Burninhunkoflove comes off short vacation in Wednesday allowance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Burninhunkoflove is named for an iconic song and is owned by an iconic auto-racing figure, both of them having enjoyed their halcyon days a half-century ago. Al Stall Jr. can only hope the 3-year-old colt has his best days ahead of him.

A two-back winner at Churchill Downs, Burninhunkoflove returns to action Wednesday in the feature race at Churchill Downs, a $134,000 second-level allowance going six furlongs. He’s one of a handful of contenders in what seems a well-matched field of eight 3-year-olds.

Burninhunkoflove, named for the 1972 Elvis Presley hit, is owned by A.J. Foyt, the 87-year-old legend whose last of four victories in the Indianapolis 500 came in 1977. The chestnut Munnings colt was as game as they come in winning a first-level allowance by a whisker here May 29, after which he was fifth after forcing the pace in the Maxfield here July 3.

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“He ran three times at the spring meet, so we gave him the summer off,” Stall said. “We tried turf with him earlier in the year, and I do think he likes the dirt better. This is a two-other-than for 3-year-olds only, and you don’t see that fill many places, at least not this time of year. He’s been training good, and it’s the right spot, so we’ll hope for a big run.”

Burninhunkoflove will have Colby Hernandez aboard when he breaks from post 8 in the eighth of nine Wednesday races. First post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the feature set for 4:22.

Two others also ran in the Maxfield, most notably Hoist the Gold (post 8, Tyler Gaffalione), who was a surprise third at 30-1 when beaten just a half-length by the winner, Gunite. Trained by Dallas Stewart, he’s the 2-1 morning-line favorite in this race after most recently finishing second at 15-1 at Saratoga for these same conditions.

Adding depth to the lineup is the uncoupled Chris Hartman duo of Kavod (post 4, Brian Hernandez Jr.), getting blinkers back on, and Tejano Twist (post 7, Chris Landeros), the only starter entered for a $125,000 claiming option that’s part of the race restrictions.

One race earlier, Beverly Park will make his 23rd start of the year as the likely favorite in a starter-allowance sprint with a $66,000 purse. Owned by the Built Wright Stables of his trainer, Norman Cash, the 5-year-old horse leads the North American standings in 2022 with 10 wins.

All listed purses include bonuses for registered Kentucky-breds.

This is the first of two straight Wednesday cards at a 14-day, dirt-only meet that runs through Oct. 2. Since Churchill assumed September dates from Turfway Park in 2013, four-day weeks (Thursday-Sunday) had been the norm until this meet.

Sunshine and a high of 94 are in the Wednesday forecast before cooler but still dry weather arrives later in the week.