Chorwon, 8, back for another year
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It probably won't lead to the Louisville Handicap, the race that made Chorwon locally famous. But simply by returning to action in the ninth-race feature Wednesday, Chorwon will put a smile on the face of his longtime trainer, Hal Wiggins.
Chorwon, an 8-year-old gelding who has won the Louisville three times, is one of eight older horses entered in a $59,800 allowance at a mile on the turf.
"He's probably not going to make his old race, but maybe we'll get it next year," said Wiggins. "I'm going to be optimistic about it."
Chorwon, a homebred owned by the estate of Thomas Mueller, has won at least one race at Churchill every year since 1996. He won the Louisville in 1997, 1998, and 1999, then was beaten last year when trying for an unprecedented fourth straight. The Louisville Cap will be run this year on June 2.
Wednesday is Chorwon's first start since incurring a suspensory injury last summer. "He's remarkable," Wiggins said. "It's a lot just to keep one around that long, much less keep winning races at the class level that he does."
Chorwon, an earner of just over $900,000, will break from post 2 under Calvin Borel in his comeback. The others in an exceptionally tough field are Dernier Croise, Inkatha, Parade Leader, Northcote Road, Conserve, Gatema, and Rock and Roll.
Two other allowances are carded for Wednesday, when twilight first post is 3 p.m. Eastern.
Day could reach plateau soon
If Pat Day keeps winning races the way he has been, this weekend he could become just the third jockey in North American racing history to hit the 8,000-victory milestone.
Day, 47, won five races here Sunday, giving him 7,985 career wins, according to Daily Racing Form statistics. As usual, he is winning several races per day with regularity, meaning he might hit the milestone during the six-day race week that begins Wednesday.
Only Laffit Pincay Jr., with more than 9,000 wins, and Bill Shoemaker (8,833) have ridden 8,000 or more winners.
St. Julien skid hits 133
On the other end of the spectrum, Marlon St. Julien continued his nightmarish losing streak by going winless again last week.
Into Wednesday, St. Julien has lost with his last 133 mounts, a streak that includes 19 mounts here last week. St. Julien, 29, has not ridden a winner since March 18 at Fair Grounds.
Last week typified the kind of frustration that St. Julien has been experiencing. On May 16, he nearly won twice: Betty's Pet (8-1) led all the way before being passed near the wire by two horses, and Jon's Prospect (7-1) was defeated by a neck in a turf allowance.
Horseplayers have not given up faith in St. Julien. From his 19 mounts last week, the median odds were just 11-1; his most highly regarded mounts were sent away at 8-5, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, and 9-2. He rode Elegant Ridge, the 4-1 third choice for trainer Neil Drysdale, to an eighth-place finish in the Mint Julep Handicap on Saturday.
St. Julien is named on just one mount Wednesday.
* The upcoming stakes here this weekend are the $100,000 Dogwood Stakes on Saturday and the $150,000 Kentucky Breeders' Cup Stakes on Monday. Bob Baffert is scheduled to be at Churchill to saddle his latest star, the 3-year-old filly Love at Noon, in the Dogwood. The Kentucky BC is for 2-year-olds.