2018 Darley Alcibiades Contenders & Odds at Keeneland
KEENELAND - Three Chimneys Farm and Fern Circle Stables' Restless Rider, runner-up in the Spinaway (G1) in her most recent start, headlines a field of 14 2-year-old fillies plus two also-eligibles entered Tuesday for Friday's 67th running of the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
The Darley Alcibiades serves as the centerpiece of the opening-day program for the 17-day Fall Meet that runs through Oct. 27. First post time Friday for the 10-race program is 1:05 p.m. ET.
Scheduled as the ninth race with a 5:30 p.m. post time, the Darley Alcibiades is a Breeders' Cup Challenge race with the winner earning a fees-paid berth into the $2 million Tito's Handmade Vodka Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) to be run Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.
2018 Darley Alcibiades Odds & Entries
Race 9 on Keeneland's Friday card with a Post Time of 5:30 PM
Entry | Horse | ML Odds | Jockey | Trainer |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Reflect | 12-1 | James Graham 118 Lbs |
J. Desormeaux |
2 | Meadow Dance | 15-1 | Florent Geroux 118 Lbs |
Brad Cox |
3 | Restless Rider | 3-1 | Brian Hernandez, Jr. 118 Lbs |
Kenneth McPeek |
4 | My Wynter Rose | 30-1 | Cory Orm 118 Lbs |
Tommy Short |
5 | Kim K | 12-1 | Heriberto Figueroa 118 Lbs |
Peter Miller |
6 | Into Trouble | 15-1 | Jose Ortiz 118 Lbs |
Ben Colebrook |
7 | Boujie Girl | 6-1 | Geovanni Franco 118 Lbs |
Peter Miller |
8 | Lady T N T | 4-1 | Corey Lanerie 118 Lbs |
Joe Sharp |
9 | Catherinethegreat | 5-1 | Julien Leparoux 118 Lbs |
Mark Casse |
10 | Malocchio | 12-1 | John Velazquez 118 Lbs |
John Servis |
11 | Somewhere | 15-1 | Tyler Gaffalione 118 Lbs |
William Bradley |
12 | Abbo | 30-1 | Jevian Toledo 118 Lbs |
James Lawrence, II |
13 | Chocolate Kisses | 20-1 | Shaun Bridgmohan 118 Lbs |
Mark Casse |
14 | Bella Ciao | 15-1 | Luis Saez 118 Lbs |
Antonio Sano |
15 | Champagne Anyone | 30-1 | Chris Landeros 118 Lbs |
Ian Wilkes |
16 | Khairiya | 30-1 | Jack Gilligan 118 Lbs |
Michelle Lovell |
Trained by Kenny McPeek, who has won this race three times, Restless Rider won her first two starts at Churchill Downs with one of those triumphs coming in the Debutante that she won by 11ΒΌ lengths.
Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount on Restless Rider, who will break from post position three.
Three other runners from the Spinaway are in the field: Bella Ciao (fourth), Reflect (sixth) and Catherinethegreat(ninth).
Trained by co-owner Antonio Sano, Bella Ciao was a maiden winner at Gulfstream before her Spinaway run at odds of 125-1. Luis Saez has the mount and will break from post position 14.
Impact Thoroughbreds and Madaket Stables' Reflect, trained by Keith Desormeaux, won at first asking in June at Santa Anita and then chased West Coast star Bellafina when finishing fifth in the Sorrento (G2) at Del Mar. Reflect, who worked a best-of-33 five-eighths of a mile here Saturday in 1:00, will be ridden by James Graham and break from post position one.
John Oxley's Catherinethegreat won the Schuylerville (G3) at Saratoga prior to her Spinaway start. Trained by three-time Darley Alcibiades winner Mark Casse, Catherinethegreat will be ridden by Julien Leparoux and break from post position nine.
Invading from the West Coast are two Peter Miller runners: Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen's Boujie Girl and Rockingham Ranch's Kim K.
Boujie Girl finish third behind Bellafina in the Sorrento and most recently in the Del Mar Debutante (G1), Geovanni Franco has the mount and will break from post position seven. Kim K won the Barretts Debutante at Los Alamitos in her most recent and will be ridden by Heriberto Figueroa and break from post position five.
The field for the Darley Alcibiades, with jockeys, from the rail out is: Reflect (Graham), Meadow Dance (Florent Geroux), Restless Rider (Hernandez Jr.), My Wynter Rose (Cory Orm), Kim K (Figueroa), Into Trouble (Jose Ortiz), Boujie Girl (Franco), Lady T N T (Corey Lanerie), Catherinethegreat (Leparoux), Malocchio (John Velazquez), Somewhere (Tyler Gaffalione), Abbo (Jevian Toledo), Chocolate Kisses (Shaun Bridgmohan) and Bella Ciao (Saez). Also-eligibles: Champagne Anyone (Chris Landeros) and Khairiya (Jack Gilligan). All starters will carry 118 pounds.
Darley Alcibiades Hopeful Reflect Follows Familiar Path For Desormeaux
Impact Thoroughbreds and Madaket Stables' Reflect is traveling familiar roads for trainer Keith Desormeaux as she heads into Friday's 67th running of the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1) for 2-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the main track.
A debut winner in June at Santa Anita, Reflect finished fifth in the Sorrento (G2) at Del Mar in August before shipping to Saratoga for the Spinaway (G1) in which she finished sixth.
Preakness (G1) winner Exaggerator, also trained by Desormeaux, made his initial three starts at the same tracks in the same order as a 2-year-old in 2015 before coming to Keeneland, where he finished second in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) and fourth in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).
Is Reflect following the Exaggerator model?
"It was more a matter of timing," said Julie Clark, assistant to Desormeaux, who brought Reflect to Churchill Downs following the Spinaway.
"She won so early and then there was nowhere to go," she said. "We gambled on the Spinaway having a small field, and it had its largest field (11 horses) in years and the Del Mar Debutante (G1) had one of its smallest (five). The gamble did not work out."
The decision to come back to Kentucky was an easy one.
"The ultimate goal is the Breeders' Cup (at Churchill) and we already had two horses there for opening day of their September meet," Clark said. "It made sense."
To get to the $2 million Tito's Handmade Vodka Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Reflect will need a good showing in the Darley Alcibiades, which is a Breeders' Cup Challenge race that awards the winner a fees-paid berth into the Juvenile Fillies.
"It was either this race or the Frizette (G1) at Belmont, but it made more sense to come here plus the two turns (as opposed to the one-turn Frizette)," Clark said. "She had a nice work here Saturday (5 furlongs in 1:00, the best of 33 at the distance). She did it easy and (jockey) James (Graham) didn't think she was going that fast."
Darley Alcibiades History
A Grade 1 race at Keeneland for 2-year-old fillies, the Darley Alcibiades is a "Win and You're In" race for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Run at 1 1/16 miles on dirt, the race has been won by horses such as Cara Rafaela, Countess Diana, Silverbulletday, Take Charge Lady and Stephanie's Kitten.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has won this race six times, starting in 1983 with his last victory coming in 2003.