Competitive fields for trio of allowance races

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A trio of allowances with proper social distancing are the co-features Friday at fan-free Churchill Downs – although there’s no guarantee any of the winners will keep six feet apart from the opposition.

Indeed, some closely matched fields have been assembled as highlights of a nine-race card. They go as races 3, 6, and 8, and all of them have their own circumstances of intrigue.

Here’s a quick look:

Race 3

Some wicked-fast older turf sprinters will clash in this $85,000 race with hybrid conditions. Eleven are entered, but only as many as nine will start.

Bulletin won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint over the Churchill turf in November 2018, but his form has not held together with time. He’ll be one of the longer prices when facing Fast Boat, a six-time winner with a steady stalking style; Just Might, a last-out winner of the Colonel Power at Fair Grounds; and the enigmatic Copper Town, whose stop-and-start career begins anew with Wesley Ward as his trainer.

Race 6

Ballagh Rocks, an earner of more than $640,000 from 21 starts, is entered for the optional claiming tag of $62,500 in an $83,000 turf mile otherwise governed by a second-level allowance condition.

Trained by Bill Mott, who entered this week with 4,998 career wins, Ballagh Rocks, now 7, was a regular participant in major stakes earlier in his career before losing a little off his fastball. His top challenger here might actually be the wild card of the group, Set Piece, a Juddmonte Farms homebred making his North American debut.

Race 8

Three-year-olds perhaps looking to advance to a Kentucky Derby prep ought to make for a terrific race at 1 1/8 miles. An oversubscribed lineup pretty much assures a full gate of 12 in an $81,000, first-level race in which the Carpe Diem colt Earner figures among a core of favorites for Steve Asmussen.

Earner was a 3 3/4-length winner April 11 at Oaklawn Park in the type of eye-catching maiden score also turned in this winter and spring by quite a few others in here, including Giocare, Extraordinary, Fort Knox, and Oxide. The race even drew an Arkansas-bred stakes winner, Man in the Can, whose last-out 87 Beyer Speed Figure ranks as highest in the field.

Purses for all allowances and maiden specials at Churchill include substantial bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds.

First post every day at Churchill is 1 p.m. Eastern. Sunshine and a high of 85 are in the local forecast for Friday.