Falls City pits in-form Regaled, Royal Spa against rebound hope Raging Sea

The top contenders in Thursday’s $400,000 Falls City (G3), the Thanksgiving Day feature at Churchill Downs, come to the table at different stages of their careers. While Regaled and Royal Spa arrive in top form and are hungry for more, Raging Sea has been racing as if she’s had her fill already. 

Race 10 - Falls City (G3) (3:45 p.m. ET)

Yet Raging Sea, the 125-pound highweight, is the class of the field as a multiple Grade 1 winner dipping into a Grade 3 event. Returning to the scene of her last victory, the May 2 La Troienne (G1) on Kentucky Oaks Day, could revive her appetite for the game. 

Trained by Chad Brown, Raging Sea was at the peak of her powers in 2024. The Curlin mare’s highlights included upsetting champion Idiomatic in the Personal Ensign (G1) and finishing second to Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1). 

But since her comeback score in the La Troienne, Raging Sea has turned in a trio of subpar efforts at Saratoga. She has been freshened since her distant fourth in her Personal Ensign title defense on Aug. 23, and hot-riding Flavien Prat stays aboard.

Regaled, the 5-2 favorite on the morning line, has been on an upward curve. Sold for $300,000 via Inglis Digital in May, she was transferred to Whit Beckman, who trains her half-sister Drexel Hill, this year’s Kentucky Oaks runner-up. Regaled initially continued her stakes-placing habit, just missing at 22-1 in the Groupie Doll S. and placing third in Churchill’s Locust Grove (G2) to Royal Spa and Alpine Princess. 

Then Regaled broke through with an overwhelming, last-to-first performance in the Delaware H. (G3), and she followed up with a rallying third in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar. A strong pace is the key for the deep closer, and she might get a better set-up this time than she had in the Locust Grove.

Royal Spa controlled the pace in the 1 1/16-mile Locust Grove, but the Rodolphe Brisset trainee can be tactically flexible. Her prior stakes victory beneath the TwinSpires came in off-the-pace fashion in the May 31 Shawnee (G3). The potential question mark is the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Falls City, although Royal Spa was the clear runner-up to Thorpedo Anna in the June 28 Fleur de Lis (G2) at this track and trip. Her Churchill proficiency, with an 8-4-2-0 local mark, is another talking point.

The lone three-year-old filly in the field, Quietside, stretches out in her second start off a layoff. Placed in last year’s Spinaway (G1), Alcibiades (G1), and Golden Rod (G2), the John Ortiz pupil turned this spring’s Honeybee (G3)/Fantasy (G2) double at Oaklawn Park. But she was only sixth in the Kentucky Oaks and a backpedaling eighth in her reappearance in the seven-furlong Raven Run (G2). 

Multiple stakes veteran Alpine Princess is a model of consistency for Brad Cox, if likelier to settle for a minor award. Standoutsensation sports a three-race winning streak capped by the Turnback the Alarm S. at Aqueduct, while Corningstone steps back up into the graded ranks after capturing a pair of Indiana-bred stakes. 

Neon Icon has yet to earn a stakes credit, but the Arrogate filly just missed third in this very race a year ago. Recent Keeneland allowance winner Chilled and In Just My Heels, runner-up to Standoutsensation in a September allowance here, round out the field.

Race 11 - Cardinal S. (4:14 p.m. ET)

One race later, the $300,000 Cardinal S. lured an overflow field of 14 turf fillies and mares, including two also-eligibles. Topping the main dozen is horse for the course Pin Up Betty, a three-time stakes winner over the Matt Winn turf, including last season’s Regret (G3) and this summer’s Mint Julep (G3) and Anchorage Overnight S., where she beat reigning Cardinal queen Duvet Day at this 1 1/8-mile trip. 

Other contenders include graded-placed performers Vive Veuve and Miwa, both eligible to appreciate dropping back in distance from losses in the Dowager (G3); last-out Keeneland allowance victress Proctor Street, trained by Brendan Walsh like her multiple Grade 2-winning dam, Proctor’s Ledge; the Brown duo of Weighted Average, an overdue nine-length maiden winner at this course and distance, and Fleetingly, a blueblood daughter of Justify who keeps Prat aboard; last year’s runner-up, She’s Lookin Lucky; multiple New York-bred stakes victress Awesome Czech; and likely pace factor Stylish Sue.