Who can upset the Jenny Wiley Stakes?

By: The Turk

The Jenny Wiley. Are you the the sort of horse player that cares enough about the names of these races to figure out why they are named, or no? I assume if you don't care about the names of the races, you probably don't care a lot about the the names of the horses, referring to them by their post positions.

There is nothing wrong with either approach. I've tried for many years to be a horse racing fan. The sort of fan that cares about the names, the horse's, their pedigrees, their connections, interesting backstories and storylines.

It hasn't gotten me very far except worried that the downward spiral of this sport may not be arrested. In the 1970's I was a fan of the offbeat: Boxing, Formula 1 and Horse Racing. Why? Sports Illustrated and ABC Wide World of Sports. I'm fascinated at the resurgence of F1, driven by the accessibility of the drivers and the circuit through television shows. It helps there is a governing body that cares about the sport holistically.

Horse racing, with their small thinkers and fiefdoms and refusal to take the eradication of performance enhancing drugs seriously enough, the blind eye to excessive on track deaths, can't/won't get out of their own way. All of this, at a fan website, Thorofan, mind you, was a long winded way to say there has to be a metaphor somewhere in the name of the Jenny Wiley.

Ms. Wiley was captured in 1789 right from her home by Native Americans, three of her children and her uncle murdered, a fourth child died in the harsh conditions, sold from one tribe to another, finally escaping after having a vision in a dream of what to do.

Perhaps there is an escape and revival story for horse racing somewhere. Luckily, today's race is at one of the shrines of horse racing, Keeneland, to the north and west of Ms. Wiley's ordeal.

It isn't tracks like KEE that are a problem, but then again, you can't have boutique meets like KEE, SAR, and my favorite, Kentucky Downs, without the year round back track support, ownership, and the fans. Thorofan is doing their part.

Enough old man rambling, let's get after this!

How is it good for horse racing to have two Trainer Chad Brown runners making up 85% of the morning line odds. A six horse field, with Scarabea also entered in Race 5and why wouldn't she go somewhere better than his bloodbath?

Anyways, lets take a look at a few races to give these runners some context.

The Queen Elizabeth II Cup G1: 1 1/8 Miles on Yielding Turf KEE 16 Oct 2021