Gotta dig Share the Upside in Aristides Stakes
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Share the Upside has yet to win a stakes, but come late Saturday night at Churchill Downs, everything could be groovy. The 4-year-old gelding will be a solid favorite in the Aristides, a Grade 3 race that anchors a Downs After Dark card sporting a theme to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the famed Woodstock festival.
This will be the 50th night program at Churchill since lights were first put to use in June 2009. Besides all that peace, love, and tie-dyed outfits, there’ll be plenty of speed on display when the $125,000 Aristides follows the $120,000 Mighty Beau well after the sun goes down.
Share the Upside, with superior Beyer Speed Figures and a form cycle to suggest he could develop into a major player in the national sprint ranks, clearly is the horse to beat in the six-furlong Aristides, which will be run at 10:42 p.m. Eastern as the 10th of 11 races. Trained by Steve Asmussen for the partnership of Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings and Windsor Boys Racing, Share the Upside left Churchill last fall with an authoritative allowance victory on closing day of the fall meet, earning a 95 Beyer, then got even better over the winter.
In three starts at Oaklawn Park, the son of Maclean’s Music earned Beyers of 101, 101, and 96, sandwiching two more allowance victories around a runner-up finish in the Hot Springs Stakes in early March. One of his vanquished rivals in his most recent start on April 20 was Wilbo, a venerable gelding with 33 starts and a field-high bankroll of $670,030.
“How’re we gonna flip the script?” asked Chris Hartman, who trains Wilbo for Chris Wilkins. “I don’t know. Maybe we can. We’re going to try. All I know is my horse is doing good and he’ll bring his ‘A’ game.”
Share the Upside, with Ricardo Santana Jr. to ride, will break from post 3 in this 31st running of the Aristides. Wilbo, second in the 2017 Aristides and third in the 2018 renewal, will have Corey Lanerie aboard from post 6.
The balance of the Aristides cast includes four of the first five finishers in the May 4 Kentucky Derby Day opener. Kowboy Karma won that allowance in a frantic finish, followed closely by Control Stake (second), Mr. Crow (third), and Zipp On By (fifth).
Petrov rounds out the Aristides lineup of seven older horses.
As for the Mighty Beau, which directly precedes the Aristides as race 9 (post, 10:11), the five-furlong race marks the first start on turf for Bobby’s Wicked One, a two-back winner of the Grade 3 Commonwealth at Keeneland.
“We’re just trying to give ourselves more options,” trainer Al Stall Jr. said. “His pedigree says he could love the grass. There’s a $700,000 race at Kentucky Downs, and you need to have grass earnings for it, so this is a good place to start. The Aristides would’ve been fine, but we might find a new avenue here. Let’s see if he takes to the grass – or actually moves up, which I think he could.”
A field of 10 older horses was entered in the Mighty Beau, but the lone female in the lineup, Morticia, was likely to scratch. Trainer Rusty Arnold cross-entered her in a $104,000 allowance restricted to fillies and mares on Sunday.
First post Saturday is 6 p.m., with the race 11 finale going at 11:10. General admission is $12. The weather forecast calls for clear skies and a nighttime low of 66.