The midsummer weeks on the North American horse racing calendar historically sign a turning of the web page from the Triple Crown to getting ready for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships within the fall, and the month of June closes with the primary home “Win and You’re In” Problem Sequence race for the 2024 Longines Breeders’ Cup Traditional going down underneath the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs: the 43rd operating of the Stephen Foster Stakes.
The Stephen Foster winner will get a assured spot within the beginning gate of the $7 million Longines Traditional Nov. 2 at Del Mar, with entry charges waived and a journey stipend supplied if the horse is stabled outdoors of California. It’s the one “Win and You’re In” race this weekend, however there are a few different races developing which have additionally been vital within the 41-year historical past of the Breeders’ Cup. Let’s look forward:
Stephen Foster Stakes
The place: Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
When: Saturday, June 29
The right way to Watch: FanDuel TV
“Win and You’re In” for: Longines Breeders’ Cup Traditional
Why it’s vital: This 1 1/8-mile dust race, which carries a handbag of as much as $1 million for 2024, has been gained by among the finest horses of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. 5 of them – Black Tie Affair (1991), Superior Once more (1997), Saint Liam (2005), Blame (2010), and Gun Runner (2017) – gained the Stephen Foster and the Breeders’ Cup Traditional in the identical 12 months. Two different Stephen Foster winners – Curlin and Fort Larned – gained the Traditional at different factors of their careers.
Finest winner throughout the Breeders’ Cup period: Tie between Curlin (2008) and Gun Runner (2017). Curlin, who had gained the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Traditional as a 3-year-old and been voted Horse of the 12 months, toyed with a Foster area that included $2 million earners Einstein and Brass Hat, profitable by 4 ¼ lengths. He could be voted Horse of the 12 months once more in 2008 and entered the Racing Corridor of Fame in 2014. Gun Runner will be a part of Curlin in that hallowed venue as a part of the 2024 Corridor of Fame class Aug. 2. He romped within the 2017 Foster by seven lengths and earned the best Equibase Velocity Determine (127) within the historical past of the race. Gun Runner then gained the ultimate 4 begins of his profession in equally overpowering style, together with the Longines Breeders’ Cup Traditional at Del Mar, and was voted Horse of the 12 months for 2017.
Final 12 months’s winner: West Will Energy gained a most uncommon version of the Stephen Foster because the race was relocated to Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., together with each different race scheduled the ultimate month of Churchill Downs’ 2023 spring-summer meet whereas the dad or mum firm of each tracks ran assessments on the racing floor at its flagship venue after a spike in equine fatalities. The Brad Cox trainee gained the Foster by a half-length over fast-closing Rattle N Roll; sadly, it was the ultimate begin within the horse’s profession. West Will Energy was retired weeks later resulting from a soft-tissue damage and subsequently offered to face as a stallion in Korea.
2024 starters: This 12 months’s aggressive Foster area is led by a number of graded stakes winners First Mission and Skippylongstocking, each of whom come into the Breeders’ Cup prep on two-race profitable streaks completed in dominant style. Be taught extra about the entire 9 contenders in ABR’s Cheat Sheet.
Different key races this weekend:
From 2015 to 2021, the 1 1/8-mile Fasig-Tipton Fleur de Lis Stakes for fillies and mares at Churchill was a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Whether or not a part of the Problem Sequence or not, this race held on the Saturday Stephen Foster undercard has been vital in getting ready among the finest feminine racehorses in coaching for makes an attempt on the Distaff within the fall. Three of them have gained the Fleur de Lis and Distaff in the identical 12 months: Escena (1998), Corridor of Famer Royal Delta (2012), and Endlessly Unbridled (2017).
One other race Saturday at Churchill, the one-mile Clever Dan Stakes on turf, is called after a Corridor of Fame racehorse who dominated his division somewhat over a decade in the past. Clever Dan had raced 9 instances on dust or artificial tracks – together with a sixth-place end within the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Dash – and gained a stakes race earlier than coach Charlie LoPresti tried him on turf within the 2011 Firecracker Handicap at Churchill. His efficiency was a revelation as he romped by 2 ¾ lengths, and from then on a legendary profession was shaped. Subsequently racing totally on grass, Clever Dan gained the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile in each 2012 and 2013 and likewise captured an unimaginable 15 different graded stakes races, together with the 2013 Firecracker in a driving rainstorm. The gelding even tallied a Grade 1 win on dust throughout that streak, taking the Clark Handicap at Churchill in fall 2011, and almost gained the Stephen Foster on dust the next summer time, shedding by a head to Ron the Greek.
Clever Dan was voted Horse of the 12 months, champion older male, and champion turf male for each 2012 and 2013, and in 2016 the Firecracker was renamed in his honor. One different horse joins Clever Dan as same-year winners of this race and the Breeders’ Cup Mile: Miesque’s Approval in 2006.
