Nine of the 10 older horses
entered in Wednesday's $75,000 Wickerr Stakes show experience in graded stakes
races, several with extensive work at racing's top levels.
The Wickerr will be run at a
mile on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course and the horse for the course is the Ben
Cecil-trained Ferneley. The Irish-bred 6-year-old son of Ishiguru was third in
the 2009 Wickerr before coming back to win the Del Mar Mile and qualify for the
Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita.
He went on to finish second
in the Woodbine Mile and then seventh in the Breeders' Cup Mile. He finished
the year with a fifth place in the Cathay Pacific Mile.
Offering plenty of
competition are these other graded stakes veterans: Gallant Son, winner of
Hollywood Park's Grade III Inglewood Handicap; Noble Court, winner of Hollywood
Park's Grade III Ack Ack Handicap in 2009; Quindici Man, second in the
Inglewood; Aggie Engineer, Blue Chagall, Golden Balls, Red Door Drive and
Riviera Cocktail. A Lil Dumaani will be making his graded stakes debut in the
Wickerr.
Here are the riding
assignments: A Lil Dumaani, Martin Garcia; Aggie Engineer, Joe Talamo; Blue
Chagall, Tyler Baze; Ferneley, Joel Rosario; Gallant Son, Mike Smith; Golden
Balls, Victor Espinoza; Noble Court, Alonso Quinonez; Quindici Man, Corey
Nakatani; Red Door Drive, Martin Pedroza, and Riviera Cocktail, Rafael
Bejarano.