Keewaydin among Brown pair in Remsen; Muhimma the filly to beat in Demoiselle

Dec 02, 2024 Vance Hanson/Brisnet.com

Keewaydin breaks maiden at Aqueduct (Coglianese Photography/Susie Raisher)

The seven two-year-old colts entered in the $250,000 Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct on Saturday have some big shoes to fill.

The 2023 edition of the 1 1/8-mile Remsen was a vintage one, with Dornoch and Sierra Leone separated by a nose at the finish. Although neither won the Kentucky Derby (G1), Dornoch did go on to win the Belmont (G1) and Haskell (G1) this season.

Sierra Leone fared even better, winning the Blue Grass (G1) and placing in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont, and Travers (G1) before concluding his campaign with decisive score in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).

Chad Brown, the trainer of Sierra Leone, will try and win the Remsen for the first time with Keewaydin and Aviator Gui. Keewaydin will be the more fancied of the two, having finished a neck third to subsequent Champagne (G1) runner-up Tip Top Thomas in his debut. He followed up with a 1 3/4-length maiden win over seven furlongs.

Keewaydin, however, possesses a pedigree which suggests he might prove more effective around one turn than two.

'The distance this early in his career is going to be a little bit of a question mark, but I do like how he is training and galloping out,' Brown said.

Aviator Gui is the opposite, having graduated in a key one-mile maiden two back. He was fourth most recently in the Awad S., but figures to be more at home back on dirt Saturday.

'Aviator Gui is more of a steady sort — not quite as fast, but he has a lot of endurance,' Brown said. 'So, it will be a class test for him. I think he'll appreciate the dirt better — a bit of an experiment last time.'

Studlydoright is the most experienced of the Remsen entrants with six starts behind him. He's also won a pair of stakes, the Tremont S. and Nashua S., the latter when adding blinkers. Others, though, seem to have more upside.

The turf-to-dirt angle worked for stablemate First Resort in the Nov. 30 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2), so might also be beneficial for Godolphin homebred Poster. The son of Munnings comfortably has won both of his previous starts in Kentucky on grass and tries stakes company for the first time here for trainer Eoin Harty.

Breaking from the rail is Tux, a dominating debut winner going 6 1/2 furlongs at Aqueduct on Nov. 9 for trainer Bill Mott.

The Remsen is part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby series and will offer qualifying points of 10-5-3-2-1 to the respective top five finishers. Post time is 2:36 p.m. ET.

The $250,000 Demoiselle (G2), the filly counterpart to the Remsen, will offer Kentucky Oaks (G1) qualifying points on the same scale. The expected favorite in the field of 10 is Muhimma, who won her first two starts at Churchill Downs by a combined margin of 13 lengths.

Muhimma is trained by Brad Cox, who also has the presumptive division champion Immersive and Golden Rod (G2) heroine Good Cheer in the barn. All three have yet to taste defeat.

Liam in the Dust, second in the Pocahontas (G3) in September, was last seen finishing 5 1/2 length adrift of Muhimma in a Churchill allowance. The main threats to Muhimma, therefore, might come from recent debut winners Michelle and Beauty Reigns. Ballerina d'Oro, who has shown a tendency to start slow, might improve in that respect adding blinkers on Saturday.

Post time for the Demoiselle is 3:05 p.m. ET. Both it and the Remsen can be watched and wagered on at TwinSpires.com.

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