Churchill: Margolis has Cool Bullet in better spot

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It has been a while between drinks for Cool Bullet. Trainer Steve Margolis knows he was asking a lot of the 4-year-old gelding when he pitted him against the likes of Aikenite and Flashpoint last month in the Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes, a race that resulted in a respectable effort from Cool Bullet, albeit a ninth straight defeat.

“He was coming off a layoff, but he’d run so well before at Keeneland that we thought it’d be a spot worth trying,” said Margolis, who trains Cool Bullet for Robert and Lawana Low and Winmore LLC. “He ran a decent fifth, maybe got a little outrun, probably got a little tired. But this race we’ve got picked out for him Wednesday, I’d say we’ve definitely got him in the right spot, and hopefully he’ll get back on track.”

Cool Bullet, a winner of two sprint stakes in the first half of his 3-year-old year, is one of six older horses in the ninth of 10 Wednesday races at Churchill, a $55,000 classified allowance at six furlongs on the main track. Julien Leparoux, the leading rider with 22 winners after the 21-day meet passed its midpoint Sunday, has the call from Margolis.

Margolis, like all other trainers on the grounds, would like to do well over the last 10 days of the Churchill meet but also is in the process of preparing for the next stop.

“We’ll have almost 50 head at Fair Grounds, where we had a big winter last year,” he said. “We’ve got quite a few young horses with maiden and allowance conditions, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Cool Bullet will start from post 3, faced with two prime challengers to either side: Maryland invader Congressional Page (post 1, Edgar Prado) and Tend (post 6, Corey Lanerie).

Congressional Page, trained by Mike Trombetta, is a multiple stakes winner who was good enough to run second in the Grade 2 Commonwealth at Keeneland in 2010. He exits the De Francis Dash at Laurel Park.

Tend, trained by Joe Woodard, defeated Cool Bullet when last they met, in the Forego Stakes at Turfway Park in January. A 6-year-old gelding, Tend comes off a fifth-place finish in a small stakes at Remington Park nearly seven weeks ago.

Rounding out the cast are Golden Country, Dynamite Bob, and Our Edge.

First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

◗ There is no carryover in the 10th-race super high five after the jackpot was emptied Sunday, but there is a carryover of nearly $13,000 in the $2 pick six (races 5-10) for Wednesday.