Temple City Terror sets stakes record in $300,000 Dowager S. (G3)

Temple City Terror got her first graded victory and set a stakes record in the process with a stellar win in Sunday’s $300,000 Dowager S. (G3) overTemple City Terror got her first graded victory and set a stakes record in the process with a stellar win in Sunday’s $300,000 Dowager S. (G3) the Keeneland turf course.

The 6-year-old daughter of Temple City, who is scheduled to sell in the upcoming Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale, previously captured two running of Churchill Downs’ Keertana S. before Sunday’s breakthrough win.

She is the 27^th lifetime stakes winner for Temple City, and his 13^th graded winner. The dark bay is also the sixth graded winner of 2022 for her sire. Temple City is scheduled to stand the 2023 season at Spendthrift for $5,000 live foal.

Like many marathon turf races, the drama didn’t begin to unfold until the final three furlongs of the 1 ½-mile Dowager. Temple City Terror was ninth of 10 for the first mile, then as the field his the final turn, she began to make her move. With no choice but to go very wide, she circled the entire field and emerged with the lead at the top of the stretch. She poured it on down the lane, winning by a widening three lengths in 2:27.98, a new stakes record, on the firm turf.

“(The Dowager) has been our plan for a long time since Saratoga,” Walsh said. “The boys (owners Mark Wampler and Jared Shoemaker of Pocket Aces Racing) said don’t worry about anything else, let’s just try to win that graded stakes at Keeneland, so we’ve trained her specifically to come here and try to win this. It’s nice when a plan like that comes off.”

Temple City Terror is 6-5-5 in 28 starts, with seven of those placings coming in stakes, while earning $696,218.

Bred in Kentucky by Upson Downs Farm, Temple City Terror is the first stakes winner out of the More Than Ready mare It Takes Two, whose other four foals to race have all been winners.