Fast and firm conditions expected as Papilio drops to easier spot

With the high temperature forecast to hit 97 degrees during the afternoon, Thursday’s eight-race card has a welcome 5 p.m. first post. Still sweltering, but less dangerous for the human and equine athletes.

Only fast and firm turf lovers need apply to the featured seventh race, a second-level allowance with an $80,000 claiming option carded for 1 1/16 miles over what ought to be a sunbaked course. An overflow field of 16 was entered, and with the temporary rail set at 36 feet, only 10 can run.

One might be surprised to see Papilio among the entrants. The 4-year-old filly, after all, is a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed. Imported from Ireland into Mark Casse’s barn late in 2022. Papilio just missed in her American debut, the Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream, and won the Grade 2 Appalachian at Keeneland in her second start of 2023. That also was the last time Papilio won, and thus her sustained status is a second-level allowance horse.

Responsible bettors should have trust issues with Papilio, whose herd instincts seem to kick in whenever she threatens to win a race. Granted, Papilio faces softer competition Thursday than in her six graded stakes starts since her last win, but even a drop into allowance company this past February at Gulfstream Park only netted a second-place finish.

Callie’s Grit offers a longer-priced alternative and can lead this field from start to finish if she shakes loose on the front end. Callie’s Grit has raced against a prevailing bias a couple times and caught several courses with give in the ground when she probably prefers to rattle along alone on the lead.

◗ The veteran horseman Robert O’Connor has retired from training after a 39-year career, according to a Churchill Downs press release last week. O’Connor, who mainly raced on the Kentucky Circuit, won 477 races after striking out on his own in 1985. His highest-earning horse was the mare American Dynasty, a multiple stakes winner on the Kentucky circuit in the late 1990s.

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