Churchill Downs: Miz Ida among contenders in wide-open Cardinal

[bc_video_id:309719:]LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There are no standouts among the field of 10 fillies and mares that will assemble Saturday in the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs, which gives Steve Margolis optimism that Miz Ida will go out a winner this year.

“Four or five of them look like they can win, and there are some other pretty decent horses in there as well,” said Margolis, neatly summarizing the outlook for the $100,000 Cardinal.

Miz Ida, a late-running Klein family homebred, comes off a decent fourth-place finish in the First Lady, a Grade 1 turf race conducted on the weather-plagued Oct. 5 card at Keeneland when Wise Dan and Groupie Doll were upset as odds-on favorites.

“Our filly had a good trip, but yes, that was kind of a weird day with the storms and all,” Margolis said. “She ran an even race, but it was a Grade 1, and those are never easy. We’re excited about running her back on this turf course. It looks like there’s enough speed in there to help us.”

Miz Ida, with Shaun Bridgmohan riding from post 5, won the Grade 3 Mint Julep at the Churchill spring meet. She will face a number of accomplished opponents in this 1 1/8-mile turf race, including Starstruck (post 2, Robby Albarado), winner of the Grade 3 Matchmaker at Monmouth in July; Solid Appeal (post 6, Joe Rocco Jr.), winner of two Grade 2 turf stakes at Woodbine in the summer; Somali Lemonade (post 7, Julien Leparoux), a two-time graded winner for Michael Matz; and Abaco (post 8, Rosie Napravnik), a dangerous stretch-runner sent here from New York by Shug McGaughey.

Like several others in here, Miz Ida will be given the rest of the year off before gearing up for a 2014 spring campaign, Margolis said.

The Cardinal, the eighth of 10 races, anchors a card that also includes four allowances:

◗ Race 2: Ian Wilkes wants a main-track prep before Neck ’n Neck runs in the Nov. 29 Clark Handicap, but he has been having a hard time finding a race. Neck ’n Neck is “main track only” for this $49,000, one-mile turf race, but after steady showers here Wednesday, there is no more rain in the forecast here this week while morning and nighttime temperatures dip into the mid-30s. What remains still comprises an outstanding lineup.

◗ Race 7: A few of the more promising 2-year-olds based this fall in Kentucky that did not run in the Breeders’ Cup are in this $43,000, first-level route, including Almost Famous, Purple Sky, Arctic Slope, and Matuszak.

◗ Race 9: A large field in this $43,000, first-level route includes Positively, who has been frustrating trainer Pat Byrne by failing to get through this condition but figures to do so sooner rather than later.

◗ Race 10: Irish Sea, trained by Margolis, returns to his preferred surface – grass – as one of the main players in an oversubscribed field entered in this $45,000, second-level race.

First post Saturday is 12:40 p.m. Eastern, with the Cardinal set for 4:06.