Grade I Winner Dublin Heads Dozen Juveniles in Iroquois as 'Stars of Tomorrow I' Opens Churchill Downs Fall Meet

Oct 29, 2009 Gary Yunt

Robert Baker and William Mack’s Dublin, winner of prestigious Grade I Hopeful at Saratoga, tops a field of a dozen 2-year-olds entered for the 28th running of Churchill Downs’ $100,000 Iroquois (Grade III) at one mile on the main track on Sunday’s “Stars of Tomorrow I” program that raises the curtain on the historic track’s 21-day Fall Meet.

The Iroquois and the $100,000-added Pocahontas (GIII), a mile race for 2-year-old fillies, share the marquee on the opener of the meet that runs through Nov. 28. First post time for Sunday’s 11-race card is 12:40 p.m. (all times EST) with the Iroquois going as the 10th race with a 5:02 p.m. post time.

Sunday’s program is the first of two Fall Meet “Stars of Tomorrow” cards entirely devoted to rising 2-year-old stars who have aspirations to compete in next year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) and Kentucky Oaks (GI).  Over the previous four years “Stars of Tomorrow” races have served as launching pads for 15 Grade I winners, including millionaires Rachel Alexandra, Lawyer Ron, Macho Again, Pure Clan, Court Vision, Swift Temper and Any Given Saturday.

Dublin, who runs for the stable of four-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas, was supplemented at a cost of $5,000 to run in the Iroquois. Dublin was fifth as the odds-on favorite last time out in the Champagne (GI) at Belmont Park on Oct. 10 and the son of Afleet Alex is the 4-1 favorite for the Iroquois in oddsmaker Mike Battaglia’s morning line odds.  He will be ridden for the first time by Rajiv Maragh and the colt will break from post position six under top weight of 123 pounds.

Other stakes winners in the field are Burning Sands Stable’s unbeaten Comedero, winner of the restricted Razorback Futurity at Louisiana Downs; A.C. and Clare Asbury’s Gleam of Hope, winner of the off-the-turf Cradle at River Downs; Vision Racing’s Three Day Rush, who won Monmouth Park’s restricted NATC Futurity; and Triple AAA Ranch’s Uh Oh Bango, a 10 ½-length winner of the Prairie Meadows Freshman

Capt. Candyman Can, who will be running in next weekend’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, won last year’s Iroquois.

The field for the Iroquois, from the rail out (with jockey and morning line odds), is as follows: Raging Wit (J. Leparoux, 117 pounds, 12-1), Call Shot (R. Albarado, 117, 6-1), Oh Charlie Boy (M. Mena, 117, 30-1), Three Day Rush (E. Prado, 121, 8-1), Brassy Boy (C. Borel, 117, 30-1), Dublin, Uh Oh Bango (G. Corbett, 121, 5-1), Soaring Empire (E. Castro, 117, 15-1), Fist of Rage (K. Desormeaux, 117, 20-1), Thiskyhasnolimit (S. Bridgmohan 117, 6-1), Gleam of Hope (C. Lanerie, 121, 5-1) and Comedero (J. Theriot, 121, 6-1).