Interest Free looks sharp ahead of Open Mind Stakes
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Baby needs new shoes, and Brian Hernandez Jr. is intent on making a little cash to buy her some.
Hernandez and his wife, Jamie, became parents for the first time Wednesday with the birth of a daughter, Joshlynn. The newborn is named partly in honor of Jamie’s late brother, Josh Radosevich, a jockey killed in a spill at Beulah Park in 2005.
Hernandez will be back in the saddle this weekend at Churchill Downs, where on Saturday, he will ride Interest Free as a plausible favorite in the $100,000 Open Mind Stakes at six furlongs.
“She has worked great since her last race,” said Hernandez, who has ridden and breezed Interest Free with regularity in recent months. “The longer stretch at Churchill should help her in making her run.”
Interest Free, a gray 4-year-old owned by Will Farish and trained by Neil Howard, will be wearing blinkers for the first time when breaking from post 4 in a field of seven fillies and mares.
Vuitton, winless since capturing the Open Mind last fall at almost 8-1, is one of the would-be contenders in the Open Mind, although trainer Eddie Kenneally opted to cross-enter her Saturday in the $200,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint.
The Open Mind, named for the Hall of Fame filly of the late 1980s, is carded as the ninth of 10 Saturday races. First post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the feature set for 4:55. The program also includes two allowances (races 3 and 10).
Key contenders
Interest Free (Last 3 Beyers: 86-80-90)
* Best known for his exemplary work with Summer Squall and Mineshaft, Howard shows “trainer intent” by adding blinkers and having sent this filly out for three sharp workouts since she ran a so-so fifth in the one-mile Gardenia at Ellis Park five weeks ago.
Flower Spell (Last 3 Beyers: 90-84-80)
* Earned her career-high Beyer in gamely holding off fellow Open Mind starter Janis’s Joy in a small Canterbury Park stakes last out when continuing to display peak form.
* This Chicago-based trainer-jockey team is hitting at almost 30 percent together this year.
Aireofdistinction (Last 3 Beyers: 78-77-73)
* She lost her first six races, then won four in a row, and now has lost three in a row for Steve Asmussen, who came out firing last weekend at Churchill by sending out the one-two finishers in the Grade 3 Iroquois and unveiling a number of promising 2-year-olds.
