Brazilian Group 1 winner tops Churchill allowance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Sunday’s 10-race card at Churchill is topped by a pair of turf allowances, one for 3-year-olds and up at a mile that goes as the eighth race with a $91,000 purse and the other an $87,000 entry-level contest for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles, carded as the fifth.

One of the notable entrants in the eighth is Lamartine, a dual Group 1 winner in his native Brazil. He makes his second start in the U.S. Sunday for trainer Steve Asmussen following a fifth at Keeneland April 20 in which he sped to the lead before fading to be last of five.

Two eighth-race also-eligibles, Emmaus and Utmost, would add strength to the contest if able to draw into the race. The former, a European transplant, was second in the Elusive Quality Stakes at Belmont in his first start in the U.S., and the latter, unraced in 2019, won the Grade 2 Sky Classic at Woodbine last year.

The likely favorite in the fifth race is Award Winner, a wide second in a Keeneland allowance April 12. A son of Ghostzapper out of the Theatrical mare Devine Actress, he is a half-brother to graded stakes-winning millionaires Oscar Nominated and Oscar Performance.