Played Hard Back With Easier Test in Falls City
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Photo: Coady Photography
Played Hard wins Locust Grove Stakes at Churchill Downs
Racing last month at Keeneland, Rigney Racing's Played Hard did just that—competing against champion and eventual Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner Malathaat in the Juddmonte Spinister Stakes (G1) and finishing a distant third behind her.
Brought back to Churchill Downs to race on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, in the $500,000 Falls City Stakes (G3), Played Hard faces an easier test against five fillies and mares, none of which are grade 1-winning standouts. Further benefiting Played Hard's cause is the return to Churchill Downs, where she was an emphatic winner of the Locus Grove Stakes (G3) Sept. 17.
Joel Rosario, aboard the speedy filly in both the Locust Grove and Falls City, returns in the irons aboard the 4-year-old Into Mischief filly, who is 4-5-2 in 13 starts with earnings of $672,870. Locally she is 2-3-1 in seven starts on dirt.
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Though Played Hard does not need the lead to win, her chances in the 1 1/8-mile Falls City could be impacted by the presence of another frontrunner in Cypress Creek Equine's Ava's Grace . Four times stakes placed, including once in grade 1 company, she seeks her first stakes victory in the Falls City.
David Cohen is up for trainer Ricky Courville on the 4-year-old daughter of Laoban , who stretches out from a five-furlong second-level allowance optional claiming race in which she was a close sixth Nov. 10. Her better races have come around two turns at Churchill Downs, such as when she was third in the La Troienne Stakes presented by Signify Health (G1) and second in the Shawnee Stakes during the spring meet.
Two Falls City competitors have no prior experience at Churchill Downs: S.M.D. Ltd.'s Leader of the Band and Kaleem Shah's Bellamore .
The former, a multiple stakes-winning Pennsylvania-bred 4-year-old filly by Bandbox , has raced primarily in the northeast for trainer John Servis. As a 3-year-old in 2021 she won the Monmouth Oaks (G3), and this year has added a couple of black-type victories in the Lady's Secret Stakes at Monmouth Park and the restricted Summer Colony Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
She breaks from the inside post under Luis Saez.
Bellamore is winless on dirt and has raced most effectively on grass this year on the West Coast. She showed in the Rodeo Drive Stakes (G1T) on grass in her last start. She did twice run second in maiden races on dirt as a younger filly.
Others in the Falls City include Farfellow Farms' stakes winner Moon Swag and Robert Zoellner's stakes winner She's All Wolfe , both of whom enter Thursday's race off recent victories. She's All Wolfe also took the Shawnee Stakes over Ava's Grace in June.
Racing on Thanksgiving Day at Churchill Downs has been a Louisville tradition since 1969. The track expects to serve more than 7,000 turkey dinners, the largest number anywhere in the region.
Also on the holiday program is the Cardinal Stakes (G3T) for fillies and mares on turf.
Churchill Downs, Saturday, November 19, 2022, Race 10Entries: Chilukki S. (G3)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Coach (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
121
Brad H. Cox
9/5
2
2Mariah's Princess (KY)
Martin Garcia
121
Philip A. Bauer
3/1
3
3Center Aisle (KY)
Gerardo Corrales
121
Paulo H. Lobo
6/1
4
4Ice Orchid (KY)
Tyler Gaffalione
118
John Alexander Ortiz
10/1
5
5Empire House (KY)
Joseph Talamo
121
Jonathan Wong
15/1
6
6She Can't Sing (KY)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
121
Chris M. Block
5/2
7
7Liberty M D (KY)
Julien R. Leparoux
121
Ian R. Wilkes
8/1
