Tommy Jo, Percy's Bar Face Off Again in Alcibiades

Undefeated grade 1 winner Tommy Jo  will take her next big step Oct. 3 at Keeneland, where she will be tested around two turns for the first time in the $650,000 Alcibiades Stakes (G1) going 1 1/16 miles. 

The Alcibiades also is a potential springboard to the Breeders' Cup World Championships as a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). The World Championships will be held Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

Tommy Jo is a homebred for Spendthrift Farm, by the farm's marquee sire Into Mischief   and the second foal out of the multiple grade 1-placed stakes winner Mother Mother  (Pioneerof the Nile). The filly is trained by Todd Pletcher, who launched her racing career at Saratoga Race Course July 26 and celebrated a first-out win by 3 3/4 lengths. Spendthrift and Pletcher took aim next at the Spinaway Stakes (G1) and were rewarded with an even more impressive 6 1/2-length win. 

After the Spinaway, Pletcher said he is confident Tommy Jo will handle more distance.

"The way she trained into this and the way she galloped out in her breezes, it gives us confidence that she is not just fast, but can stretch that speed out as well," he said.

Tommy Jo arrived at Keeneland safely Sept. 30. She will be ridden from post 3 by John Velazquez, who was aboard for her debut win.

Five challengers will take on Tommy Jo in the Alcibiades, including Percy's Bar , who was second in the Spinaway.

Gatewood Bell's Hat Creek Racing races Percy's Bar with trainer Ben Colebrook. The daughter of Upstart   broke her maiden by 4 lengths when she debuted at Keeneland April 23. She went next to the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs, where she was 5 lengths the best.

Percy's Bar is the only other stakes winner in the Alcibiades field. Bell bought her for $52,000 out of the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from Airdrie Stud, which consigned and bred the filly. To date, she's earned $247,558. She will break from post 1 with Luan Machado in the irons.

Named for a popular bar on Keeneland's second floor mezzanine, the filly could see significant improvement with a better trip back at her home track.

"She didn't have the best of trips in the Spinaway," Colebrook said about the 7-furlong test. "She got shuffled back and was boxed in, and her race is better than it looks on paper. She was the second-best filly that day."

Trainer Kenny McPeek has two Alcibiades entries, both of them coming off their first wins.

He saddles The Grumpy Rabbit , a daughter of Not This Time  , who won by 6 lengths Aug. 24 at Ellis Park for owner Edwin Anthony. She was purchased for $185,000 out of Taylor Made Sales Agency's consignment at the Keeneland September sale. The filly will be ridden in the Alcibiades by Flavien Prat.

McPeek's other entry is Go to Girl , a daughter of Knicks Go  , who captured her first win Aug. 8 at Ellis Park for owner William Dobozi's WSD Stable. Go to Girl will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. McPeek bought the filly for $130,000 out of the Keeneland September sale from Taylor Made Sales.

JSM Equine's homebred Haute Diva , by Constitution  , is another one coming off a first win, having captured a mile turf maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park for trainer Patrick Biancone. She had been second in each of her previous three starts, all on the main dirt track at Gulfstream.

The Alcibiades is also one of three Road to the Kentucky Oaks races Oct. 3-5, and offers qualifying points to the Kentucky Oaks (G1) to the top-five finishers on a 10-5-3-2-1 basis.