Big Invasion kicks off busy week for Reeves in William Walker Stakes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dean Reeves will be on the move this week. He and family and friends will catch a Wednesday morning flight in Atlanta to be on hand that afternoon at Churchill Downs, where Big Invasion, a highly promising colt owned by his Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, is a deserving favorite in the featured William Walker Stakes.

“We’re over the moon with him,” Reeves said.

After the races, they’ll all fly back home to Georgia, but then Reeves will return Friday to Churchill to watch Wish You Well in an allowance on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. That night, he’ll fly to New York to see City Man run in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy on Saturday afternoon at Belmont Park prior to watching the Kentucky Derby on television.

Somewhere in there, Reeves hopes to get his photo taken in a winner’s circle. Perhaps his most likely winner is Big Invasion, whose triumphs in back-to-back turf sprints at Gulfstream Park for trainer Christophe Clement have been striking. The Declaration of War colt earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure in a Feb. 19 maiden race, followed by a 96 in the March 26 Texas Glitter.

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“We’re really eager to see how he does against a little tougher competition,” Reeves said. “He’s already been invited to run at the Royal Ascot meet [June 14-18], so that could be next if he runs another big race Wednesday. We haven’t really discussed stretching him out yet with Christophe, probably because he’s shown us just how fast he is.”

Big Invasion will break from post 5 with Joel Rosario aboard when he faces eight other 3-year-olds in the $200,000 William Walker at 5 1/2 furlongs on a turf course that hosted its first two races when the 44-day spring meet opened Saturday night. For its first six runnings, the Walker had been the opening-night feature before Churchill management tweaked the spring stakes schedule for 2022.

Clement, unlike some of his New York counterparts, doesn’t run all that much at Churchill, having compiled just 41 starts here in his 32-year career. To no one’s surprise, his two stakes wins at Churchill both came on turf, with Voodoo Dancer in the 2002 Locust Grove and Courtesan in the 2015 Keertana.

Big Invasion figures to have an uncoupled pair from the Wesley Ward stable in Asymmetric and Lucci as his chief opposition.

Asymmetric (post 4, Irad Ortiz Jr.) is difficult to gauge, given that all six prior starts for the Irish-bred colt have come overseas, including his three wins. He’ll be racing in blinkers for the first time Wednesday after posting five works, the last four over grass, since coming into Ward’s care over the winter.

Lucci (post 9, John Velazquez) is a very quick Not This Time colt who has seized the early lead in all four of his starts, the most recent being the Texas Glitter, when Big Invasion came and got him. This is the third start in his form cycle after getting time off following the Group 2 Norfolk last summer at Royal Ascot.

Two other uncoupled stable pairings also are in the lineup. They are Candy Landing (post 2, Umberto Rispoli) and Millennial Moon (post 8, Tyler Gaffalione) for Brendan Walsh, and the Greg Foley duo of B D Valeski (post 3, James Graham) and Sooley (post 7, Flavien Prat). Foley sent out two winners Saturday night to take an early lead atop the trainer standings. Magnolia Midnight (post 1, Jose Ortiz) and Run Curtis Run (post 6, Ricardo Santana Jr.) round out the cast.

The listed purse for the Walker includes $25,000 in bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds. Asymmetric, Millennial Moon, and Run Curtis Run run for the equivalent of a $175,000 purse.

The Walker, named for the African-American jockey who won the third Kentucky Derby aboard Baden-Baden in 1877, is set for 4:52 p.m. Eastern as the ninth of 10 races. First post is 12:45. A $160,000 overnight stakes, the inaugural running of the St. Matthews, directly precedes the Walker as race 8 (4:19). The only allowance of the day leads off the 50-cent late pick four (races 7-10).

Cloudy skies and a high of 70 are in the local forecast following the likelihood of Tuesday rain.