There’s tangible evidence that Intangible, a Juddmonte Farm homebred trained by Brad Cox, could improve as she stretches out to a one-turn mile in Wednesday’s seventh race at Churchill Downs, a $120,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies.
Intangible, a large daughter of Into Mischief, is the first foal out of the winning Malibu Moon mare Financial One, a half-sister to Eclipse Award champion Close Hatches and stakes winner Lockdown. Close Hatches is the dam of recent Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Scylla and graded stakes winners Tacitus and Batten Down. Lockdown produced 2023 Distaff winner and two-time Eclipse champion Idiomatic. All excelled at route distances.
Juddmonte manager Garrett O’Rourke said that Intangible, trained by Brad Cox, was “quite backward” early on and has been a later developer.
“Some of the bigger fillies, you don’t see as much in the mornings,” O’Rourke said. “I think Brad has seen enough to be encouraged, but they change so much start to start at this time of year, so you’re always hoping . . . and oftentimes, it’s pedigree that makes them do that, as well.”
Intangible got her feet wet in a debut going six furlongs on Oct. 26 at Keeneland, making up ground mildly to finish fourth. Irad Ortiz Jr. has a return call.
“Irad had ridden her in a work before her last race, and then came back straight after both and said she’ll be a lot better going forward,” O’Rourke said.
“She ran on having been outrun midrace . . . and galloped out pretty well,” he added of her sprint effort. “I didn’t think she got to run comfortably all the way, and hopefully going longer, she’ll be a little bit more comfortable.”
Juveniles are the main attraction on Wednesday’s card. The maiden special weight is followed by a turf allowance for fillies who have never won two races, and then a restricted maiden special for horses who sold for $65,000 or less in their most recent trip through an auction. These races are all part of a pick six, which has a carryover of $145,504.
Juddmonte and Cox also have a well-bred runner in the allowance. Conceit is coming off a 9 1/2-length score in a race that was taken off the turf at Horseshoe Indiananapolis, and getting to go 1 1/16 miles on turf should suit her. The filly, by the versatile and red-hot sire Not This Time, is a full sister to Final Gambit, who earlier this year won the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby on Tapeta.
O’Rourke said Conceit is a “very different physical type” than Final Gambit, who more resembles broodmare sire Tapit, and that Conceit resembles Not This Time.
“She visually was impressive [on debut]. She beat grass horses on dirt,” he noted. “She’s stepping up in quality. It looks like a spot where, if she’s good enough, hopefully she’ll like the track there.”
Cox will also send out Aggressive Lime for Magic Cap Stables and Parkland Thoroughbreds. Following a debut victory at Kentucky Downs, the filly was a deceptively solid sixth in the Grade 2 Jessamine at Keeneland, beaten just two lengths after steadying several times in a race where many had traffic trouble.
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