Dogwood Attracts So Many Ways to Churchill
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So Many Ways, winner of the Spinaway Stakes (gr. I) at 2 and the Eight Belles (gr. III) on Kentucky Derby Day, heads a field of nine 3-year-old fillies in the $100,000 Dogwood Stakes (gr. III) Sept. 21 at Churchill Downs.
The one-mile Dogwood, for 3-year-old fillies, is scheduled as the ninth on a 10-race program set for the next-to-last Saturday of Churchill Downs’ 12-day September meet continuing through Sept. 29. The Dogwood is scheduled to go at 4:59 p.m. EDT.
Maggie Moss’s So Many Ways, a Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Sightseeing trained by Tom Amoss, comes into the Dogwood off a fourth-place finish in the Test Stakes (gr. I) won by Sweet Lulu at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 24. In her only previous start at Churchill Downs, So Many Ways rallied from seventh in deep stretch to edge Dogwood rivals Fusaichiswonderful and Irish Lute in the seven-furlong Eight Belles.
That is her only victory in six starts in 2013. She brings a career record of 4-0-2 in nine races and earnings of $484,348 into the Dogwood. Miguel Mena will ride So Many Ways, who will break from post 4 and carries high weight of 120 pounds.
Fusaichiswonderful finished a half-length behind So Many Ways in the Eight Belles and comes into the Dogwood off a solid third-place run behind Baby J in the Victory Ride (gr. III) at Belmont Park. Owned by Unlimited Equine, the daughter of 2000 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Fusaichi Pegasus launched her career in Puerto Rico, where she was unbeaten in five starts before she moved to the U.S. in late 2012.
Todd Pletcher trained the filly in her earlier U.S. starts, but she is now conditioned by Tevis McCauley. Jon Court will ride Fusaichiswonderful, who will break from the outside post in search of a second U.S. win in her fifth race stateside. Her overall record is 6-1-1 in nine races with earnings of $212,397.
The Dogwood will mark the third meeting with So Many Ways for Donarra Thoroughbreds’s Irish Lute, who comes into Saturday’s race off a sixth-place finish in the Test. Their first meeting came in the Eight Belles, where the Dallas Stewart-trained filly rallied from eighth to finish third and was beaten by only a length at odds of 35-1.
Shaun Bridgmohan will ride Irish Lute, whose two wins in 10 lifetime races have both come at Churchill Downs.
Other stakes veterans in the Dogwood field include Finding More, who defeated Irish Lute in the Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, Guadalupe High, Sky Girl, and Elusive Fate. This is the stakes debut for two fillies, Thetaloveandmine and Don't Tell Veda.
$100,000 Dogwood Stakes (gr. III, Race 9, 4:59 p.m.), 3YO Fillies, 7 Furlongs
PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. Sky Girl (KY), C J Lanerie, 118, W I Mott
2. Thetaloveandmine (KY), P Morales, 118, T E Hamm
3. Guadalupe High (LA), M St. Julien, 118, R W Werner
4. So Many Ways (PA), M Mena, 120, T M Amoss
5. Irish Lute (FL), S Bridgmohan, 118, D Stewart
6. Finding More (WA), J Rocco Jr., 118 K Gorder
7. Don't Tell Veda (KY), M Pedroza, 118, V L Foley
8. Elusive Fate (KY), B J Hernandez Jr., 118, G R Arnold II
9. Fusaichiswonderful (KY), J K Court, 118, T Q McCauley