Don't Tell Sophia Leads Falls City Handicap

The 6-year-old daughter of Congaree , the 125-pound highweight, is the strong 6-5 favorite on the morning line for the $200,000 race for fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles. The venerable race dates to the first Churchill Downs meet in 1875, when the track was known as the Louisville Jockey Club. It is scheduled as the 11th on a 12-race holiday program with 4:22 p.m. EST post time.

 

Don't Tell Sophia was runner-up to Wine Princess in the 2013 Falls City. She will try to add a triumph to a 2014 campaign highlighted by her victory in the Spinster (gr. I) Oct. 5 at Keeneland and a runner-up finish to Untapable in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) Oct. 31 at Santa Anita Park. Prior to those races she scored an emphatic victory in the Locust Grove Stakes Sept. 6 at Churchill Downs, and won the Bayakoa and Pippin stakes at Oaklawn Park early in the year.

 

Trained by co-owner Sims, Don't Tell Sophia has fashioned a record of 4-1-1 from six races this year while earning $866,413. 

 

Bill Cubbedge's Molly Morgan could pose a major threat to the favorite in the Falls City. The 5-year-old Ghostzapper  mare is a multiple graded stakes winner who has enjoyed her greatest racing success at Churchill. 

 

Trained by Dale Romans, Molly Morgan will be looking to sweep Churchill Downs' fall meet graded stakes for older fillies and mares following her 2 1/4-length victory in the Nov. 1 Chilukki (gr. II). Earlier this year she scored a four-length victory in the Fleur de Lis (gr. II) and was runner-up to the multiple grade I winner On Fire Baby in the La Troienne (gr. I) on Kentucky Oaks Day.

 

Molly Morgan has tallied five of her seven career victories in her 12 races over her home track. She also won this year's Gardenia (gr. III) at Ellis Park and ran third to Don't Tell Sophia in the Spinster. She will carry 122 pounds and break alongside favored Don't Tell Sophia from gate 6. 

        

Stonestreet Stables's Teen Pauline and Alpha Delta Stables' Endless Chatter have each enjoyed success in stakes competition this year.

 

Teen Pauline, a 4-year-old daughter of Tapit  trained by Todd Pletcher, is a three-time stakes winner in 2014 with victories in the Top Flight (gr. II), Ladies Handicap, and the Affectionately at Aqueduct Racetrack. She returned from a layoff of nearly eight months to run sixth to Dame Dorothy in the Turnback the Alarm (gr. III) at Belmont Park Oct. 26, but her early speed could be an effective weapon in the Falls City.

 

Teen Pauline, at 5-1 on the morning line, will break from post 8. She has been assigned 118 pounds.  

 

Endless Chatter finished last of eighth in the Turnback the Alarm, but prior to that outing the 4-year-old daughter of First Samurai  finished third to Belle Gallantey and Stopchargingmaria in the Beldame (gr. I). She carried a three-race win streak into the Beldame that included a victory in the Summer Colony Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. 

 

Trained by Chad Brown, Endless Chatter (6-1) will carry 117 pounds and will start from post four.

 

Also entered is Preston Stable's Flashy American, a former $25,000 claiming horse that has developed into a graded stakes winner for trainer Kenny McPeek. 

 

The 5-year-old daughter of Flashy Bull won the 2013 Locust Grove at Churchill Downs, one of her three stakes triumphs last year. She also ran third to Wine Princess and Don't Tell Sophia in the Falls City. Flashy American scored the first graded stakes victory of her career earlier this year in Sixty Sails (gr. III) at Hawthorne Race Course and was runner-up to Molly Morgan in the Fleur de Lis.