Hit Show debuted as an October 2-year-old in 2022 and made nine starts through September 2023 – including two Triple Crown races – without getting a break and without really losing his form. Through a six-start 2024 campaign he ran at four different tracks, going on to race at a fifth venue in January 2025 before, at the end of a nine-start form cycle, winning the $12 million Dubai World Cup. Less than three months later, Hit Show returned to action, finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster and by year’s end had knocked out two more stakes. Back to Dubai this March 28, a respectable fifth in the World Cup, and only two months later Hit Show starts Saturday at Churchill Downs in the Grade 3, $300,000 Blame Stakes. “He looks just like he always does,” said Brad Cox, who trains Hit Show for Wathnan Racing. “He’s a throwback.” In the 1 1/8-mile Blame, Hit Show throws down with no more than seven rivals. The Grade 1 winner with a $9.4 million bankroll, Irad Ortiz Jr. riding for Cox, winds up second choice at 5-2 on Churchill’s morning line. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Favored at 9-5 is Vibe, who has earned about $147,000 through a four-start career that includes zero stakes starts and the same number of two-turn races. Todd Pletcher trains Vibe, and Vibe had been mentioned as a potential runner in the Met Mile at Saratoga, where he has been breezing. That race’s distance might better suit him than the Blame’s, but the Met, as you’d expect, is coming up far saltier. The linemaker sees what we all can see: Vibe’s the potential lone speed in the Blame. That would figure to hurt Hit Show’s chances, but Cox points toward Hit Show’s handy run from a few lengths off a solid tempo in winning the Mineshaft at Fair Grounds, his World Cup prep. “I think you’ll see something like that. He could sit in the pocket,” Cox said. That trip depends on how much speed Hall of Fame shows making his second start after long layoff while stretching out from the seven-furlong Churchill Downs, where he checked in an even seventh. At his best, Hall of Fame finished second in the 2025 New Orleans Classic with a 106 Beyer Speed Figure, a higher number than Hit Show has produced. “He should improve Saturday,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. Seven-year-old Rattle N Roll has kicked around so long that he won the Blame in 2023. Partly owned by a Saudi Arabian, Rattle N Roll finished a distant ninth in the Saudi Cup in February and turned in a flat showing April 18 in the Ben Ali at Keeneland. Rattle N Roll has bounced back before, but after 32 races and world travels, how much bounce can he have left? Four-year-old Original Sin has the most upside in the Blame – and has a race last month at Keeneland already strong enough to put him in the mix. Trainer Brendan Walsh still has no explanation, other than perhaps running the horse back too quickly, for Original Sin’s dull showing two back at Fair Grounds. His other four races for Walsh – all positive, the most recent the best, subsequent workouts even better. “He’s a maturing horse who’s starting to do everything better,” Walsh said. “Maybe it’s not this time, but he has a race like this in him at some point.” And maybe it is this time. ◗ Mashallah, whose 106 Beyer Speed Figure from a Keeneland maiden race April 23 marked the fastest Beyer from a first-time starter in 14 years, makes her second start in Saturday’s fourth race. She stretches from six furlongs to a one-turn mile and drew favorably in post 12 while taking a serious step up in class. Walsh trains the Maxfield filly for JR Ranch. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.