This Weekend at Keeneland Race Course

 Keeneland Race Course weekend resulted are posted in ScoresandStats.com   

This Weekend at Keeneland for Graded Stakes Racing

This weekend at Keeneland Race Course are three exciting graded events as the highlight of these racing cards. The $300,000 Sycamore Stakes on Friday is open to Thoroughbreds ages three and older. Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup is a Grade 1 race with a prize purse of $600,000 and is open to three-year fillies. The Franklin Stakes is open to fillies and mares three and up. Sunday’s graded race has a prize purse of $300,000.

The Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes is 1 ½ miles on turf and it features Red Knight, Shawdyshawdyshawdy, Balthus and Accredit. They all won their events the last time out.

The Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup has favorites’ Pizza Bianca and Cairo Memories. Horse Racing Nation’s rating rank them No. 1 & No. 2 in the field. They are leading the way in 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Sunday’s Grade 3 Franklin Stakes is the 5 ½ sprint on turf. Change of Control, Twilight Gleaming and Tobys Heart are the frontrunners in the race.

My take of the champions of Keeneland’s three graded stakes events in the weekend’s race card are Channel Maker, Cairo Memories and Twilight Gleaming.

Friday’s Sycamore Stakes

Winner: Channel Maker

Channel Maker finished 10^th in the Sword Dancer at Saratoga this August but the eight-year gelding has the top HRN rating in the field on the Sycamore Stakes. Trainer by William Mott and ridden by jockey Luis Saez, he has won the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes at Keeneland this spring.

The son of English Channel has a veteran’s touch at 1 ½ miles on turf. He placed fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf last year and won the Grand Couturier at Belmont earlier this year. Channel Maker is the class of this field with a HRN rating of 7.26.

Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup

Winner: Cairo Memories

This Kentucky-bred three-year filly finished third in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 20 with Spendarella first and Bellabel second. Cairo Memories was in the money three times in five races this year. She won the Grade 3 Providencia Stakes and the Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes at Santa Anita Park in the spring.

Sired by Cairo Prince, she has run 1 1/8 miles on turf to finish in the money three times this year. Trained by Robert Hess Jr, Cairo Memories has the speed and power to shed the main contenders in this race.

Sunday’s Franklin Stakes

Winner: Twilight Gleaming

Bred in Ireland, this three-old filly has a nature flare with this sprint on turf. She won the Mamzelle Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 14 and the Daisycutter Handicap at Del Mar on July 29. Twilight Gleaming has taken first or second place in all the races she has run.

Trained by Wesley Ward, she won the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint last November as the signature event for two-year old turf sprinters. Twilight Gleaming should finish first in the Franklin Stakes this Sunday in the competitive field.