Churchill Downs: Napravnik bounces back with Remember Then, five other mounts Wednesday after opening-day spill

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – At the time of Sunday’s ninth race at Churchill Downs, jockey Rosie Napravnik was recovering in the jockeys’ room, receiving first aid after a fall an hour earlier in the seventh race when unseated at the start and struck by her mount’s hooves.

Bruised but otherwise free of major injury, Napravnik aims to be in a far more desirable position for Wednesday’s ninth race at Churchill aboard Remember Then in a $47,000, third-level allowance that goes as the day’s feature.

Contacted Monday, the day after her fall – at a time when jockeys involved in spills often feel worse – she indicated she would be back Wednesday.

“I’m fine, just sore,” she texted.

Named on six horses Wednesday, including three morning-line favorites, there is plenty of incentive to return – not that she needs it. The leading jockey at Keeneland this fall, she is competitive and resilient, having recovered from injuries worse than Sunday’s battering.

Remember Then, trained by Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard and owned by Augustin Stable, comes off her only defeat, a fourth-place finish behind I’m Already Sexy when racing in the Grade 3 Pucker Up at Arlington on Sept. 14. That race earned her a lifetime-best Beyer Speed Figure of 82.

Prior to that race, she had won a second-level allowance at Delaware on dirt. That race had followed two wins on Keeneland’s Polytrack, one in the spring and the other last fall. She is favored at 2-1 on the morning line.

Napravnik was aboard for the initial victory last fall when Remember Then, a daughter of Pulpit, rallied to win a maiden race at about seven furlongs. Since then, the late-running Remember Then has raced in three consecutive two-turn routes with other jockeys aboard.

If she is to win Wednesday going seven furlongs on the Churchill main track, she needs to run faster than she did on dirt at Delaware, when she ran a 76 Beyer in winning there at a mile and 70 yards Aug. 19.

Four of her six rivals – Culotte, Amie’s Dini, Sticks Wondergirl, and Kaminari – are stakes winners, and Amie’s Dini and Sticks Wondergirl have career-best Beyers of 96 and 92 on dirt, respectively.

Additionally, Lady Diva Ga Ga is twice stakes-placed and seemingly poised for a peak performance after finishing fourth in a comeback race at Keeneland on Oct. 5 behind the classy Ire. Lady Diva Ga Ga also returns to dirt, a surface on which she has recorded three of her four wins.

Earlier this year at Oaklawn Park, she won two optional claimers and hit the board in all five of her races there, every time posting a Beyer of 80 or higher.

The wild card is Sticks Wondergirl, who rattled off three consecutive victories over the second half of 2012, capped by a triumph in the Remington Park Oaks, before being sidelined. She has not raced in 13 months and shows just four published workouts at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington leading up to her return.