The 2024 Kentucky Downs meeting resumes on Thursday afternoon with a 10-race card that is headlined by the $500k One Dreamer Stakes. This also marks the return of Xpressbet and 1/ST BET’s Money Back Special offer where you get up to $10 back if your first Win bet finishes second or third. Here are the runners I will be wagering on using the promotion, assuming they are at or above their morning line price.
Race 5:
#3 Call Me Harry, as well as likely stalkers #2 Relampago Verde and #9 Idratherbeblessed, should ensure an honest pace in this 1 1/2 mile journey for second-level allowance foes. This should set the table for runners from off the pace. Horses like morning line favorite #7 Better Bet, #6 Camp Hope, and #10 King Curlin all make some sense given their running style and past history, but I prefer a late runner that is a significantly bigger price on the morning line.
#5 Clyde’s Got a Gun has been good to me, so admittedly I have a little soft spot for the son of Gun Runner, but also fully believe this is a great spot for the Helen Pitts trainee. He gets some class relief after a sixth-place effort in the Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup S. last month. The 4YO gelding has to prove himself over this unique configuration, but I have no concern for him getting the added ground and his ability to come with a strong late run if the pace is contentious. At 10-1 or higher, he makes for a great Money Back play in the first of the three selected races.
Play: #5 Clyde’s Got a Gun (10-1 ML)
Race 7:
This maiden special weight event at one-mile for 2YO fillies appears relatively wide-open since 3-1-morning line favorite #1 Jeweled City is not a gal I have much interest in. Sure, the daughter of City of Light was beaten just a neck in her debut at Ellis Park last month, but she had a favorable race shape and hung signficantly when it appeared she would be victorious in career start number one. Plus, Stall does not really point to this meet evidenced by his 2 for 20-record at Kentucky Downs over the last three years.
I will roll with #4 Mad About Marie. The Game Winner filly tries the turf for the initial time after a pair of off the board finishes over the main track to kick off her career for trainer Brendan Walsh. Walsh is 15 for 85 over the last three years at Kentucky Downs and off to a great start to this meet earning two wins in six starts last week, with all six runners hitting the board. I know she did not run much in her first two efforts, but expect that to change on the surface switch being out of an Empire Maker mare that was 2 for 8 in her career over the lawn and has produced the likes of Demolition Duke and Pursuit of Liberty thus far. Expect big improvement from this $75k Keeneland September 2023 purchase.
Play: #4 Mad About Marie (6-1 ML)
Race 9: One Dreamer Stakes
The lone stakes race on Thursday afternoon is a competitive one. The One Dreamer, named for the upset winner of the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, is for fillies and mares which not won a stake in 2024. Like most of the stake races at Kentucky Downs, this one appears wide-open.
I gave a long look to #6 Olivia Maralda for trainer William Walden, but in the end, I went with #9 Stir Crazy. The Mike Maker trainee enters her first start over this configuration after a tough loss in a stake at Horseshoe Indianapolis in early July. The Vancouver mare has been freshened up since by a barn that had a tough first week of the meet, but is more than likely to get things rolling before things move to Louisville next week. At her 12-1-morning line offering, Stir Crazy offers fair enough value to take a swing that she can put forth a career best performance at a distance she has thrived at since cutting back from 9- and 10-furlong events earlier this year.
Play: #9 Stir Crazy (12-1 ML)
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