Marty McGee

With no changes in any of the 3 Festival races except for the scratch of Crimson China from the Secretariat, which was expected, one of the main topics has been the weather  . . . will it or won't it pour? The weathermen are saying it could come down hard, if only briefly, although that may not affect the AP turf course to any great degree.

On advice of the Arlington stewards, and after scratches made it an uneven bet, the head-to-head wager pitting the 5 active riders and the 4 retired riders in the 5th-race jockey challenge on the 10-race twilight card has been scrapped. The jockey challenge remains intact with other standard parimutuel offerings. The 5 retirees are Earlie Fires, Chris McCarron, Patti Cooksey, and the soon-to-retire Mark Guidry, who in fact becomes active again later in the card and will ride tomorrow at Ellis Park.

The last of the Friday warm-ups for the 3 Fri night racing programs that remain on the spring meet sked at Churchill Downs comes today,  with a twilight first post of 2:45 ET. "Warm-up" is the appropriate term, as the weather just won't cool off around here - the high temps are expected to reach the mid-90s yet again, with no let-up in sight.

While everyone here at Churchill Downs is very much looking forward to watching the 143rd Belmont Stakes on Saturday, we start with what figures to be a rather ordinary 4-day week of racing here Thursday amid what are still unseasonably hot temps (mid-90s), although the weathermen have been saying rain might cool things down a bit.  A 9-race card is set for today, with a tiny 4-figure carryover in the $2 pick six (races 4-9) and nada in the $1 super high five (race 9).

High temps in the 90s once again await the ontrack faithful for a 10-race Sunday card that starts at the usual 12:45 ET. There's one alw on the entire card (race 9), a minuscule carryover in the $2 pick 6 (races 5-10), and no carryover in the $1 super high five (race 10). We'll go dark for 3 days before another 4-day race week ensues Thursday, with everyone's focus here and elsewhere being on New York, where they'll run the 143rd Belmont Stakes next Saturday.