MY EYES ARE ON TWO-YEAR-OLD TURF RACE SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9, 2025

WELL, SORT OF! -- NOT QUITE!



PHNOM PENH verses THAILAND in the making!!!
(I hope it happens -- it would be very exciting -- for me anyway!)



Churchill Downs race 10 is a 1 1/16 Miles turf race for Open 2 Year Olds MAIDEN SPECIAL WEIGHT PURSE: $120,000.

Looking at the bloated/overflow field of 16 horses, I see a two-year-old named Thailand (ML 5-2 favorite) and immediately I scanned down the field to see if Phnom Penh is in the field, but to my disappointment, Phnom Penh was not entered in that race.



VERY DISAPPOINTING!



Phnom Penh was last seen in action on Thursday October 2, 2025, running in a maiden special weight turf race at Aqueduct where he finished 9th -- that is five weeks ago this Sunday November 9, 2025.

Phnom Penh (Medaglia d'Oro - Cambodia, by War Front) is trained by Tom Proctor.

Phnom Penh is a homebred whose breeders/owners tried to sell in auction but was an RNA $150,000.

Thailand was last seen in action on October 12, 2025, at Keeneland, race 2, in a Maiden Special Weight turf race where he finished third of twelve horses -- a very good showing.

Thailand (Not This Time - Queen Bee To You, by Old Topper) is trained by Wesley A. Ward.

Thailand is a $900,000 yearling purchase. He is a 5-2 morning line favorite in this race, and my money is definitely on Thailand comes Sunday November 9, 2025.


As for Phnom Penh, I'm very disappointed that Phnom Penh is not scheduled to run anywhere this weekend, particularly in the 10th race at Churchill Downs where he would face Thailand.

That would be a race of the century, for me anyway.

Is he experiencing soundness issue, perhaps?

I hope not, given what happened to Theravada lately and I don't think I can stomach another soundness issue with Phnom Penh this time around.

Let's hope that Phnom Penh is fine and be showing up in a race soon, perhaps next week.

If he stays healthy and Thailand stays healthy -- LOOK OUT -- they are both going to cross path and face each other in the near future as they both are two-year-olds bred for turf with Phnom Penh's dam was a superb turf racehorse and Thailand's dam was also a superb turf racehorse.

As a matter of fact, Cambodia is two years older than Thailand's dam Queen Bee To You.


Yes, you couldn't make this thing up: Queen vs. Cambodia.

Queen is Queen Bee To You -- get it?

Competition through their offsprings is the next best thing due to the mothers themselves never had any chance of competing against each other.

The closest the mothers came to competing against each other was in August 2018, when Queen Bee To You ran 2nd in the 1-mile Solana Beach Stakes (on turf) at Del Mar on August 10, 2018; while one week earlier (8/4/2018), Cambodia won the 1 1/4 Yellow Ribbon Stakes (G2) -- also at Del Mar (on turf) -- beating a stellar group of grass horses.

Queen Bee To You was 3yo in 2018 while Cambodia was 5yo -- so the two-year difference in age may have played a role in the two not having any chance of competing against one another -- as Cambodia retired to the breeding shed at the end of 2018 as a 5yo while Queen Bee To You also continued to race until she was 5yo when she won the 1 1/16 miles La Canada Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita on dirt on January 11, 2020.

Queen Bee To You was a versatile racehorse who can compete on dirt and turf, but her affinity for turf racing makes her offsprings as turf racehorses. Her versatility as a racehorse will definitely pass on to her offsprings.

She retired to the breeding shed for the 2020 breeding season of January and February (2020) after winning the La Canada Stakes (G3) on January 11, 2020.


Now let's hope that their offsprings have better luck and end up competing against each other this time.


That is something I'm looking forward to in the near future as these two-year-olds are heading on a collision course at some point in their career.

Hope both horses stay healthy and improving at similar levels in order for them to compete against one another, but that is a very longshot in horse racing as horses develop into different levels all the time.

Looking at high-price horses recently and you'll see why it is unpredictable to count chickens before the eggs hatched, and two-year-old horses are in the same boat.

Nonetheless, I couldn't help but dream of a matchup between Phnom Penh and Thailand in the [near] future.

Now I have two two-year-olds to root for in Phnom Penh and Thailand -- and hoping both can join the 2025 elite group of two-year-olds of the likes of Ted Noffey, It's Our Time, Englishman, Further Ado, Luoa Dipa (harness), etc., comes December 31.

If it comes down to between Phnom Penh and Thailand, you can guess who I'm rooting for.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to both horses to show up in races to come.