Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park
Posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
Multiple graded stakes winners Precious Kitten, Mauralakana and locally-based Eclipse Award champion Dreaming of Anna plus the well-regarded European invader Cicerole are the headline attractions in Saturday’s $750,000 Beverly D. Stakes (G1) at Arlington Park.
The Beverly D. Stakes, the sister race to the Arlington Million (G1), is part of the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win & You’re In” series of horse races where the Beverly D. winner automatically becomes part of the Breeders’ Cup field for the October 24 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita Park.
Fillies and mares racing in Arlington Park’s Beverly D. Stakes at 1 3/16 miles on turf with jockeys, weight and morning line odds in post position order:
- Dreaming of Anna under jockey Garrett Gomez carries 123 lbs. with morning line odds of 7-2
- Rosinka under jockey Cornelio Velasquez, 123 lbs., 8-1
- Precious Kitten under jockey Rafael Bejarano, 123 lbs., 9-5
- Mauralakana under jockey Kent Desormeaux, 123 lbs., 3-1
- Ciao under jockey John Velazquez, 123 lbs., 30-1
- Meribel under jockey Robby Albarado, 123 lbs., 20-1
- Toque de Queda under jockey Johnny Murtagh, 123 lbs., 30-1
- Communique under jockey Rene Douglas, 123 lbs., 12-1
- Cicerole under jockey Ioritz Mendizabal, 123 lbs., 6-1
Winner of the Gamely (G1) at Hollywood Park in her last start May 26, Precious Kitten has had a light 2008 campaign thus far with a 5th-place finish in the Jenny Wiley Stakes (G2) at Keeneland being her only other start as a 5-year-old. Last year, the daughter of Catienus, Precious Kitten, was queen of the West Coast with scores in the John C. Mabee Handicap (G1) and Palomar Handicap (G2) at Del Mar, as well as a victory in the Matriarch (G1) at Hollywood Park.
Precious Kitten, who has been installed as the 9-5 morning line favorite, will be ridden by jockey Rafael Bejarano and hails from the barn of Hall of Fame race horse trainer Bobby Frankel who has won two previous editions of the Beverly D. race, capturing the 1995 renewal with Possibly Perfect and scoring again in 2003 with Heat Haze.
The French-bred Mauralakana rides a 3-race win streak into the Beverly D. with successive scores in the Mairzy Doates Handicap at Calder Race Course and the Sheepshead Bay Hanciap (G2) and New York Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park. The only blemish on Mauralakana’s 2008 ledger was a 2nd-place finish in the Orchid Handicap (G3) at Gulfstream Park.
Race horse trainer Christophe Clement, also a two-time Beverly D. winner (England’s Legend in 2001 and Royal Highness in 2007), has named jockey Kent Desormeaux, who captured the 1992 Beverly D. astride Kostroma, to ride.
Dreaming of Anna, the Eclipse Award winning 2-year-old filly in 2006, has made a name for herself on turf since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) on dirt two years ago. The daughter of Rahy, Dreaming of Anna, has won eight turf races and has never been worse then 2nd in 11 starts on the grass.
The Rothschild Family, who campaigned 2001 Beverly D. heroine England’s Legend, sends the French-bred filly Cicerole over for this year’s renewal. Runner-up in the Group III Princess Elizabeth Stakes at England’s Epsom Downs in June, the daughter of Barathea is a multiple listed stakes winner in her native France.
Trained by Jean Claude Rouget, the 4-year-old filly Cicerole will be ridden by Spanish-born jockey Ioritz Mendizabal.
G. Watts Humphrey Jr.’s Communique is 3 for 5 on turf this year with her most recent victory coming in the Modesty Handicap (G3) over this course at the Beverly D. distance four weeks ago. The daughter of Smart Strike, Communique, is trained by George “Rusty” Arnold II and will be ridden by five-time Arlington Park leading jockey Rene Douglas, who rode Royal Highness to victory in last year’s Beverly D.
The Wayne Catalano-trained 4-year-old Dreaming of Anna is 3 for 4 this year with each of her victories coming in Grade III turf stakes - the Endeavour and the Hillsborough at Tampa Bay Downs, and most recently the Mint Julep Handicap at Churchill Downs. Eclipse Award winning jockey Garrett Gomez, who rode Dreaming of Anna in the Mint Julep, gets a return call in Saturday’s Beverly D. Stakes.
Completing the field for the Beverly D. (with rider listed) are: Iron County Farms, Inc.’s Ciao (John Velazquez), third in the Modesty last time out; Runnymede Farm’s Meribel (Robby Albarado), a close third behind Dreaming of Anna in the Endeavour; The Lavington Stud’s Rosinka (Cornelio Velasquez), third in the Grade III Robert G. Dick Memorial Handicap at Delaware Park last month; and French invader Marquesa de Moratalla’s Toque de Queda (John Murtagh), fourth in the Group III Prix Messidor at Maisons-Lafitte last out.
The Beverly D. Stakes is race 9 of 12 horse races in Arlington Park’s August 9 card. Beverly D. Stakes post time is 3:50 pm Central.
Horse racing news edited from www.arlingtonpark.com.
Horse racing tags: Ciao, Cicerole, Communique, Dreaming of Anna, Mauralakana, Meribel, Precious Kitten, Rosinka, Toque de Queda
"Breeders’ Cup Challenge: Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park" was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 9:10 pm and is filed under Arlington Park, Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Race Tracks News, Stakes Races, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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