Drop in class should help Enforceable

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The last time Enforceable dipped into the allowance ranks, the colt won off by himself, earning a 102 Beyer Speed Figure in a January race at Fair Grounds.

Mark Casse hopes history repeats itself Friday when Enforceable, out of a disappointing performance in the Pimlico Special, gets some class relief in the featured eighth race at Churchill Downs.

Enforceable will turn back to 1 1/16 miles and break from post 3 under Adam Beschizza in a field of 11 older horses in a $106,000, third-level allowance. A winner of the Lecomte at Fair Grounds in January 2020 before finishing seventh in the Kentucky Derby more than seven months later, Enforceable was a distant ninth going 1 3/16 miles five weeks ago in the Pimlico Special.

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“He lost that race in the first turn,” Casse said. “We thought he’d like the distance, but he showed nothing after getting into trouble early. He’s pretty spotty. He’s come back to work really well, so we thought we’d try something like this.”

Enforceable, a stretch-running type from his career outset, will need a solid pace ahead after breaking from post 3. He’s apt to get it, with King Abner and My Sixth Sense likely to be sent from their outside posts in a race that brings a very competitive look. Sonneman (post 1, Ricardo Santana Jr.) is another obvious contender, having shown himself competitive in stakes company after he, like Enforceable, was a romping winner the last time he tried an allowance.

Beschizza, for his part, rode five winners here last week, June 10-13, for his most productive span at a spring meet that began April 24. Beschizza, 28, began this week with 14 wins, good for seventh in the local rider standings. Like most of the Churchill colony, he’ll be active at Ellis Park for the summer after this meet ends June 26.

First post Friday is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the nominal feature going at 4:22. It precedes the only other allowance of the card, a $102,000, first-level allowance on turf going 1 1/2 miles. Turf racing can be expected to proceed as scheduled given another forecast of sunshine and high temperatures in the low 90s.

The race 9 finale rematches Buy Me Candy and Huge Bigly, the respective 2-3 finishers under similar conditions here May 20. They’re among 11 3-year-olds and upward in another well-matched group, one that includes News Break and Cibolian as logical contenders as well.

The allowances conclude the 20-cent Derby City 6 (races 4-9), which started the four-day race week Thursday with $123,086 in the jackpot.