A trio of Pennsylvania-breds will be going to the gate at Churchill Downs on Saturday afternoon to contest the $175,000 Grade II Mrs. Revere Stakes for three-year-old fillies set to run 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Among them is the morning line second choice at 4-1 Emotional Kitten. After breaking her maiden in her final start last year, the daughter of Kitten’s Joy has shown steady improvement in 2013. She got her first stakes win back in May, and then moved to graded-stakes company, finishing second in the Grade I American Oaks and third in the Grade I Del Mar Oaks.
Most recently she was seventh, but by less than three lengths, in the Grade I Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland. Just ahead of her in that one was I’m Already Sexy, also at 4-1 in the Mrs. Revere morning line. The other PA-bred given a shot in the race is Nellie Cashman (9-2). She’s coming in off three-straight in-the-money finishes in graded events, including a win in the Grade III Virginia Oaks in July, and a second-place effort last time out in the Grade III Pin Oak Valley Stakes. The other PA-bred in the field is Quality Kitten at 15-1.
They’ll all have to overcome the 7-2 favorite Tapicat, winner of the Grade III Florida Oaks to start the season in February, and who will be stretching back out after a runner up finish at a mile last time in the Pebbles Stakes at Belmont. An option at a price could be New York-bred Effie Trinket, who has three wins and a second in her last four racing in her home state, all of which were at the lower stakes level. She’s won four of six this year and has been in the money in eight of 10 lifetime, although she was well beaten a year ago in her only attempt at the graded-stakes level.
The field is set for the $1 million Haskell, where Nyquist will be trying to re-stake his claim as the top three-year-old in the country.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $300,000 United Nations Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and three-eighths on the turf, the Grade 1 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings.
On Sunday at Monmouth Park, the featured race is the $150,000 Pegasus Stakes, a key prep race for the Haskell Invitational (G1). The Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth and has drawn a field of seven three-year-olds.
With five grade 1 races and a grade 2, the undercard for the June 11 Belmont stakes could be the best single day of racing on the calendar outside of the Breeders’ Cup.
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