Greenwood Cup (Grade 3)- $200.000 Purse
PRX- For Three Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Half on the Dirt
September 20, 2025

The Greenwood Cup might not be the first race that comes to mind when thinking about the stakes action this coming Saturday, but it is the place that you will find the great Spankersville, as he takes on five others in this Grade 3. This race first appeared on the schedule in 2008, when Little Slick won for Australia Wide, and has been run every year since, up to Rock Creek’s victory last year with Big Bang Boom. That gelding is still active and running well, as evidenced by running second in the Whitney last time out. Let’s take a look at all six of the horses taking part this year:

1- Spankersville (The Sidley Stud, ridden by J R Velazquez)- The Sidley Stud made an interesting decision two weeks ago to run Spankersville in the KD Turf Cup. That did not go well for him, and now Spankersville will run for $2,300.00 less than he did at the start of the month. His accolades speak for themselves, but his seven-year-old season has been a bit if a slowdown, by his standards. This is a great spot to take on a less challenging field while not dropping too much. On his best, he should handle this crowd. At 90%, he probably still can.

2- Fire Teeth (Team 7 Illusions, ridden by J Lezcano)- After winning the Curlin, Fire Teeth was moved to the turf to take on the Grade 3 Nashville Derby. The temptation of that $3,500.000 purse will do that to you, but Fire Teeth would not beat any of his rivals that day. He’ll return to the dirt here, where he has had a decent three-year-old season with three wins. Has a four-pound weight allowance on the rest of the field. The only one in here that should concern Spankersville. Or at least keep him from winning by more than 3-4 lengths.

3- Merky One (Night Rider Stables, ridden by B Curtis)- His 20-race career has seen him bounce around between trainers in the claiming ring quite often, and that was the case again last time out at SAR, when Night Rider Stables picked him for a $20.000 tag, a race that he won. Would it be another claimer in their first race together? No, it’ll be a race against Spankersville! Does Night Rider see something in him that many different trainers have overlooked? He does work well, but I suspect that’s why he keeps getting claimed.

4- Bitcoin Boom (Black N Gold Stable, ridden by R Bejarano)- This is another horse that has been claimed repeatedly over the course of his career that is about to run in a stake for the first time. Last month was his first race with Black N Gold Stable, a $16.000 claimer that he won. He does have some strong SRF’s from time to time and will need to have one of those efforts if he wants to beat Spankersville.

5- El Gran Cambio (Bears Stable, ridden by Jam Rodriguez)- Won his first three races with Bears Stable, including the Grade 3 Valedictory Stakes at WO and the Grade 3 Mineshaft Stakes at FG, the latter coming this February. He hasn’t won since but has remained productive. When we last saw him, he was in a starter allowance at DMR, and I would have liked to have seen him do better than run third in that five-horse field. What he does like is the longer distances, so that part is perfect here.

6- Rainbow Reign (Aer Stables, ridden by T Carter)- The second horse in this field to have been claimed on August 27th at SAR from Big Jd Racing, but they were not in the same race. Since last summer, Rainbow Reign has been a sprinter, but Aer Stables has much different plans with him here as he stretches him out. His mile works will not wow you, but if he can sustain that another half mile, then they look better. We’ll see.

Prediction: 1-2-5-6

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES