Billal back with his own age group

Churchill Downs begins the second week of its September meet with a nine-race Wednesday card that begins at 12:45 p.m. The feature is a $134,000 allowance/optional-claiming race at six furlongs. The race is for 3-year-olds who have never won two-other-than, or who have never won three races.

The morning-line favorite is Billal, who is stakes-placed both this year and last. Two starts back, the 3-year-old was third in the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes, a one-turn mile at Aqueduct, won by subsequent Grade 1 winner Domestic Product.

In his most recent outing, Billal was second in an allowance/optional-claiming race going six furlongs at Saratoga while facing a competitive field of older horses. He earned a Beyer of 90, the top last-out number in this field.

Save the Trees showed an affinity for Churchill with an allowance win in June. After finishing fourth in the Dwyer for Mike Maker, he bounced back with an allowance win going six furlongs at Ellis Park last month.

Pure Force, likely to be a pace factor, won his first two starts for Brad Cox before finishing a well-beaten fifth in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga. He has worked five times at Churchill since that race.

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Finster, unbeaten in two starts for Eoin Harty, is coming off an allowance win sprinting against older horses on the Ellis Park turf. It is a commonly held belief that turf types often run well on the Churchill dirt.

The Wednesday card also includes a $92,000 maiden special weight for juveniles, with a field of 11 going a one-turn mile, plus two starter-allowance races and five claiming races.

The five-day race week is highlighted by a Saturday program with four stakes for 3-year-olds – the Grade 3, $300,000 Dogwood, $300,000 Bourbon Flight, $300,000 Harrods Creek, and $175,000 Seneca Overnight.

◗ Churchill joined several other tracks in holding a moment of silence on Sunday for late horseman Chuck Simon, who died last week at age 57 after a battle with cancer. Horsemen gathered in the winner’s circle following the day’s seventh race. Aqueduct, Gulfstream Park, and Monmouth Park held similar tributes.

Simon was a former trainer who became known as an outspoken commentator on racing issues. A funeral service for Simon was to be held Monday in Clifton Park, N.Y., near Saratoga Springs, where he grew up and resided.

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