Catapult seeks end to win drought in Old Friends Stakes

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Watch a replay of the 2019 Kilroe Mile and you’d have a hard time believing Catapult is eligible for the Old Friends Stakes on Thursday at Kentucky Downs.

Catapult appeared to win the Grade 1 Kilroe with a late surge, but the Santa Anita photo-finish camera subsequently revealed he somehow came up a whisker shy. That’s how Catapult fits the conditions of “nonwinners of a stakes this year” that define the $250,000 Old Friends.

Based in Southern California with trainer John Sadler, Catapult surely will rule a solid favorite in the Old Friends, a mile and 70-yard race that anchors the second of five days at the Runhappy meet at turf-only Kentucky Downs. The 6-year-old horse will have Joel Rosario in from New York to ride when part of an oversubscribed field of older horses that will be limited to 12 starters.

Owned by the Woodford Racing partnership headed by Bill Farish, Catapult came to prominence last summer at Del Mar by winning back-to-back Grade 2 races, the Eddie Read and Del Mar Mile. He then earned a third straight triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure when finishing second by a half-length to Expert Eye in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Churchill Downs.

This year, however, Catapult has not been as productive. His seasonal debut resulted in a fourth-place finish in the Pegasus World Cup Turf, and following the March 30 Kilroe, he was fifth in both the Grade 1 Shoemaker and Grade 2 Eddie Read. Even with those disappointments, Catapult is clearly the class of the Old Friends.

His prime opposition includes Mr. Misunderstood, an 11-time winner on turf. He, too, is a multiple graded winner still trying to get off the 2019 schneid, having finished third in both starts as a 5-year-old. Florent Geroux, who won three races here Saturday, has the call for trainer Brad Cox.

Outside possibilities in this fifth running of the Old Friends include a second Woodford Racing starter, Hot Springs, a four-time winner last year for Steve Asmussen; Multiplier, beaten a nose in a Saratoga turf allowance three weeks ago; and the uncoupled Wesley Ward duo of Master Merion and Undrafted.

Rosario and Jose Ortiz, who has the call on Cullum Road, are among the star riders joining an already crowded jockey colony. Among others expected here this weekend is Drayden Van Dyke from California.

The Old Friends purse includes $150,000 in bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, for which all but three of the 14 entries are eligible. A whopping 193 horses were entered on the 10-race card, including 32 also-eligibles and 41 exclusions.

The Old Friends, named for the Thoroughbred retirement home founded in 2003 near Georgetown, Ky., by Michael Blowen, is the male counterpart to the One Dreamer, which was won on opening day by the filly Hanalei Moon.

Sunny skies and a high of 84 are in the forecast for Thursday, when first post is 12:15 p.m. Central. The Old Friends goes at 4:48.