LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Handicappers who subscribe to the horse-for-course angle will have a dilemma when it comes to Friday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs. Trademark, who floundered in Florida, returns to Churchill, where he has four wins and a second from six starts. In last November’s Clark Stakes, Trademark nosed out First Mission, with both earning a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure. That was First Mission’s lone start at Churchill. Tumbarumba, who suffered two tough beats at Gulfstream Park, also has a history of success at Churchill as does Money Supply, who kicked off what became a five-race streak with starter allowance wins at Churchill. Those are four of the 10 entered in the Alysheba, a group that includes Tapit Trice, last year’s Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes winner who finished seventh as the second choice in the Kentucky Derby. Tumbarumba, trained by Brian Lynch, may offer the best value of the group that excels at Churchill Downs. The gelding by Oscar Performance is a nose and a neck away from bringing a three-race win streak into the Alysheba at 1 1/16 miles. :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. After winning the Grade 3 Fred Hooper by a nose in January, Tumbarumba was beaten a nose by Steal Sunshine in the Gulfstream Park Mile on March 2. Four weeks later, when stretched out to 1 1/16 miles in the Ghostzapper, Tumbarumba was involved in a pace duel with 40-1 shot X Y Point and ultimately was beaten a neck by Il Miracolo, who also is in this spot. “His last two beats, both riders said if they could do it again they don’t think they’d get beat,” Lynch said. Lynch mentioned that Luis Saez, who rode Tumbarumba in the Gulfstream Park Mile, said he likely made a mistake chasing the early speed. Saez is 3 for 5 on Tumbarumba and is back aboard in the Alysheba, a race in which Tumbarumba gets a six-pound shift in the weights with Steal Sunshine from the Gulfstream Mile. Lynch said as well as Tumbarumba ran at Gulfstream this winter, “I never thought he fired that real big race. Watching him train over this track you hope that’s in the forecast.” Lynch said he was particularly impressed by Tumbarumba’s most recent work, done in company with Oscar Eclipse, who is running in Saturday’s Knicks Go Stakes here. After they ran in the Clark, Trademark and First Mission finished 10th and ninth, respectively, in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream, their trainers saying their horses did not handle the Gulfstream surface. First Mission, trained by Brad Cox, came back to win the Grade 3 Essex at Oaklawn. :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  “He ran really well here at Churchill last year in the Clark,” Cox said. “I feel like he’s really doing well and training well here and he’s set up for a good run.” When Trademark got his nose down in front of First Mission in the Clark, it was the fourth win from six starts at Churchill for the 5-year-old gelding by Upstart. Trainer Vicki Oliver said she turned Trademark out for 30 days following the Pegasus debacle before resuming training, first at Payson Park then at Keeneland. “He hadn’t really had a proper break, so we gave him a 30-day break at Payson,” Oliver said. “We knew we weren’t going to make Keeneland, so we decided to skip the Ben Ali and leg him up for the Churchill stakes series.” Money Supply’s streak that started last fall included a victory in the Mineshaft Stakes at Fair Grounds. His five-race win streak came to an end when he finished third to Red Route One in the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic. Following his seventh-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, Tapit Trice ran third in the Belmont Stakes, fifth in the Haskell, and third in the Travers before going to the sidelines. “He’s filled out, he looks great, not too many soft spots to land coming back,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He’s pretty fit. We had some good, solid works and he’s a long-winded horse. I don’t think he needs a race in terms of fitness, he’s just running against some horses that are talented and have more recency.” Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride Tapit Trice for the first time. T O Saint Denis accompanied Kentucky Derby longshot T O Password to the United States from Japan. He is just 2 for 22 and has not run since March 2023. Il Miracolo, third in the Clark here last fall, wore down Tumbarbuma by a neck in the Ghostzapper at Gulfstream. That was his first victory since he captured the Smarty Jones at Parx Racing in August. Pipeline comes off a 5 1/2-length allowance win in the slop at Keeneland in a race that was originally scheduled for the turf. Call Me First was second in the Grade 3 Blame Stakes here last June. He is winless in five starts at Churchill. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.