First Resort moves back to turf in bulky, wide-open feature
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There are, depending on your orientation, either too many or too few options in the featured 10th race on Friday at Churchill Downs.
Sheer numbers – yes, the Friday feature has that. Sixteen older horses are entered in a second-level allowance carded for one mile on turf and open to $80,000 claimers, of which there are four. The starting gate can accommodate a dozen runners, and even three of the also-eligibles seem like plausible players in an exceedingly competitive affair.
First Resort, a Godolphin homebred trained by Eoin Harty, as a 2-year-old won the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs. The colt is a 4-year-old now and hasn’t won since.
Yet the 2024 KJC, a dirt race, has pertinence to this turf mile, namely because in winning, First Resort showed he can stay 1 1/16 miles, and determining the horse’s capability over a route of ground – as well as his ability to rate behind rivals – is key to his Friday contention.
First Resort didn’t race for 20 months after his KJC win, making his comeback this past summer in an Ellis Park turf sprint, where he showed good speed, contesting a solid pace and holding third. Connections immediately stretched First Resort out to routes and moved him back to dirt but didn’t see positive returns. First Resort ran flat and finished a well-beaten sixth at Ellis, and a better but still soundly defeated fifth last month at Keeneland.
Both races, however, came over 1 1/8 miles, probably just too far for First Resort, whose dam, the Harty-trained Fair Maiden, excelled at seven furlongs, and who has produced the capable turf sprinter Hen Party. At 2, before the KJC, First Resort finished a decent, staying-on fourth in the Grade 1 Summer, a one-turn turf mile at Woodbine, and First Resort probably needs to run like that to win, settling behind the other pace and coming with a stretch bid. If he’s willing, he might be able.
Theismann could prove the speed of the speed, and at the peak of his powers, would win this race. Dropped down in class to start for an $80,000 tag at Kentucky Downs, 6-year-old Theismann was claimed by trainer Mike Maker, who has done remarkable work claiming older turf-route horses. But Theismann runs back for the claiming price, and Maker’s bread and butter has been running these high-end claims back in allowance or stakes competition. In situations like this, where the claimed horse comes back for a high tag, the barn is just 1 for 6 over the last five years.
Sushi Man, Cheval de Guerre, and Maui Strong also should show some degree of speed. Maui Strong, the 7-2 morning-line favorite, looks most formidable among that trio, though his chances, like First Resort’s, could hinge on his willingness to settle behind horses and finish.
Noises Off and War at Sea, two horses in for the $80,000 tag, both have run fast enough to win if things break their way. So have many others. The Friday feature looks wide open.
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