LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Horseplayers who get burnt after being a little too ambitious can sometimes be heard lamenting, “I don’t want the cheese anymore – just let me out of the trap.”The same sort of adage might apply to the way horses are spotted. Take the case of a 3-year-old named Title Contender. After a maiden win in September at Santa Anita, Title Contender’s connections ran him in back-to-back Grade 1 races, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the CashCall Futurity. But now there have been five straight defeats, including blowout losses in those two major events in California, as well as a change in trainers.All that’s wanted now is to make it through a first allowance condition.“We just want to get his confidence back,” said Wayne Catalano, who assumed the training of Title Contender for Gary and Mary West in late February.Following a 9 1/2-length loss for Title Contender in the March 16 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, Catalano dialed back. He worked Title Contender three times before running him in a first-level allowance sprint May 19 at Churchill. Title Contender ran evenly, finishing in the middle of the pack of 11, with the red-hot No Distinction prevailing.“I thought it was a good race for him,” said Catalano, who since then has put Title Contender through four more workouts at Churchill. “Now we stretch him back out and see what we’ve got. I do think he’s a nice horse.”That next move comes Friday in the only allowance on a twilight program at Churchill. Title Contender, with leading jockey Shaun Bridgmohan riding from post 8, is part of a full field of 12 3-year-olds in the nominal feature, a $52,000, 1 1/16-mile race carded as the 10th of 11.Title Contender is just one of a handful of viable threats in an extremely well-matched race. Another who tried and failed on the Triple Crown trail, Proud Strike, will break from post 10 with Ricardo Santana Jr. aboard. Proud Strike returns as a beaten odds-on favorite from a similar spot June 7, although older horses were part of that group.Others meriting strong consideration include Caliparty, Summit County, Town Hall, Hard Aces, and Tiz Now My Choice.First post is 2:45 p.m. Eastern, with the feature set for 7:24 and the last race for 7:54. Churchill has presented live music and cut-rate concessions every post-Derby Friday in the new Plaza area, with crowd size appearing to pick up with each passing week.