Marathon Test in Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes

A year ago only six horses competed in the Marathon Stakes Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G2), a three-minute slugfest at Santa Anita Park that Itsinthepost (FR) won over Zestful. For 2020, the race has dropped some words of its name—shortened now to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes—but picked up entrants for its Nov. 6 renewal at Keeneland. Fourteen horses were entered, including the race's 2018 winner, Rocketry, as well as Ry's the Guy, Cupid's Claws, and Danny California—all last-out stakes winners in dirt marathons. Include a couple of millionaires in Tenfold and Plus Que Parfait, and on tap is a stakes race that is worthy as a warm-up act for five Breeders' Cup races on Future Stars Friday. Narrowly favored at 4-1 on the morning-line is Ry's the Guy, who won the Sept. 1 Champions Day Marathon Overnight Stakes Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance at Churchill Downs. That race, like Friday's contest, came during a stellar period of racing, just days before the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). A son of Distorted Humor owned by Lothenbach Stables, Ry's the Guy recorded his first victory in seven starts this year after falling short of hitting the board in three turf stakes from 1 1/4 miles to 1 1/2 miles from June through August. The 4-year-old has raced at Keeneland once, finishing a distant third in a maiden race in April 2019 before trainer Ian Wilkes stretched him out with success later that spring. Chris Landeros, the trainer's son in law, is up, as he has been for every one of the colt's 15 prior races. Cupid's Claws and Danny California break from the outside in the 1 5/8-mile race, which begins from what Keeneland calls the Headley Course, a chute the track primarily uses for 4 1/2-furlong dirt sprints for 2-year-olds during its spring meet. Horses that draw to the outside can lose ground as the chute leads into the main track. Cupid's Claws, claimed for $50,000 this summer by trainer Craig Dollase for owners Flawless Racing, Masino Racing Stable, Brian Flanagan, and Michael Jarvis, was a 7 1/4-length winner of the Tokyo City Cup Stakes (G3) in his first start for his new connections. That 1 1/2-mile race was the Kitten's Joy's gelding's first race on dirt and his first going that lengthy a distance. Cupid's Claws drew post 13 and attracted Flavien Prat to ride. Noda Brothers' Danny California has raced almost exclusively in New York. Still eligible for a first-level allowance this summer, the 5-year-old New York-bred Afleet Alex gelding has rattled off three consecutive victories, topped by the Miner's Mark Stakes Sept. 18. Orlando Noda trains and Manny Franco will ride from post 14. Rocketry, winless in nine starts since capturing this race in 2018 at Churchill Downs, will seek to recapture his old form in his first return appearance to the Bluegrass.