Lonesome Street eligible to improve second time back from layoff

LEXINGTON, Ky. – When fresh, racehorses sometimes want to do too much too fast. That might well have been the case earlier in the Keeneland meet with a 3-year-old named Lonesome Street, who got a little antsy in the early stages of a race that was his first in nearly seven weeks.

Trainer Mike Maker was none too pleased that Lonesome Street went to the lead in that Oct. 14 comebacker, but is optimistic the same scenario won’t unfold Friday, when Lonesome Street tries to redeem himself as a beaten favorite in the nominal feature, a $51,000, second-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

With Julien Leparoux to ride, Lonesome Street will break from post 3 in a field of eight in the seventh of 10 Friday races.

“Hopefully Julien can just ease him out of there and work out a nice trip this time,” said Maker.

Lonesome Street, a Broken Vow colt owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, has been quite effective in a number of races when racing just off the pace, most notably when he was second in a couple of stakes earlier this year, the Rushaway at Turfway and the Quick Call at Saratoga.

The main challengers in the Friday feature could be Formulaforsuccess, another Broken Vow 3-year-old who finished second at 19-1 in the same Oct. 14 race in which Lonesome Street faded to fourth, and Max Silverhammer, a steady performer with 3 wins and 3 seconds this year.

One other allowance (race 9) also is carded for Friday. It’s a $49,000 turf marathon carrying a first-level condition, with Leparoux getting the mount on Bigshot, one of a handful of logical contenders. Bigshot is trained by Ken McPeek, who entered the final week of the meet tied for leading trainer and with a solid chance to top the standings for the second straight fall.

Other contenders include Harrods Creek for the Hall of Fame team of Bill Mott and Kent Desormeaux, as well as Alcomatch, with Garrett Gomez riding for Christophe Clement.

Friday marks the next to last day of the 17-day fall meet. The Grade 2 Fayette Stakes helps to close the meet Saturday, after which live action on this circuit shifts Sunday to Churchill Downs in Louisville.