Garden District Faces Nine In Saturday's $100,000 Debutante Stakes

Twin Creeks Racing Stable’s Garden District (pictured at left), the runner-up when competing against males in the Grade III Kentucky Stakes on May 1, tops a field of 10 entered Wednesday for Saturday’s 108th running of the $100,000- added Debutante Stakes (GIII) for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs.

The Debutante, the year’s first graded stakes event for 2-year-old fillies in North America, will go as the 10th race on Saturday’s 11-race card that begins at 1:15 p.m. (all times EDT).

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Garden District broke her maiden at first asking on April 10 at Keeneland and then ran back in the Kentucky Stakes. Robby Albarado, the leading jockey of the Spring Meet, will have the mount aboard the daughter of Dixie Union, who drew post position four.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who has saddled a record six winners in the Debutante is represented by two runners: Devil Eleven Stable’s Cameron Crazies, who will break from post position six under Miguel Mena, and Donald Dizney’s Runaway Heart, who will be ridden by Julien Leparoux and break from post position nine. Devil Eleven Stable is a partnership headed by former basketball star Bobby Hurley, an All-American guard at Duke University who played in the National Basketball Association from 1994-98 for the Sacramento Kings and the Vancouver Grizzlies.

Steve Asmussen, who has saddled the past three Debutante winners, also has a pair of starters in the race: Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s Songtress and Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Simplify, who will break from post positions two and three under Calvin Borel and Corey Lanerie, respectively.

The field for the Debutante, from the rail out, is as follows: Silverton Hill Farm’s Corlett (Jamie Theriot); Songtress (Calvin Borel); Simplify (Corey Lanerie); Garden District (Robby Albarado); Dolphus Morrison’s Rachel Alexandra (Brian Hernandez Jr.); Cameron Crazies (Miguel Mena); Roger Sterling’s Super Poni (Fernando De La Cruz); Richard Rowan’s Renda (Wesley Henry Sr.); Runaway Heart (Julien Leparoux); and Raquel Racing Stable’s Yo Eleven (Larry Melancon).

All starters will carry 118 pounds.