbred Club of America and returned a few weeks later to win the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, the most recent being Groupie Doll in 2012.

Entries: Thoroughbred Club of America S. (G2)

Keeneland, Saturday, October 08, 2022, Race 7

• Grade II
• 6f
• Dirt
• $350,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:10 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Li'l Tootsie (KY)	Edgar Morales	120	Thomas M. Amoss	15/1
2	2Palm Cottage (KY)	Flavien Prat	120	Paulo H. Lobo	4/1
3	3Club Car (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	120	Ben Colebrook	9/2
4	4Carribean Caper (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	120	Albert M. Stall, Jr.	5/1
5	5Sconsin (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	122	Gregory D. Foley	8/1
6	6Liberty M D (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	120	Ian R. Wilkes	20/1
7	7Slammed (NM)	Florent Geroux	120	Todd W. Fincher	3/1
8	8Joyful Cadence (KY)	Reylu Gutierrez	120	John Alexander Ortiz	10/1
9	9Happy Soul (KY)	John R. Velazquez	118	Wesley A. Ward	6/1