Grade 1 winner Gunite returns in Churchill allowance
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With six stakes and two allowances on a big Saturday card, you might’ve thought the races at Churchill Downs the previous day would be a little light by necessity.
But no. Three straight allowances with six-figure purses are the highlights of a nine-race Friday card, a fair barometer of just how well things are going these days on the Kentucky circuit. All three co-features are part of the late multi-race wagers, including the 20-cent Derby City 6, which comprises races 4-9.
First post through the weekend is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, including the Foster Preview Day card Saturday. Dry weather and high temperatures in the low- to mid-80s are in the forecast through Sunday.
Race 6
Hidden Stash, whose furious stretch rally in a Kentucky Derby week allowance was late by only a stride or two, is the lukewarm program favorite in this $134,000, second-level allowance for older horses going 1 1/16 miles on turf. Listed purses for all these races include sizable bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds.
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Hidden Stash, with Rafael Bejarano riding for Vicki Oliver, will be looking to snap an eight-race winless streak with the comebacking Mud Pie as one of his main rivals. Other considerations include the Calumet Farm entry of Grey Streak and Kentucky Pharoah, along with Offlee Naughty and Hombre.
Race 7
Gunite, winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful, is both the morning-line choice and the X factor in this $134,000, second-level allowance for 3-year-olds going seven furlongs. Away for eight months since finishing well back in the Grade 1 Champagne, the Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred has been sent through eight timed works since early April by Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen leading into this comeback start.
Call Me Midnight, best known for his 28-1 upset of the Asmussen-trained Epicenter in the Lecomte at Fair Grounds in January, is among the five opponents. Gunite and Call Me Midnight both will be racing on Lasix for the first time.
Race 8
An oversubscribed lineup of 3-year-old fillies going a one-turn mile on the main track for a $127,000 purse is headed by the rail filly, Cocktail Moments, who also will be getting first-time Lasix coming off an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. The Kenny McPeek trainee was second behind one of the divisional leaders, Nest, in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland in her previous start.
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Plausible upsetters in this first-level race include Falconet, a sharp last-out maiden winner for Todd Pletcher, and Street Jam, who won the Oaks Day finale on debut at 38-1 for Ian Wilkes.
