It’s hard to imagine a race coming up much tougher than how the Darley
Alcibiades Stakes shapes up for opening day at Keeneland. The Grade 1,
$400,000 race drew an overflow field of 2-year-old fillies as the ninth
of 10 races on the Friday card, with shippers coming from everywhere to
try to earn an automatic spot in the Breeders’ Cup.
Shippers from the north, south, east, and west help comprise the
Alcibiades field, which consists of 14 main-body runners and one
also-eligible, with perhaps the good filly of the Great White North
liable to come favored. She is Tu Endie Wei, whose 2-for-2 record at
Woodbine in Canada includes a victory as a heavy choice in the Ontario
Debutante and makes her one of just three stakes winners in the field.
“She’s done perfect all year, hasn’t made any mistakes,” trainer
Reade Baker said early Tuesday in the Keeneland stable area. “This was
her first morning over this racetrack, and she did just great.
Obviously, we’d love to use this race toward the Breeders’ Cup” Juvenile
Fillies on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. “She’s spent quite a bit of time
on the [dirt] training track at Woodbine, and I can’t see any difference
in the way she goes.”
Tu Endie Wei, with Jim McAleney in to ride, will break from post 4 in
the 60th Alcibiades, a Win and You’re In event to be run at 1 1/16
miles on the Keeneland Polytrack.
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