Flint hopeful turf wakes up Conspired in allowance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bernie Flint may have slowed somewhat with age, but not his horses. Not lately, anyway. With seven wins from 21 starters, Flint is enjoying a terrific Churchill Downs spring meet, and he rates a solid chance to add to those numbers Friday, when he sends out a filly named Conspired in the last of two allowances on a nine-race twilight card.

Flint, 74, bought Conspired this year in a private deal for clients Naveed Chowhan and Desi Boyz LLC, and he has been frustrated by her lack of production thus far. However, he said he believes the move to turf Friday could finally get Conspired back in the kind of form that carried her to a huge maiden win March 22 on the Spiral Stakes undercard at Turfway Park.

“I do think she’s a grass mare, and we’ve got her in a [first-level] condition that’s favorable to her,” said Flint, whose 3,321 career wins are 22nd all-time in North America. “She didn’t run well in that graded race,” he said, referring to the Beaumont Stakes in April at Keeneland. “I never really did figure out what happened there, other than it was on Polytrack. I had to back off her a little after that, and then when we brought her back, she just did not care for the slop at all in that last race.”

Conspired, with Jesus Castanon to ride, is part of an oversubscribed field of fillies and mares in the Friday nightcap, a $52,000 allowance scheduled for a mile on turf. A victory would perpetuate what has been a hot streak for Flint, as he and Castanon teamed last weekend at Churchill to win the Grade 3 Mint Julep with Honey Hues and a maiden special weight race with Mizzen Miss.

“Sometimes everything you’re doing works, and sometimes it doesn’t,” Flint said. “It’s all been going pretty good for us lately, and I’m happy about that.”

Besides Conspired, other contenders in the co-feature include Keening, a Charlie LoPresti-trained filly making the third start of her form cycle, and Kitten’s Queen, whose trainer, Mike Maker (13 wins), was battling Steve Asmussen (14 wins) for the top spot in the standings as the final three-week stretch of the meet commenced Thursday.

One other first-level turf allowance (race 5) is carded, and it, too, drew an oversubscribed field, with Aqtaar the likely favorite for trainer Dan Peitz.

First post Friday is 2:45 p.m. Eastern, with the last race set for 6:54.

This will be the final twilight Friday of the 38-day spring meet. The next two Fridays (June 20 and 27) are Downs After Dark cards.