Raging Sea Looks for Smooth Sailing in Falls City

Graded stakes races are often a dime a dozen on summer holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day, but they're far less frequent when the weather turns cooler in autumn and winter. There's just one across North America on Thanksgiving, Nov. 27: the $400,000 Falls City Stakes (G3), the centerpiece of a holiday program at Churchill Downs that begins with an earlier post time of 11:30 a.m. ET. Also on the Thursday card is the ungraded, $300,000 Cardinal Stakes, which goes at 4:14 p.m. as the 11th of 12 races on the card. The Falls City is the 10th race, about a half-hour earlier. There is depth in each of the two stakes, both of which are at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares, but contested on different surfaces. The Falls City is on the main track while the Cardinal is on turf. Many of the top jockeys in the country are in action Thursday at Churchill Downs, including Kentucky regulars Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose Ortiz, Tyler Gaffalione, and Luis Saez—plus Flavien Prat, who is in Kentucky from his usual base in New York. In the Falls City, Prat rides Alpha Delta Stables' Raging Sea, who captured the La Troienne Stakes (G1) this spring at Churchill Downs in the kickoff race of a campaign at age 5. She has since lost three straight for trainer Chad Brown, failing to threaten when third in both the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) and Shuvee Stakes (G2), and when a distant fourth in the Aug. 23 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) last out. All three of those starts came at Saratoga Race Course. The chestnut daughter of Curlin captured the Personal Ensign Stakes last year in her other top-level stakes triumph. She and Ribble Farms and Front Page Equestrian's Regaled, winner of the Delaware Handicap (G3) and third most recently in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) for trainer Whit Beckman, are closers. They will have to catch Breffni Farm's speedy Locust Grove Stakes (G2) winner Royal Spa, who enters the Falls City fresh after more than two months of rest. Royal Spa is 4-2-0 in eight starts over the Churchill Downs dirt for trainer Rudy Brisset. Other notable entrants include Shortleaf Stable's two-time graded stakes victress Quietside, Full of Run Racing II and Madaket Stables' multiple stakes winner Alpine Princess, and Payson Stud and RTA Trust's 10-time winner Corningstone. Pin Up Betty Back on Favorite Course in Cardinal The Cardinal Stakes features a horse for the course in Three Diamonds Farm's multiple grade 3 winner Pin Up Betty, who is 4-1-0 in six starts on the Churchill Downs turf course for trainer Mike Maker. The opposition is headed by defending Cardinal winner Duvet Day (IRE), Barry Schwartz's multiple stakes-winning New York-bred Awesome Czech, and Patricia Moseley's up-and-coming homebred Proctor Street.