Columnist Ralph Siraco: Thanksgiving holiday provides finale for big stakes racing

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Nov. 24, 2003 | 10:15 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.

The four-day Thanksgiving weekend will be more than a feast for turkey and stuffing connoisseurs, football fanatics and overall sports and food junkies. It will be the final feast of big stakes races for racing fans, which will have to suffice until after Christmas.

The final Grade I for New York racing will take place as the Cigar Mile, Churchill Downs will finish up it's fall meet with a flourish highlighted by the Grade II Falls City and Clark Handicaps and Hollywood Park runs the Hollywood Derby and Matriarch Stakes -- both Grade I's -- as the grand finale of its six-race $1.85 million Turf Festival.

Jockey Jerry Bailey and trainer Bobby Frankel will -- as they have all year long -- be in the center of the activity as they try to add to their record-breaking seasons.

Bailey is just one stakes victory away from tying Mike Smith's single-season record of 68 set in 1994 and is on track to break his own single-season earnings record of $22,871,814, that was set last year. Frankel, who has already established a new single-season earnings mark for trainers, surpassed $18 million and is on record as having the $20 million plateau as his year-end goal.

They will team together with Sightseek in the Falls City and Medaglia d'Oro in the Clark Handicap. Each will be represented multiple times throughout 16 stakes races spanning the four-day holiday from coast to coast.

Here is how the Thanksgiving smorgasbord shapes up, beginning with turkey day.

The Grade II Falls City will feature two Breeders' Cup Distaff starters. Frankel will send out the beaten Distaff favorite in Sightseek. Post-race tests revealed internal bleeding, accounting for her sluggish fourth-place finish in the Distaff. Frankel says Sightseek is fine now and ready for the Falls City. Take Charge Lady, sixth in the Distaff, will make her final career start in the race. It will be a bittersweet reunion for jockey Tony D'Amico, who was her regular rider at the beginning of her career.

The Grade III Fall Highweight at Aqueduct and the Grade III Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park are also featured on Thanksgiving Day.

On Friday four stakes are slated. The Grade II Clark Handicap marks another post-Breeders' Cup starter. Medaglia d'Oro, who finished second for the second consecutive year in the Breeders' Cup Classic this year, will be favored for the $500,000 race. Bailey and Frankel are expected to pad their totals here. Although Medalia d'Oro seems a standout in this spot, there are at least ten others heading for that starting gate.

The Grade II Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct, the Grade III Turf Express and Grade III Miesque Stakes at Hollywood Park round out the Friday lineup.

Seven stakes races stack Saturday's horn off plenty. The Grade I Cigar Mile at Aqueduct is the headliner. The $350,000 race sees defending champion Congaree -- fourth in the Breeders' Cup Classic -- heading a possible field of 12 set for the one-turn mile.

Recent stakes winners New York Hero, Crafty Shaw and Well Fancied will join Toccet, who hasn't raced at the New York track since winning last year's Remsen, and Frankel's speedy entrant Midas Eyes.

Churchill Downs will preview aspiring Kentucky Derby and Oaks runners with a pair of juvenile events.

The Kentucky Jockey Club will showcase the boys while the Golden Rod highlights the girls. The Cliff's Edge, a runaway winner on the recent Iroquois, should go favorite for the KJC, while the Golden Rod has a wide open field. Both races carry $200,000 purses at 1 1/16th miles. Trainer Nick Zito could have a big day with Derby hopefuls. In addition to The Cliff's Edge, Zito will saddle El Prado Rob for the $200,000 Remsen, also for 2-year-olds, at Aqueduct on Saturday.

The Grade II Demoiselle at Aqueduct, the Grade II $400,000 Citation Handicap and Grade III Generous Stakes at Hollywood Park complete the Saturday schedule of stakes.

Finally on Sunday, two big Grade I events to climax Hollywood Park's Turf Festival.

The $600,000 Hollywood Derby, lengthened to 1 1/2 miles of green this year, has a full field set to face the starter. Bailey scales the Bob Baffert trainee Senior Swinger for the last sophomore grass race of the season while the first lady of the saddle, Julie Krone, has the mount on Sweet Return. Bay Meadows Derby winner Stanley Park is also expected to start besides Frankel's Bis Repetitas, Buckland Manor, Fairly Ransom and Urban King.

The Matriarch, for $500,000, has been shortened from 1 1/8 miles to a flat mile on the turf. This reconfiguration has attracted as many as 14 grass fillies & mares. Dress To Thrill will try to defend last year's win against French 1000 Guineas winner Musical Chimes and Alabama Stakes winner Island Fashion. Bailey will ride Etoile Mon Tante while Frankel sends Heat Haze among the bulky International field.

This four-day feast will have no leftovers. Happy Thanksgiving.