Chilukki caps final Breeders' Cup card

by Brisnet.com

Fans at Churchill Downs not wanting the festivities to end with the Breeders'

Cup Classic on Saturday night are in luck as the Grade 2, $150,000 Chilukki

Stakes has been scheduled to cap off the tremendous 12-race program. The

one-mile test for fillies and mares could be used by some in the field as a

final tune-up for the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap over nine furlongs on

Thanksgiving Day.

The highly contentious field of nine has as its 3-1 morning-line favorite

Freedom Star, who makes her first start for trainer Tom Proctor after being

stabled with Bob Baffert through the first 13 starts of her career. The

five-year-old peaked for Baffert early in 2010 with back-to-back victories in

the Grade 3 Azeri Stakes and Harry Henson Handicap, but the mare was forced to

the sidelines for 15 months after the latter score.

Freedom Star returned to action this past June, winning the Iowa Distaff by a

comfortable 3 1/4 lengths. However, she weakened to fifth in the Grade 1 Clement

L. Hirsch Stakes in her next outing, and then was defeated at odds-on when a

tiring fourth in the Mari Hulman George Stakes at Hoosier last month.

Buckleupbuttercup is three-for-three over the Churchill main track, her

signature win occurring in the Grade 3 Eight Belles Stakes in 2010. The gray

will be ridden by Javier Castellano, who guided the filly to a third-level

allowance win at Saratoga two starts back.

The speedy Absinthe Minded has been kept busy this season by trainer D. Wayne

Lukas. After two early-season wins at Oaklawn which included the Bayakoa Stakes,

the four-year-old has knocked heads with much tougher company in eight

subsequent starts. Though her form has been sub-par of late, placings in the

Azeri, Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap, Grade 2 Shuvee Handicap and Grade 2 Molly

Pitcher Stakes suggest she fits with this field.

The field's lone three-year-old is the Baffert-trained May Day Rose, whose

added-money wins this year include the Grade 3 Railbird Stakes, the Grade 3

Santa Ysabel Stakes, and the Instant Racing Stakes. This marks her first attempt

against older horses following a third in the Remington Park Oaks.

Others of note are Ailalea, whose last win was in the Grade 3 Dogwood Stakes

at Churchill in May 2010; Maristar, elevated to second in the Grade 3 Washington

Park Handicap against males two back; and the class-tested Peruvian shipper

Anunciata.

Before the Breeders' Cup action kicks off Saturday, three-year-old fillies

will compete in the $85,000 Dream Supreme Stakes over six furlongs. Last year's

Grade 2 Pocahontas Stakes heroine Dancinginherdreams and this year's Dogwood

winner Salty Strike figure to get the most support.