Shawnee Preview: Supplemented Dunbar Road Tops Field

LOUISVILLE, KY – Peter Brant’s Dunbar Road, a late supplemental entry, headlines the field of eight fillies and mares scheduled to run in Saturday’s $100,000 Shawnee Stakes Presented by TwinSpires.com at Churchill Downs.

The Shawnee is a 1 1/16-mile dirt event for fillies and mares ages 4 and up and is part of an 11-race card that includes four other stakes:

• $100,000 Blame: 1 mile on dirt; open to all horses 4 and up
• $150,000 Matt Winn (G3): 1 1/16 miles on dirt; open to all 3-year-olds
• $100,000 Tepin: 1 mile on turf; open to 3-year-old fillies
• $100,000 War Chant: 1 mile on turf; open to all 3-year-olds

1. Moonlit Garden (15/1) – After compiling a record of 27-4-6-9 in her first four years of racing, she transferred to the barn of Mark Casse, who will saddle the 6-year-old Malibu Moon mare for her 2020 debut. She was a neck away from winning the Locust Grove Stakes (G3) over this course and distance last September.

2. Chocolate Kisses (15/1) – She is the second Casse runner entered to run here after making her seasonal debut on the Fair Grounds turf, finishing second in a mile-long allowance. Her career highlight was winning last year’s 1 1/16-mile Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park, her most recent victory.

3. Awe Emma (12/1) – After finding the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) waters too deep last time out, she drops back down to the non-graded level. Though she has 4 victories on her resume, none have come away from Oaklawn Park.

4. Dunbar Road (4/5) – The morning line favorite was supplemented to the field after the early nominations list came up light on stakes winners. Chad Brown saddled her to a pair of graded stakes victories last year, including the Alabama Stakes (G1), before she ended 2019 with a fifth-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).

Check out the Inside Track to the Matt Winn Stakes Wagering Guide to see who we are playing this and every race on Saturday’s Churchill Downs card!

5. Another Broad (10/1) – Her most recent victory came on April 13, 2019, in the Top Flight Invitational Stakes at Aqueduct, her second start for trainer Todd Pletcher. She hit the board in 3 of her 7 subsequent starts, including coming within 3/4 of a length of winning the Turnback the Alarm Handicap (G3) last fall.

6. Vault (10/1) – Trainer Brad Cox is removing the blinkers as she makes her second start of the year and while under his care. She ended 2019 with a 3-race win streak that concluded in the Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes and improved her 1 1/16-mile distance record to 6-5-1-0.

7. Flower Party (30/1) – The Irish-bred 5-year-old mare has only made 1 dirt appearance in 14 starts beween America and Italy, finishing a well-beaten fifth in a sloppy off-turf minor stakes at Fair Grounds. She has back-to-back bullets on her work tab and trainer Mike Stidham historically has a 17% strike rate with horses going from turf to dirt.

8. She’s a Julie (2/1) – The consistent 5-year-old Elusive Quality mare has put together a record of 17-6-2-4, including a 1 1/16-mile distance record of 9-4-1-1. Her biggest victory to date came in the La Troienne Stakes (G1) over this course and distance on May 3, 2019.