Baffert to run McKinzie, Marley's Freedom at Churchill

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 stakes winners Marley’s Freedom and McKinzie, both finalists for Eclipse Awards in 2018, will be part of trainer Bob Baffert’s team of stakes runners at Churchill Downs on the first weekend of May.

McKinzie, second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on April 6, will start in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes on May 3, a $400,000 race run at 1 1/16 miles. Baffert said on Wednesday that the Alysheba Stakes is designed as a prep for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 8.

“That’s our main goal,” he said.

McKinzie, a four-time stakes winner in nine starts, was a finalist for outstanding 3-year-old male of 2018.

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Marley’s Freedom, a finalist for outstanding older dirt female and for female sprinter of 2018, is a candidate for the Grade 1 Humana Distaff, a $500,000 race for fillies and mares at seven furlongs at Churchill Downs on May 4. Marley’s Freedom was second as the 1-2 favorite in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on March 30.

A 5-year-old mare, Marley’s Freedom has won five stakes in the last year, including the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga in August. Marley’s Freedom was fourth, beaten a half-length, in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs last November. A win in that race would have clinched the female sprinter championship.

Baffert also plans to start Dream Tree and Emboldened in the Humana Distaff. Emboldened and Dream Tree were second and fifth in the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita on April 7.

Secret Spice, who won her first stakes in the Beholder Mile, may start in the Grade 1 La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 3, trainer Richard Baltas said. The $500,000 La Troienne Stakes is run at 1 1/16 miles.

Baltas said the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Invitational for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita on April 27 is another possibility for Secret Spice.

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