Finley'sluckycharm set to break through in Winning Colors

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – You probably could have won a bar bet using this one: Finley’sluckycharm has yet to win a graded stakes.

That is supposed to change Saturday at Churchill Downs, where Finley’sluckycharm will be heavily favored against seven other fillies and mares in the Grade 3, $100,000 Winning Colors at six furlongs.

Trained by Bret Calhoun for Carl Moore Management LLC, Finley’sluckycharm was narrowly beaten as the runner-up in the Grade 1 La Brea in December in one of just two defeats in her eight-race career. The 4-year-old filly has won all four starts of her starts at Churchill, including the Roxelana Stakes on opening night of the 38-day spring meet.

Following the La Brea, Calhoun had back-to-back Grade 1 races in Kentucky on the drawing board for Finley’sluckycharm, but a couple of missed weeks of training in New Orleans forced him to scrap both the Madison at Keeneland and the Humana Distaff at Churchill. Calhoun then opted for the Roxelana as a springboard to the Winning Colors and the Grade 3 Chicago Handicap, the former Arlington Park fixture now set for June 24 at Churchill.

“Hopefully, she’ll do well enough that we can consider the bigger races for her after that,” said Calhoun.

Finley’sluckycharm, a dark bay Kentucky-bred by Twirling Candy, was assigned post 6 and is the dominant speed in this 14th running of the Winning Colors. Brian Hernandez Jr. will be back aboard.

Among the chief opposition is Athena (post 7, Joe Rocco Jr.), the 2016 Roxelana winner and most recently the runner-up behind Finley’sluckycharm on opening night; Sweetgrass (post 2, Jimmy Graham), a sharp winner of a Keeneland allowance two starts back for trainer Ian Wilkes; and Mayla (post 1, Ricardo Santana Jr.), a stakes winner and earner of more than $250,000 who also is trained by Calhoun.

Rounding out the lineup are Covey Trace, Ramona’s Wildcat, Game Time Decision, and Pleasant Tales.

The Winning Colors, named for the third and most recent filly to win the Kentucky Derby (1988), is carded as the 10th of 11 Saturday races. First post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the feature set for 5:21.

Rematch in Keertana

Earlier on the card, a competitive group of filly-and-mare turf marathoners will clash in the Keertana (race 5, 2:43).

Quiet Business and Daring Duchess, the one-two finishers in the April 22 Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland, both resurface amid a field of eight in the $65,000 Keertana, which goes at 1 1/2 miles. Other contenders include Giovanna Blues and Northern Smile.

The Keertana is named for the millionaire racemare whose only foal to race, Ticonderoga, is a graded stakes winner on turf.

Four allowance races

Four allowances (races 3, 4, 7, 9) are part of a terrific Saturday undercard. Most notable is race 3, a $55,000, third-level allowance at seven furlongs that drew Stageplay, Mines and Magic, and Blip n’ Th Bye, all stakes winners.

One race later, Fish Trappe Road, the winner of the Grade 3 Dwyer last July for Calhoun, will be looking to get back on form in a $55,000, third-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles. The gray New York-bred faces a tough crew that includes Money Flows, Flashy Jewel, Egyptian, and the 3-year-old Guest Suite, who makes his first start against older horses.

◗ With Monday being Memorial Day, Churchill will run an 11-race card (first post, 12:45), albeit without a stakes race. Live racing resumes the following Thursday with an eight-race program beginning at 5 p.m. The next graded stakes at Churchill is the Grade 3 Aristides on June 3.