Maxfield Set for Retirement Following Friday's Victory in Grade I Clark

Nov 27, 2021 Churchill Downs Communications

Godolphin’s homebred Maxfield is set to travel back to Darley’s Jonabel Farm in Lexington after winning his career finale in Friday’s $750,000 Clark presented by Norton Healthcare (Grade I) at Churchill Downs.

Maxfield, a now multiple Grade I-winning colt by Street Sense, will stand at his owner’s farm in 2022.

“The plan worked out very well for us with Essential Quality running in the Breeders’ Cup it gave us a chance to run him here in the Clark,” said Michael Banahan, Director of Farm Operations for Godolphin. “It’s a vision of Sheikh Mohammad to achieve best results we can, especially with our homebreds. This gave us an opportunity to split those horses. It was a great result for Brendan (Walsh) and team who nursed Maxfield through ups and downs the last three years. He was a top 2-year-old and it was devastating not able to run in the Breeders’ Cup. Then he came back and looked like we are on the (Kentucky) Derby trail, only to have another setback. It’s just been a great team effort to keep him at that level.”

Maxfield remained stabled in Walsh’s Barn 9 Saturday morning at Churchill Downs but is scheduled to head to retirement in the coming days.

With his victory in the Clark, Maxfield earned a 100 Brisnet Speed Rating while improving his record to a perfect 5-for-5 at Churchill Downs. He’s scheduled to stand for $40,000 at Darley.

CONSIGLIERE EARNS 10 POINTS ON JAPAN ROAD TO KENTUCKY DERBY – Kazumi Yoshida’s Consigliere (JPN) was able to hold off the late charge of Cafe Karma (JPN) and Geraldo Barows (JPN) to win Saturday’s Cattleya Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse, the kickoff of the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve.

Trained by Yukio Inagaki and ridden by Christophe Lemaire, Consigliere earned 10 points on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby. Cafe Karma and Geraldo Barows earned four and two points, respectively while World Connector earned one point for his fourth place effort.

First staged in 2017, the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby is a stand-alone series of races that is separate from the traditional Road to the Kentucky Derby. Only one invitation to compete in the Kentucky Derby will be extended in the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby, with preference given to the horses with the most points earned in the series.

Three horses based in Japan have run in the Kentucky Derby: Ski Captain (14^th, 1995), Lani (9^th, 2016) and Master Fencer (JPN) (6^th, 2019).

‘ALL OTHER 3-YEAR-OLD COLTS AND GELDINGS’ REMAINS STRONG 3-5 FAVORITE IN POOL 1 OF KENTUCKY DERBY FUTURE WAGER – As of 12 p.m. Saturday, the popular betting option of “All Other Colts and Geldings from the 2019 Foal Crop” remained as the solid 1-2 favorite for the four-day stand of Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

Individually, the highly-regarded Jack Christopher, who is currently on the sidelines due to a stress fracture in his left shin, is the 8-1 favorite. The Chad Brown trainee is scheduled to resume training in the coming months, according to his connections.

Pool 1 assumes that horses under the care of trainers suspended from competing in the 2022 Kentucky Derby will not be under consideration. To that end, prospects Corniche, Messier, Pinehurst and Rockefeller are not among the 22 individual betting interests and are included within the pari-mutuel field.

In the Sire Future Wager, the “All Other Sires” betting option was the 5-2 favorite over offspring sired by Gun Runner, who was 6-1, and Quality Road, who was 7-1.

The complete list of horses for Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager and Sire Future Wager are available, with real-time odds, on www.KentuckyDerby.com/FutureWager.

Wagering is available online at www.TwinSpires.com, the official ADW of Churchill Downs Incorporated.

Free past performances for Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager and Kentucky Derby Sire Future Wager have been provided by Brisnet:

• KDFW Pool 1: http://www.brisnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Derby22Future1.pdf
• KDFW Sire: http://www.brisnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Derby22Sire.pdf

TV SCHEDULE – Racing from Churchill Downs will air each race day on the Churchill Downs LIVE app. The app is available free of charge on streaming services such as Amazon, Apple TV and Roku. Most races also will be covered on the Fox Sports family of networks as part of “America’s Day at the Races.” Here is the updated TV schedule for racing this week:

• Saturday: 12:45-6:30 p.m., TVG
• Sunday: 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., Fox Sports 2 | 4-6:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1

DOWN THE STRETCH – Saturday’s 12-race card featured a $210,134 carryover in the 20-cent Derby City 6 that spanned Races 7-12. There also was a Super Hi 5 carryover in Race 12 of $4,971 … We’ve received word from the North Pole that Santa and Mrs. Claus were making a stop at Churchill Downs Saturday to bet Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager and to visit with guests. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be in the Jockey Club Suites from 12:30-1:45 p.m. and the second floor of the Clubhouse from 2:10-4:45 p.m. … Sunday is Closing Day of the Fall Meet and there will be mandatory payouts in all wagers.