Bango goes for Churchill wins record in St. Matthews

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It’s a week for making history at Churchill Downs, with the 150th editions of the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks. First, though, local hero Bango will attempt to keep making more history at his home track.

Bango is seeking a repeat victory in the $200,000 St. Matthews Overnight Stakes on Thursday. The 7-year-old, a Tamaroak Stable homebred trained by Greg Foley, would take sole possession of the record as winningest horse at Churchill Downs, with 12 local wins.

“It’s pretty rare to keep one going like this,” Foley said. “To run at this level, against stakes horses and against top competition all the time, and to stay sound, which, knock on wood, he’s been very sound his whole career, and is right now, and we’re ready to go.”

Bango is tied with Ready’s Rocket for the modern-day win mark in the track’s recorded history. Ready’s Rocket scored all 11 of his wins here at the claiming or starter-allowance level. In a career spanning from 2005-12, Ready’s Rocket won 20 of 74 lifetime starts.

Foley, a Churchill Downs-based native of nearby Oldham County, counts Tamaroak’s Fred and Debbie Schwartz as longtime clients – he trained Bango’s dam for them. He said the owners will be on hand for Thursday’s race.

“It’d be awesome,” Foley said. “It would be that much sweeter with them here to see it.”

Bango has won 14 of 35 career starts and has earned more than $1.5 million. Although he also is a stakes winner at Ellis Park and Turfway Park in Kentucky, the majority of his success has come at Churchill Downs. In addition to the 2023 St. Matthews, Bango is the winner of the 2021 and 2022 editions of the Aristides Stakes, the 2021 Kelly’s Landing, the 2022 Bet On Sunshine, and 2023 Louisville Thoroughbred Society, along with a maiden special weight in 2019 and four allowance/optional-claiming races.

Bango might have claimed the win record outright when he won the 2023 Kelly’s Landing – but that race was contested at Ellis after Churchill shifted the final races of its spring meet. He won the Louisville Thoroughbred Society in September, then finished third in both the Grade 2 Phoenix at Keeneland and the Bet On Sunshine. He then got a few months off before re-joining Foley at Fair Grounds in February.

“He looks magnificent, training as good as he ever has in his life,” said Foley, who also will saddle a runner with the opposite style in late-running O Besos for a partnership. “He’s ready to go.”

Bango, the even-money morning-line favorite, is one of four stakes winners in this field of seven, along with Manny Wah, Necker Island, and Surveillance. Manny Wah, who could achieve millionaire status, has found renewed form after a trainer switch to Will Walden, with back-to-back graded stakes placings.

Bourbon Bash, second choice on the morning line, was stakes-placed at Churchill in November. He comes off a solid allowance win at Oaklawn, in which he prevailed in tight quarters.

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