Gun Runner works five furlongs for Stephen Foster Handicap

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Gun Runner geared up for the Grade 1, $500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs on June 17 by working five furlongs in 1:01.20 on Monday for trainer Steve Asmussen.

Monday’s breeze marked Gun Runner’s longest work since resuming training following his runner-up finish to Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup on March 25 at Meydan, where he was beaten 2 1/4 lengths after setting the pace. A five-time graded stakes winner with earnings of more than $4.3 million, he had breezed half-miles in 51 seconds on May 8 and May 15.

Churchill Downs clockers caught Gun Runner in splits of 13.20 seconds, 25, and 36.60 before timing him galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.60 and seven furlongs in 1:28.60, accomplished without urging from his exercise rider.

Regarded by many as the second-best older handicap horse in the country behind Arrogate, Gun Runner won’t be without a challenge in the Stephen Foster. Also expected to run is another talented Churchill Downs-based horse in Bird Song, the winner of the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes on Oaks Day, and out-of-town invaders also regularly target the race.

Bird Song breezed Saturday at Churchill, covering a half-mile in 50 seconds over a “good” surface in his first work since the Alysheba.

Gun Runner, owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm, is a winner of three of five starts at Churchill Downs, including the Grade 1 Clark Handicap last fall in his last appearance beneath the Twin Spires. He was also third behind Nyquist and Exaggerator in last year’s Kentucky Derby.