Overflow of Quality On Tap for Old Friends Stakes

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Overflow of Quality On Tap for Old Friends Stakes
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Master Merion figures to be among the favorites for the Old Friends Stakes at Kentucky Downs

The $250,000 Old Friends Stakes at Kentucky Downs Sept. 6 is for horses who haven't won a stakes race in 2018. That doesn't mean there isn't an overflow of proven quality in the overflow field of 15.

The Old Friends, conducted at a mile and 70 yards, attracted a field whose entries included graded stakes winners Conquest Panthera, Dimension, and Cowboy Culture.

Trainer Wesley Ward entered both Undrafted, winner of Royal Ascot's Diamond Jubilee Stakes (G1) in 2015 and the Old Friends' 4-1 morning-line favorite, and Master Merion, but indicated that he would likely just run Master Merion and enter Undrafted back in the Sept. 8 $500,000 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint (G3T). Master Merion, winner of last year's Franklin-Simpson Stakes for 3-year-olds over the Kentucky Downs course, was scratched from last Saturday's $750,000 Tourist Mile, which Ward won with Bound for Nowhere.

Master Merion enters off a disappointing finish at England's Royal Ascot meet having finished twelfth in a handicap race June 20. The Quality Road  gelding ended his 2017 campaign with four consecutive victories but has yet to find the winner's circle in three starts this year.

Among the "horses for courses" in the field are Parlor, second in both last year's Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Derby and the 2016 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Stakes, and Flatlined, who won the 2016 edition of the Old Friends Stakes and was second in last year's Tourist Mile Stakes.

Flatlined is trying to regain the form that saw him win the 2017 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes (G2T). In his last start off a little freshener, Flatlined finished seventh in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Downs Preview Calumet Farm Turf Cup Aug. 5.

"We had to give him a little time off," trainer Scooter Dickey said. "The last time, he was back too far and he was only beaten 2 1/2 lengths. He's doing fine."

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey is sending out Doctor Mounty off a runner-up effort in Monmouth Park's Oceanport Stakes (G3T) in his last start while Cowboy Culture, from the red-hot Brad Cox barn, is shooting for his first stakes at 4 after winning three stakes last year.

Another oldie-but-goodie is the 10-year-old Dimension, who won the 2014 Kentucky Downs Turf Dash (now the Turf Sprint). Dimension is trying to get back on track after four disappointing races this year since closing out his 9-year-old season in winning the Fair Grounds' Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes at 40-1 odds.

The Old Friends Stakes highlights a day of action that carries a bigger cause. Thursday's action also serves as a fund-raiser for the Old Friends equine retirement farms that have a satellite facility at Kentucky Downs.

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will be on hand to sign commemorative prints of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, available for a suggested $10 donation. Proceeds will go to Old Friends, the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, and The Giving Circle. Smith will sign the prints from 1-3 p.m. CT in an area near the finish line.

"We should take advantage of the opportunity to raise some money for some wonderful causes," Smith said. "If I have the time, I certainly want and look forward to doing them. I've been blessed to have done a couple already and they raised quite a bit of money for the PDJF. Why not try to raise all I can?"


Entries: Old Friends S.

Kentucky Downs, Thursday, September 06, 2018, Race 9

  • STK
  • 1m 70y
  • Turf
  • $250,000
  • 3 yo's & up
  • 5:25 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Zapperini (KY) Gabriel Saez 121 Gregory D. Foley 20/1
2 2Doctor Mounty (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Jose L. Ortiz 121 Claude R. McGaughey III 8/1
3 3Dimension (GB) Declan Cannon 121 Conor Murphy 30/1
4 4Cowboy Culture (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Florent Geroux 121 Brad H. Cox 8/1
5 5Next Shares (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Drayden Van Dyke 121 Richard Baltas 6/1
6 6Flatlined (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Joseph Rocco, Jr. 121 Charles L. Dickey 12/1
7 7Siem Riep (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate James Graham 121 Ben Colebrook 8/1
8 8All Right (KY) Adam Beschizza 121 Kellyn Gorder 20/1
9 9Conquest Panthera (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Julien R. Leparoux 121 Mark E. Casse 5/1
10 10Parlor (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 121 Eddie Kenneally 8/1
11 11Undrafted (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Corey J. Lanerie 121 Wesley A. Ward 4/1
12 12Master Merion (KY) Julio A. Garcia 121 Wesley A. Ward 8/1
13 13Bondurant (KY) Chris Landeros 121 Ian R. Wilkes 20/1
14 14Siding Spring (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Julien R. Leparoux 121 Mark E. Casse 8/1
15 15Shut the Box (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Corey J. Lanerie 121 Angel O. Montano, Sr. 20/1