Vergara, Transient Meet Again in Dowager

Vergara  and Transient —separated by three-quarters of a length when 1-2 in the Ladies Marathon Stakes (G3T) at Kentucky Downs Sept. 9—battle in a longer stamina test on the grass in the three-turn, 1 1/2-mile Dowager Stakes (G3T) at Keeneland Oct. 22.

Gary Broad's Vergara, a 4-year-old daughter of Noble Mission , picked up her second Kentucky Downs stakes victory going 1 5/16 miles last month, having previously won the Dueling Grounds Oaks over the same distance a year earlier. A start before the Ladies Marathon, she weakened to fifth the one time she raced 1 1/2 miles, losing by 2 3/4 lengths in the Aug. 3 Glen Fall Stakes (G2T) this summer at Saratoga Race Course.

Race Details

• Vergara is one of two entrants in the $300,000 Dowager for trainer Graham Motion, who also starts Team Valor International's Romagna Mia , who ran third in the 1 3/16-mile Beverly D. Stakes (G1T) at Colonial Downs in her first start in the United States. She was a group 2 winner in Italy last year.
• Transient, trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. for e Five Racing Thoroughbreds, has run fourth and second in two grade 3 stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf. The 5-year-old daughter of Sea the Stars  won the Powder Break stakes at a mile and 70 yards on the synthetic Tapeta surface at Gulfstream Park before her runner-up finish in the Ladies Marathon.