Improving Forever After All Ships West for Red Carpet

Dixiana Farms' homebred Forever After All  will make her second trip to the West Coast in search of graded glory in the Nov. 24 $100,000 Red Carpet Stakes (G3T) at Del Mar. 

Five-year-old Forever After All has blossomed this year under trainer Brendan Walsh, going from a maiden winner to multiple graded stakes-placed in eight starts. The daughter of Connect   first traveled to California for the Gamely Stakes (G1T) May 27, where she finished a respectable third to Anisette . Although she has been unable to add the title of black-type stakes winner to her résumé, she has since turned in two close runner-up efforts—in Churchill Downs' Anchorage Stakes in June, and most recently, a nose loss to Chop Chop  in the Dowager Stakes (G3T) Oct. 20 at Keeneland.

The 1 3/8 miles of the Red Carpet should benefit Forever After All, whose closing kick just missed in the 1 1/2-mile Dowager. Leading rider J.J. Hernandez has the call on the Kentucky shipper, who is 2-for-19 lifetime with eight second-place finishes.

"She finished second to a really good filly," Walsh said. "It was a very good run and we weren't surprised. We were pretty confident she'd run a really good race out there. She did everything but win. Hopefully, she can get it together this time and get that stakes win for us.

"We'd like to try to get a graded stakes with her. She needs to go long, so we thought we'd bring her out there and have a go at that one."

Another shipper from the East eyeing her first stakes win is the Graham Motion-trained Marksman Queen . In the older female turf division, any horse from the Motion barn is a live contender, and Marksman Queen is no exception, exiting a close runner-up finish in a 1 1/2-mile Keeneland allowance Oct. 13. She's 0-for-6 with two seconds this year.  

"She's always been a filly who has shown us more in the morning than in the afternoon," Motion said. "The key was just trying this. We knew there was more there than we were seeing. She's kind of bred to do this (go long). That's why we tried it and I think it shows that's what she wants to do.

"She's a Dubawi mare, so if she can get some black type, it would be a great opportunity for her. She's handled everything well, she shipped well and knock on wood." 

Another intriguing contender is the Augustin Stables' homebred Mrs. Astor . The Jonathan Thomas runner has spent the last month training at Del Mar after running a deceptively good fourth at 52-1 odds in the Dowager.