Churchill Downs: Bourbon Courage returns in Thursday feature

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If the eight horses in Thursday’s featured ninth race at Churchill Downs, a $47,000, third-level allowance with an $80,000 claiming option, all run to their potential, there is little doubt who would prove the winner. It would be Bourbon Courage, the 2012 Super Derby winner and a twice Grade 1-placed runner.

That is no slight on the opposition, led by stakes winners Central Banker, Shared Property, and Our Double Play. The field also includes 13-time winner Bull Dozer.

But rarely do all horses run their best. Conditions might not suit some, and troubled trips and poor rides can contribute to lesser efforts in others.

With regard to Bourbon Courage, he might be a race away from his peak, despite training forwardly for trainer Kellyn Gorder.

Bourbon Courage hasn’t raced in nearly six months, following a roughly contested Alysheba Stakes on Kentucky Oaks Day in which he wrenched an ankle and sustained cuts on three legs. He also is returning at a distance – 7 1/2 furlongs on the main track – shorter than the 1 1/8 miles over which he excels.

When last competing in long one-turn races in spring 2012, he was ineffective, finishing fourth in a sloppy renewal of the one-mile Derby Trial and fifth in the seven-furlong Woody Stephens behind eventual Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Trinniberg.

Gorder said the decision to run Bourbon Courage at the seldom-run distance of 7 1/2 furlongs was largely based on timing, with Thursday’s race potentially serving as a prep for Churchill’s Grade 1 Clark Handicap on Nov. 29.

“It was what was there, his condition,” he said. “They had a race at a mile and a sixteenth at Keeneland, but I didn’t want to go there. I don’t feel like he’s a Polytrack horse.”

Corey Lanerie has the mount on Bourbon Courage, a Lion Heart colt owned by Bourbon Lane Stable.

Thursday’s race also marks a return for Gorder, who served a 20-day suspension from Oct. 7-26, issued for an overage of the bronchodilator clenbuterol in a post-race sample of Belle Natalie after she won the ninth race at Ellis Park on Aug. 10.

Gorder said Belle Natalie had been given the medication, but that treatment had stopped seven to eight days before her race, before the recommended withdrawal time.

The greatest threat to Bourbon Courage on Thursday is Bull Dozer, who won a comparable race at Keeneland on Oct. 4. He also is a winner at Churchill Downs, scoring over a sloppy track May 4.

Wet conditions are forecast for Thursday, with Weather.com calling for an 80 percent chance of rain.