Stella di Camelot Stands Out in Mrs. Revere Stakes

Technically speaking, Friday’s $200,000 Mrs. Revere Stakes (gr. II) at Churchill Downs is a Grade 2 event, and understandably so. The 8.5-furlong turf race for three-year-old fillies has been won by some very good horses over the last decade or so, including the Grade 1 winners Acoma, Aruna, Marketing Mix, and Centre Court.

Perhaps one of the dozen fillies entered in the 2018 renewal will go on to achieve similar success, though at the moment, they don’t exactly comprise the toughest group of horses ever assembled for a Grade 2 race. To date, none of them have won a graded stakes race of any kind, so it might not take a monstrous performance to reach the winner’s circle.

That’s why I’m tempted to keep things simple and side with #10 Stella di Camelot, who figures to start as the favorite. Whereas many of the fillies in the Mrs. Revere field have already established the extent of their current abilities, Stella di Camelot is something of an unknown. All we know for certain is that she was a decent stakes competitor in France before being brought to the U.S. and transferred to the care of the trainer Chad Brown, who promptly sent out Stella di Camelot to win the $200,000 Pebbles Stakes at Belmont Park by a decisive 2 ¾ lengths.

Granted, Stella di Camelot probably benefited from racing over a soft turf course that day, but the field she beat was of graded stakes quality and she was much the best in the end. For her effort, she received a 102 BRIS speed figure, and while I’m generally not a huge fan of speed figures for turf races—especially those run over rain-soaked courses—it’s worth noting that Stella di Camelot’s 102 is eight points higher than the best number posted by any of her rivals.

Of course, Stella di Camelot probably won’t offer much in the way of appealing odds, so I plan to play her on top in the exacta and trifecta while favoring #8 Get Explicit underneath. The daughter of Get Stormy ran quite well against older mares at Woodbine this summer and proved herself quite capable of competing at the graded stakes level when charging late to finish second by a half-length in the Valley View Stakes (gr. III) against fellow three-year-olds at Keeneland last month.

Others I’ll include are #5 Cool Beans, third in the Valley View after setting the pace; #3 Angel of Mischief, a maiden and allowance winner for up-and-coming trainer Norm Casse, and #12 Dark Artist, winner of the Boiling Springs Stakes and Open Mind Stakes at Monmouth Park this summer.

Here’s how I would play the race:

$6 exacta: 10 with 8 ($6) $4 exacta: 10 with 3,5,12 ($12) $1 trifecta: 10 with 3,4,8,12 with 3,5,8,12 ($12)

Good luck!