Breeders' Cup integrated with Churchill card

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With many fans on hand to enjoy the Breeders’ Cup simulcasts, a live 10-race card highlighted by a $134,000 allowance will be held well into the evening Friday at Churchill, with the last four or five races run under the lights. First post is 2 p.m. Eastern, with the last race going at 7:23. All races are scheduled to avoid overlaps with the Breeders’ Cup card from Del Mar.

The nominal feature goes as race 9. It’s a second-level allowance for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles, with Audrey’s Time and Singita Dreams among the likely favorites. Six of the nine entries are moving turf-to-dirt, a handicapping angle that will be prevalent throughout a 21-day meet at which the turf course is unavailable due to an ongoing 10-month restoration.

An 11-race Saturday card will follow a similar pattern in averting conflict with the Breeders’ Cup. The feature is the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine, a six-furlong race that was expected to get eight to 10 older horses. First post Saturday is 1:45, with the last going at 7:58.

◗ A moment of silence to honor jockey Miguel Mena was held Wednesday after the fifth race at Churchill. Mena, a winner of 2,079 races in an 18-year riding career, was the victim of a tragic accident Sunday evening as a pedestrian on a Louisville highway. The Peru native would have turned 35 on Saturday. He leaves behind a wife and two young daughters.

◗ Revised plans have yet to be determined for Sleepy Eyes Todd, according to trainer Miguel Angel Silva, after the 5-year-old gray horse was scratched Saturday from the Grade 2 Fayette at Keeneland because of a sloppy track. The heavily traveled Sleepy Eyes Todd has eight wins and more than $2 million in earnings from 20 starts.

◗ Construction of six new barns housing 240 stalls has been completed at the Thoroughbred training center, it was announced early this week by the Keeneland Association, which owns the 245-acre, year-round facility.