Falls City Handicap

- You can bet that I’ll be out at the Big A bright and early on Thanksgiving morning. The first race has been delayed this year until 11:25 from 11 to accommodate those who have to use the detention barn for the early races. Post time used to be 10:30, but back then I was lucky to just be getting out of bed after one of the bigger party nights of the year, and I'd be lucky to make it by the third. I should be able to stick around until the featured Fall Highweight Handicap, but with all the fun out of that race with a 127 pound highweight and a four pound spread covering the entire field, it looks like just another undecipherable sprint stakes to me.

Churchill runs 12 races on turkey day; maybe families convene later in the day in Louisville, as they don’t finish until almost 5 PM! Horsemen here were outraged a few years ago when NYRA added a 10th race, which still was off well before 3:30. The 11th there is a Grade 2 for fillies and mares, the Falls City Handicap at nine furlongs. Todd Pletcher has his three year old Indian Vale, four for five and coming off a 9 ½ length win in the G3 Turnback the Alarm at Aqueduct. That followed Angel Cordero’s unsuccessful comeback aboard her in the Cotillion at Philly Park, in which she finished fifth. Pletcher said that Cordero just “picked the wrong day to ride her..... That track is pretty sandy, while this track has a little more cushion to it. Today, was easy, it was a walk in the park." [Daily Racing Form]

A walk in the park it was, but that may have been partly because of some weak competition as compared to the Cotillion, even though the latter was restricted to three year-olds. The 5-2 second choice in the Turnback, Asti, had never even run on a dry dirt track before. In the Cotillion, she faced two other promising and lightly raced fillies in winner Nothing But Fun and runner-up Yolanda B. Too. (Both of those ran unsuccessfully in the BC Distaff, in which they were run ill-advisedly in my opinion; but Yolanda's owners West Point at least got to show their partners a good time. Hope she recovers from her 22 length defeat.)

After Indian Vale's last race, Pletcher mentioned a December 17 Aqueduct stakes as her likely next race, so the fact that he’s spotting her here must mean that she’s doing well. Still, she faces some early pressure and could get a run for her money. Pampered Princess is a tough-as-nails five year old mare from Florida who passed her test for class the Grade 1 Spinster, defeating Pleasant Home, who of course trounced the Distaff field in her next race. She’s won four out of five, and comes in off a 45 day layoff; her trainer Marty Wolfson hits at 29% in that category.

Flying Glitter is a sharp and speedy three year old who should also be involved early. She’s three for four over the racetrack, and two for two around two turns; but this is her first try over a mile and a sixteenth, and a tough spot in which to try it. Bending Strings’ best efforts have been one turn, such as her last, a win in the G2 Chiluki at a flat mile. Prior to that, she was 4th, over four lengths behind Pampered Princess in the Spinster. She’s 7-2 in the morning line, drew poorly in the 12 hole, and looks like one to go against at that price. Joint Aspiration was the horse that put Gary Stevens, who will announce his retirement on Friday, over the 5000 win mark. Unfortnately for her, she’s now ended up in the hands of Patrick Biancone, so he typically puts her on the dirt for the first time ever, and runs her in a Grade 2 stake.

Tough race, as it looks like it may set up for a closer, yet none of those types seem competitive in here. So I’ll go with the five year old Pampered Princess, who has shown that she can sit a length or so off the pace.