The Tin Cup Chalice Stakes, the final stakes race on the 2024 Finger Lakes calendar, kicks off the season’s penultimate week of racing at the track.
The $45,000 Tin Cup Chalice, a six-furlong sprint for 2-year-olds, will be run as the eighth race on the Feb. 18 nine-race card.
A field of seven is entered and a case can be made that this is the most contentious renewal of the Tin Cup Chalice in recent memory.
Favoritism belongs to Blamicker , a colt by Blame , who starts out at 2-1 on Carl Anderson’s morning line. Blamicker was an impressive winner in his career debut victory at Finger Lakes Oct. 28, winning a 5 1/2 furlong maiden special weight dash by 2 1/2 lengths. The Chris Englehart trainee opened up by a wide margin in the stretch under jockey Andre Worrie and then coasted to victory.
Past Performances for Nov. 18 card at Finger Lakes
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“I was just hopeful he was that good,” Englehart said. “I knew he had talent but I didn’t know he had that kind of speed out of the gate. Since he’s training pretty well, I just hope he’s had enough time between races.”
Cast a Coin , a Central Banker gelding, will also be vying for his second consecutive victory. Trained by Jaqueline Falk, Cast a Coin earned a four-length triumph with jockey Steven Fret as an odds-on favorite in a 5 1/2 furlong sprint in the slop Oct. 16. He finished off the board in the $131,892 Aspirant Stakes Sept. 23. Fret, looking for his first career stakes victory, will be back aboard Cast a Coin.
The only filly in the race is No Factor , bred by Barry K. Schwartz’s Stonewall Farm. The daughter of The Factor broke poorly in her career debut but then broke like a shot in her second start and was a wire-to-wire, ridden-out winner under Fret. Leading rider Keiber Coa picks up the mount on Monday for Finger Lakes Hall of Fame trainer Mike Ferraro.
The race is named in honor of Tin Cup Chalice, a remarkable Finger Lakes-based runner who achieved graded stakes success as a 3-year-old in 2008. He was the only horse to sweep all three legs of the Big Apple Triple, which included the $150,000 New York Derby at Finger Lakes.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
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