Local Knowledge takes significant drop in Bourbon Flight, but stretches out
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Local Knowledge is the fastest horse in the Bourbon Flight Stakes, and he steps down in class from the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens into listed stakes competition Saturday at Churchill Downs. Local Knowledge won the best maiden race at last fall’s Keeneland meeting, and his four Beyer Speed Figures range between 90 and 103, the mark of a serious horse.
All that, and Local Knowledge stands as the 3-1 third choice on the morning line while facing five rivals in the $300,000 Bourbon Flight. The linemaker figures those gaudy speed figures will mean less to bettors than the Bourbon Flight’s distance, 1 1/16 miles, a furlong and a half farther – and one turn more – than Local Knowledge ever has raced.
Priced at 5-2, second-choice Plutarch, for the second time in a couple of months, is entered to make his first start since winning the Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 8 at Santa Anita.
The 9-5 morning-line favorite? Stimulate, who makes his stakes debut and, like Local Knowledge, never has tried two turns.
Stimulate, though, has star potential. He’s the third foal to race out of the mare Elate, who won two Grade 1s and just missed in four others, and who ended her career with a respectable fourth facing males in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Bill Mott trained Elate for Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm, and he trains Stimulate for them, too. The colt looks dead ready for his first foray into stakes competition and should relish added ground and an additional turn Saturday.
Stimulate raced once as a 2-year-old, finishing fifth while beaten 10 lengths in a Saratoga maiden sprint, but don’t stop the video replay at the finish. A horse comes flying past everyone on the gallop-out – that’s Stimulate.
Stimulate worked back twice shortly after his debut, and worked once in November, but then went dark until this past May 17. He has not missed a beat since, and Mott thought enough of the once-started 3-year-old to work him with the Grade 1-class older horse Baeza on June 20. Stimulate was much the best over seven furlongs in his July 18 comeback run, won comfortably Aug. 22 going a 1 1/2-turn mile in first-level allowance company, and figures prominent from the start Saturday under Luis Saez.
Local Knowledge has not shown obvious signs that he’s looking for two turns, while trainer Bob Baffert scratched Plutarch from an intended comeback run Aug. 9 in the Ellis Park Derby. Plutarch’s Southern California form has not aged especially well – and Stimulate only figures to get better with age.
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