Churchill feature has whiff of the Windy City
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Remnants of the deceased Chicago circuit figure prominently in the featured ninth race Sunday at thriving Churchill Downs.
That’s somewhat timely. Earlier this week, the Illinois Racing Board released its racing dates order for 2027, granting Fairmount Park outside St. Louis its requested schedule, but denying a dates request from Hawthorne Race Course. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact Hawthorne no longer possesses a racing facility. Chicago’s last racing venue sold in bankruptcy court over the summer. Why Hawthorne applied for dates remains a mystery.
On the rail in Sunday’s featured ninth, a second-level turf route allowance with an $80,000 claiming option, we find Joejoe Go, trained by Chris Davis, who basically grew up in Chicago racing. His mother, Liane Davis, trained and for a time was the face and voice of Arlington’s in-house television feed. Davis’s father, Hershel Davis, worked around the track for decades and was on the gate crew at Arlington and Hawthorne.
Drawn just outside Joejoe Go we find Out of Deductions, one of two horses in the Sunday feature, along with Tough Little Nut, trained by Chris Block. Block trains Out of Deductions for owner-breeder Team Block. Team Block, formed by Chris’s father, David, had the best broodmares in Illinois and for years dominated Illinois-bred turf stakes competition. The family partnership, Chris Block recently said, has all but ceased operations.
Trainer Wayne Catalano named Jareth Loveberry to ride Firmus. Catalano won 11 Arlington training titles, and Loveberry was leading rider there during the late, historic track’s last two seasons. Arlington was a permanent scratch after an abbreviated 2021 race meeting. Catalano said Firmus will be scratched from Sunday’s contest.
That leaves no more than nine runners, and Oscar Season might be the best play among them. A 5-year-old with only 10 starts, Oscar Season won his debut at Kentucky Downs late summer 2024 and in his second start went to . . . Chicago, finishing third in the Hawthorne Derby.
In May 2025, Oscar Season was a good third over the Churchill course, earning a 93 Beyer Figure in a second-level allowance. Yes, that’s the same class level as Sunday’s race 16 months later. Oscar Season ran dismally in June 2025 and was gelded that August, but came back to action still struggling. In his most recent start, last Nov. 27, he was eased.
Maybe now, after a long break, Oscar Season has pushed past whatever issues held him back last year. Trainer Brendan Walsh has gotten 10 works without interruption into the gelding at Turfway Park, and Oscar Season gets a narrow call over Show of Force, who steps up in class after a smart first-level allowance score at Ellis Park.
In race 7, a first-level turf route allowance for older fillies and mares, Tramuntana could be worth a play at roughly 8-1. Tramuntana made her turf debut on Aug. 4 at Horseshoe Indianapolis, and even accounting for a favorable pace setup, scored an impressive six-length victory in what has worked out to be a productive race. Her jockey that day, Mitchell Murrill, keeps the mount Sunday, a rare Churchill chance these days for the second-leading rider at the 2019 Arlington meet.
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