Autumn has arrived in Kentucky, and there's no better sign of its arrival than a field of top-quality 2-year-old fillies racing for grade 1 glory on opening day of the Keeneland fall meet Oct. 4.
They will be featured in the $600,000 Alcibiades Stakes (G1), a critical step on the path to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) as the winner earns an automatic, fees-paid berth to Del Mar Nov. 1 through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series. Additionally, the top five finishers earn qualifying points to the 2025 Kentucky Oaks (G1) on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.
All eight fillies in the field will experience two turns for the first time as they navigate the 1 1/16-mile distance. Four of them were last out in the Aug. 31 Spinaway Stakes (G1) over seven furlongs on a muddy track at Saratoga Race Course.
Video: Spinaway S. (G1)
Godolphin homebred Immersive emerged victorious that rainy day by 1 1/4 lengths for trainer Brad Cox, maintaining a perfect record in two starts despite being double-digit odds both times.
Breaking from the rail, the daughter of Nyquist saved ground with jockey Manny Franco through the opening stages before swinging wide on the far turn and grinding down favored Quietside, who was wide throughout, inside the final sixteenth. Franco retains the mount in the Alcibiades.
This time, Immersive breaks from the far outside in post 8 while Shortleaf Stable's homebred Quietside breaks one spot to the inside for trainer John Ortiz and jockey Luis Saez. Both fillies seemed to enjoy the off track, but each broke her maiden earlier in Saratoga's meet over a fast track, which they are likely to see Friday.
The Queens M G did not take to the surface as well as her rivals, finishing fifth after prompting the pace. The loss snapped her two-race winning streak that included victories in the Schuylerville and Adirondack (G3) stakes. C2 Racing Stable and Mathis Stable's daughter of Thousand Words is the lone contender with Keeneland experience, having broken her maiden by a head during the spring meet. Tyler Gaffalione rides the Saffie Joseph Jr. trainee for the first time from post 5.
The final returnee from the Spinaway is Bobby Flay, Jacquline Ventura's Rocky Top Stable, and James Ventura's Sherbini, who closed from next to last to finish third, beaten 5 1/4 lengths. The Mark Casse trainee was second to The Queens M G in the Schuylerville.
New Shooters
Storyteller Racing and Schroeck Racing's Liam in the Dust holds the distance edge. In her last start, she was narrowly defeated by three-quarters of a length while traveling a one-turn mile in the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs Sept. 14.
Patricia's Hope and Richard Ravin's Rich City Girl returns to the dirt following a half-length victory going 6 1/2 furlongs in a Kentucky Downs allowance Aug. 29. In two previous dirt starts, she broke her maiden at Ellis Park by 3 1/4 lengths and was runner-up in the Ellis Park Debutante Stakes.
Gregory Tramontin's Quickick broke her maiden at Saratoga Sept. 1 after running third to Pocahontas winner La Cara in her debut.
Mineola Farm II, Silent Grove Farms, and James Hirschman III's Continuity is 2-for-2 and enters off a seven-length allowance victory at Colonial Downs Aug. 16.
The Alcibiades is race 9 with post time at 5:16 p.m. ET.
Keeneland, Friday, October 4, 2024, Race 9Entries: Darley Alcibiades S. (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Continuity (KY) Ben Curtis 122 Eddie Kenneally - 2 Sherbini (KY) Florent Geroux 122 Mark E. Casse - 3 Liam in the Dust (KY) Flavien Prat 122 Rodolphe Brisset - 4 Rich City Girl (KY) Gerardo Corrales 122 Larry Rivelli - 5 The Queens M G (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 122 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. - 6 Quickick (KY) Dylan Davis 122 Thomas M. Amoss - 7 Quietside (KY) Luis Saez 122 John Alexander Ortiz - 8 Immersive (KY) Manuel Franco 122 Brad H. Cox -
