Posted
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Wednesday’s ninth race from Kentucky Downs is the featured $400,000 Dueling Grounds Derby for 3-year-olds traveling 1 5/16 miles on the European-style turf course.
#6 Bandua (4-1) can get the distance and handles any turf footing. He won his first two turf starts in Ireland on heavy and soft ground at a mile and a quarter (beat a total of six rivals in those two starts). He was unplaced in his next two overseas turf marathons, and he shipped to the U.S. and finished a solid third on good ground in the G1 Secretariat at Arlington on Aug. 11. The Calumet Farm colt fits well vs. these.
#9 Channel Cat (7-2) showed nice stamina on good turf in a runner-up finish at Saratoga July 30 (11 furlongs), and Focus Group, the winner of that race, returned to capture the John’s Call Stakes in his next start.
#7 Captivating Moon (3-1) faced stakes rivals on turf in his last six starts, and he finished second or third in five of those races. Chris Block has had decent stakes success at Kentucky Downs, and Florent Geroux sticks with the late threat. He might be best used underneath.
#4 Reride (5-1) looks like the one to catch in a race without much pace, and he might get brave if able to sneak away early. He handled soft turf at Keeneland last fall.
#8 Zanesville (15-1) is interesting on the surface switch for +ROI first turf trainer Amoss, and quality turf rider Prat takes the call.
The Plays:
#6 to win
Exacta Box 6-9
Trifecta 6/7/ALL
Trifecta 6/ALL/7
Trifecta 4-6-8/4-6-7-8-9/4-6-7-8-9
