Vexed ready for Golden Rod; Central Banker may scratch from Commonwealth Turf

Vexed ready for Golden Rod; Central Banker may scratch from

Commonwealth Turf

Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider's

promising Vexed is set to complete her two-year-old racing season in Churchill

Downs' Grade 2, $175,000 Golden Rod on November 30's "Stars of Tomorrow II"

program, but trainer Al Stall Jr. was uncertain Friday about the status of stakes winner Central

Banker for Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Commonwealth Turf on the lone "Downs After Dark" night racing program of

Churchill's fall meet.

Vexed, a homebred daughter of Arch who finished second to

Clever Beauty in her most recent start in the October 27 Rags to Riches overnight

stakes at Churchill, worked a half-mile under the Twin Spires in

:48 2/5 last Sunday. Stall said the 1 1/16-mile Golden Rod, which would be the

filly's first race at a two-turn distance, is the near-term target and she

should benefit from her run in the one-mile Rags to Riches.

"She's by Arch, so she'll surely want to run around two

turns," Stall noted. "Corey (Lanerie) rode a really good race on the winner and

pinned her down on the fence and really intimidated her. So I think she got a

really good schooling in the Rags to Riches. We think that little seasoning is

going to help her quite a bit."

Prior to the Rags to Riches, Vexed finished third over

Arlington Park's Polytrack in her July 19 debut prior to cruising to a

comfortable win in a seven-furlong maiden race on September 14 at Churchill.

As for Central Banker and the Commonwealth Turf, Stall is

concerned that the son of Speightstown drew the outside post in a field of 13

sophomores and said the colt was "50-50" to run in the 1 1/16-mile race over

the Matt Winn Turf Course.

"We've got a horse that's really ready to roll and feeling

good, but you don't want to take the worst of it," Stall explained. "We want to

run, but we're just feeling our way through it. We feel like he's sitting on a

good one."

Owned by Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence, Central

Banker is coming off a disappointing fourth-place effort over Keeneland's Polytrack in a

seven-furlong allowance on October 4. Prior to that, he was third to

Capo Bastone on dirt in Saratoga's King's Bishop after an easy win the

Quick Call, a 5 1/2-furlong grass race at the Spa. The bay colt has a career

record of 8-3-1-2 with earnings of $234,900.

"We're just going to ride out the scratches, if there are

any, and see what happens," Stall stated. "We're very happy with the horse.

We're experimenting around two turns and I guess the Grade 3 is kind of an

experiment, although he's placed in a Grade 1. There are a few things we don't

know about, so that's why the post kind of takes the confidence away from us."

Should Central Banker scratch from the Commonwealth Turf,

he would be pointed toward the $75,000 Woodchopper, a race for three-year-olds at

about a mile on turf November 30 at Fair Grounds.

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