Trainers Joe Sharp and Brad Cox have won this year’s first two meet training titles at Churchill Downs, and Cox leads their rubber match entering the final week of the November meet. The bad news for Sharp is that he can only win the $300,000 Cardinal Stakes once on Thursday. The good news is that he has plenty of shots to do it.
Sharp has four entrants for four different owners in the 1 1/8-mile Cardinal, which is for fillies and mares on the turf. Miwa, Stylish Sue, and Vive Veuve have made the main body of 12 starters, while Sabalenka is the first also-eligible.
Cox, who won the September meet title at Churchill, came into Wednesday with a meet-leading 14 wins. Sharp, who earned his first local training title at the spring meet, has won 10 races this meet.
Miwa came from France to begin her U.S. campaign this year and made three starts for Todd Pletcher before moving to Sharp. After winning a Kentucky Downs allowance by seven lengths, she was third in the Grade 3 Ladies Marathon there at the same 1 5/16-mile distance. She was then sixth in the Grade 3 Dowager at 1 1/2 miles on yielding Keeneland turf. She will hope for firmer ground and could get a sharper pace to set up her late rally.
Stylish Sue could be part of that pace. She will be making her second start off a yearlong layoff. The 4-year-old filly got back to action with a front-running allowance win on Nov. 8 at Churchill. Other pace factors could be New York-bred stakes winner Awesome Czech and graded stakes-placed She’s Lookin Lucky.
Vive Veuve’s running style falls somewhere between her two stablemates. She will come from off the pace but has the ability to be tactically closer. She had a first and a second in two Churchill starts in the spring, with the runner-up effort coming to a next-out winner.
Vive Veuve is the second choice on the morning line, while Pin Up Betty is a worthy favorite for Mike Maker. She has won 4 of 6 starts at Churchill, including this year’s Grade 3 Mint Julep and the Anchorage. In the Grade 2 Distaff Mile here earlier this year, she was beaten a neck by Simply in Front. They met again last out at Keeneland. There, Pin Up Betty finished fifth, but she was beaten less than a length by victorious Simply in Front.
Duvet Day is the defending winner of the Cardinal for Michael McCarthy. Last year, she beat She’s Lookin Lucky by three-quarters of a length. She has not won since but was second in the Anchorage.
Stakes-placed Proctor Street has stacked up well with some of these at the allowance level for Brendan Walsh, finishing second to Vive Veuve earlier this year at Churchill and coming off a win over She’s Lookin Lucky at Keeneland.
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