Fires full of confidence in Major Munnings

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – William “Jinks” Fires has been training horses for more than 50 years. Before that, he was breaking and riding them. The man knows of which he speaks.

“I think he might be a good one,” Fires said flatly when asked about Major Munnings, an unbeaten gelding who figures as a major contender in one of the Sunday co-features at Churchill Downs.

Major Munnings goes six furlongs from post 6 in a field of 11 3-year-olds in the ninth of 10 Sunday races, a $55,000 second-level allowance with a $100,000 claiming option. He will be ridden by Fires’s son-in-law Jon Court.

Fires, 77, has trained numerous fast horses in a career that dates to 1966, including such stakes winners as Nurse Dopey, Wildcat Shoes, Archarcharch, and Colonelsdarktemper, the winner of the West Virginia Derby last month. He is excited about what the future might hold for Major Munnings, a gelding by Munnings who got a relatively late start to his career with eye-catching back-to-back romps this summer at Ellis Park.

“I’d had to give him several months off because of bruised cannon bones,” said Fires. “I entered him twice in big-money races at Kentucky Downs but scratched him both times because I just didn’t feel good about running him over that type of track. I knew this race was coming up at Churchill, so I saved him for this.”

Major Munnings faces easily his toughest assignment so far, as Uncontested, the winner of the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park in January, is among the opposition. Trained by Wayne Catalano, Uncontested comes off a seventh-place finish in a one-mile stakes on the Arlington Million card. The colt showed a clear distaste for Polytrack, which he was trying for the first time.

Uncontested will be ridden by Corey Lanerie, the leading jockey at 13 of the last 15 Churchill meets, and breaks from post 11.

Earlier Sunday, turf sprinters will clash in the richest race on the card, a $60,000 fourth-level allowance that also carries a $100,000 claiming option and drew a field of seven. Latent Revenge, the winner of the Mighty Beau at the 2016 spring meet for Greg Foley, returns from a 3 1/2-month layoff as the one to catch from his outside post. Rivers Run Deep, a millionaire Ohio-bred, is part of a solid lineup.

First post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Sunny skies and a high temperature of 86 were in the forecast.

After Sunday, Churchill goes dark for three days before the first of two four-day race weeks starts with a Thursday card that begins at 5 p.m. The 11-day meet runs through Oct. 1.