FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael Adolphson
(847) 385-7558
Barn Notes: Wednesday, June 4, 2014
In Today’s Notes:
- Dank to Take on Boys at Ascot en Route to Arlington
- Von Hemel’s Cabana Hopes to Pluck Purple Violet
DANK TO TAKE ON BOYS AT ASCOT EN ROUTE TO ARLINGTON
According to the Sir Michael Stoute camp, 2013 Eclipse Champion Turf Mare Dank is in great condition and is headed toward what will be her toughest career test, thus far. The daughter of Dansili and runaway winner of last year’s Beverly D. Stakes is slated to make her second career attempt against males in the Group I $753,885 Prince of Wales’s Stakes on Wednesday, June 18, at Royal Ascot.
In her only race since her title-binding victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf in November, James Wigan’s 5-year-old star mare turned in a solid and traffic-riddled third to the world’s top ranked horse – Just a Way – in the Grade I Dubai Duty Free in late March. Since, she has returned to England and trained forwardly. Her connections are hoping for “faster ground” (firm turf) – Dank’s preferred footing and the integral incentive for venturing Stateside twice last year. “It’s a really (tough) race. She’s 14-1. Fingers crossed we have (hot weather) beforehand,” said groom and assistant Elaine Westgate.
The Prince of Wales’s Stakes is traditionally one of the toughest 10-furlong grass tests on the globe and has been won in the past by the likes of top-ranked world champions Dubai Millennium, Manduro and So You Think as well as Breeders’ Cup winners Fantastic Light and Ouija Board. This year’s edition could include Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Treve, Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Magician, English Derby winner Ruler of the World, Irish Derby winner Trading Leather and two-time Breeders’ Cup runner-up The Fugue. Interestingly, if Dank, The Fugue and Treve all start, the race will arguably include three of the top four female horses in the world (the fourth being Japan’s Gentildonna). The saltiness of this prospective field is displayed in Dank’s ante post odds, which vary from 12-1 to 20-1 in most markets.
The two main objectives for the Stoute-trained filly are to compete once again at the Arlington International Racecourse’s International Festival of Racing and subsequently defend her title in the Breeders’ Cup. In 2013, Dank was a close third in the Group II Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot and victorious in the Group II Kilboy Estate Stakes at The Curragh in Ireland before shipping over to best America’s top turf fillies and mares by 4¼ lengths.
VON HEMEL’S CABANA HOPES TO PLUCK PURPLE VIOLET
Trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel invades Arlington International Racecourse on Saturday May 7 with his promising filly Cabana in the Illinois-restricted $100,000 Purple Violet Stakes at a flat mile. Though only once victorious in seven career attempts, the daughter of Flatter has been consistent and versatile, finishing second in two open allowances in her two recent starts – on fast and sloppy tracks – and breaking her maiden in November over the grass. “We are happy and healthy right now,” Von Hemel said. “She’s doing very well.”
The Purple Violet, on Arlington’s synthetic Polytrack surface, will be Cabana’s first attempt over such a ground. “That’s the big question,” Von Hemel explained. “We feel like she would like it. I just hope it’s a positive answer after the race is over. She’s a nice filly, is Illinois-bred and it’s a chance to run against 3-year-old fillies.”
The Purple Violet will be the Wayne Sanders- and Larry Hirsch-owned filly’s first attempt at restricted company as well as her first time around one turn since her six-furlong debut in October at Remington Park. “I think the handicappers would say (racing in open company) is a class edge, but it’s a give and take. Winning races matters (to the horse) just as much.”
Bred by Russell Reineman Stables in the Prairie State, the filly who carries the gray coat of her maternal grandsire El Prado is schedule to arrive by van from Churchill Downs on Wednesday afternoon. “She’ll gallop (Thursday) and blow out three-eighths (Friday). It’s a system that seems to work for her,” Von Hemel said. The Oklahoma and Kentucky-based conditioner has often been a force in Arlington stakes – especially over the last decade – annexing events such as the Grade III Modesty (Euphony, 2009), Grade III Arlington Oaks (Peach Brew, 2009) and Grade III Arlington Matron (Bedanken, 2004).
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