Bango tries to extend win record in Bet On Sunshine

His place in the record books secure and his confidence high, Bango returns to stakes company as he returns to the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine Stakes Saturday at Churchill Downs – seeking yet another return trip to the winner’s circle under the twin spires.

The 7-year-old Bango, a homebred for Fred and Debbie Schwartz’s Tamaroak Stable and trained by Greg Foley, was off the board in his first two outings of 2024, both in stakes company. Foley has said he felt the horse was “mentally out of the game a little bit.” A brief break from the races over the summer seemed to agree with him, as he fired off two strong works in September at his Churchill base. And on Sept. 27, he finally reached a long-sought milestone, as he rolled to a 2 1/4-length victory in an allowance/optional-claiming race on a wet Churchill track – although, an allowance with solid company, as he ran down Angkor, who had been Grade 1-placed in his prior start.

That win made millionaire Bango the winningest horse in recorded Churchill Downs history, with 12 victories beneath the twin spires. His six stakes wins locally include the 2022 edition of the Bet On Sunshine, a race in which he finished third last year. The horse is continuing to train strongly for this year’s edition, firing a bullet half-mile last weekend.

Saturday, Bango’s opponents include Happy Is a Choice, who is coming off a win in the Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes, in which he ran down Skelly by a neck. Skelly runs as one of the favorites in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar. Happy Is a Choice has a similar sit-and-pounce style to Bango; their targets could include Angkor, who had the early lead over Bango last out, and Champlin, who is coming off a front-running allowance win.

Another target could be lightly raced Gulfport, if he comes back to the sharpest form that he showed more than two years ago, when he flaunted his speed winning the 2022 Bashford Manor. After a multiple Grade 1-placed juvenile campaign, he got in just one start in 2023, and returned from a layoff of more than a year to win an allowance/optional-claiming race at Churchill in his first start of 2024. He was second to Champlin last out.

If a pace meltdown occurs, the late-running millionaire Tejano Twist, defending winner of this race, could benefit.

Churchill’s 11-race card Saturday also includes a pair of $127,000 allowance-level events, and three maiden special weight races. The Breeders’ Cup Saturday program from Del Mar will be simulcast throughout the track, as well as on the Big Board.

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