Everso Mischievous must overcome the rail, other speed in return

As the 2023 Kentucky Derby approached, a Brad Cox-trained colt regularly caught the eye during Churchill Downs morning training. The colt worked with a Derby horse, Verifying – outworked him, in fact – and was set to run on Derby Day, but Everso Mischievous was no Derby horse. Making his second start, Everso Mischievous cleared the maiden ranks in last race on the Derby card, and by autumn was fulfilling the potential he showed those April and May mornings. He won the Harrods Creek at Churchill, went to New York and was a half-length best in the Grade 2 Forty Niner – and then hit a wall in the Grade 2 Cigar Mile.

Beaten 26 lengths, Everso Mischievous didn’t work again until April 5, but his breeze pattern has held steady and the colt is set to make his 4-year-old debut in the featured seventh race Friday at Churchill. He’s one of eight horses entered in a third-level allowance with a $100,000 claiming option and a purse for Kentucky-breds of $148,000.

The morning line pegs Everso Mischievous as a standout, an even-money shot in his comeback race, and if the horse jumps back to his best 2023 form, he’ll beat this bunch. But challenges beyond the extended layoff exist. This is a one-turn mile, a demanding kind of race for a horse coming off a long layoff, and to make his task more difficult, Everso Mischievous drew the rail.

His jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, could face tough choices. Everso Mischievous does possess early speed, but three horses drawn outside him have comparable TimeformUS early pace numbers. The last thing connections of a talented horse like this want in a comeback race is a pressured trip on a fast pace, and if the other pace players are sent along, Gaffalione might need to take back and come outside them.

Still, bettors looking to stand against the favorite will quickly come to the realization Everso Mischievous can turn in a solid performance well below his peak and still win the race. The opposition includes several horses with contending form buried in the distant past, and others who aren’t fast enough. Denington, the 5-2 second choice, could not have gotten a better pace setup in the restricted Knicks Go Stakes, a one-turn mile May 4, and could only manage a plodding fourth.

The featured seventh is one of four allowance races on a strong Friday card.

Race 4 is a second-level allowance with a $125,000 claiming option for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs, and here Cox sends out a more playable horse. Ms. Tart is 6-1 on the morning line while making her first start in the Cox barn and, equally important, first on dirt. Ms. Tart, who hasn’t raced since October, has a pedigree suited to dirt racing and has been on a steady work pattern since April 20.

Race 6, a turf mile for first-level allowance horses, drew an overflow field with plenty of pace but nothing approaching a standout. Decanted comes off a Keeneland maiden win for trainer Mike Maker, who won with 5 of 6 Churchill starters during the first week of May. Maker’s nine winners tie him for second with Cox in the current trainer standings. Steve Asmussen, who has 15 winners, runs Gatlinburg here.

Maker, who claimed the veteran dirt sprinter Surveillance for $80,000 out of a Monday win, has two more for race 8, a second-level turf allowance open to $80,000 claimers and carded for 1 1/8 miles on turf. Beuys, second by a neck at this class level May 2 at Aqueduct, has the better chance than What Say Thee.

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