Maker expected to enter three in River City Stakes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mike Maker, who specializes in such things, plans to enter a trio of older turf horses in the highlight of the coming weekend at Churchill, the Grade 3, $175,000 River City on Saturday.

Maker said that Bemma’s Boy, Cullum Road, and Space Mountain will represent the stable in the River City, a 1 1/8-mile turf race that’s the only stakes on the Churchill schedule between the Commonwealth Turf last Saturday and the two Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28) features, the Falls City and Cardinal.

Other known prospects for the 42nd River City, for which entries will be drawn Wednesday, include Emmaus, Get Western, and Mr. Misunderstood.

Meanwhile, Zulu Alpha, a winner of three graded turf stakes this year, all for Maker, can be expected to resurface over the winter at Gulfstream Park after finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf in his final start of 2019.

Full field for feature

An oversubscribed field is entered in the lone allowance of the 10-race Wednesday card, which starts at 1 p.m. Eastern. A couple of 3-year-olds exiting a key Oct. 19 race run under similar conditions at Keeneland are among the likely favorites in the race-9 feature, those being Infinite for Wesley Ward and Uncapped for Brendan Walsh.

A $97,000 purse, including $31,000 in bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, is up for grabs in the first-level race, scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf. Fourteen are entered, with as many as 12 being allowed to start.

The feature is part of the 20-cent Single 6 (races 5-10), which begins the week with $53,995 in the rollover jackpot.

Geroux returns in style

It didn’t take Florent Geroux long to make his return to action known. Geroux swept the late double here Sunday, riding Night Ops and Bless the Kitten to close, hard-fought victories and marking the first two wins for the jockey (with just his third and fourth mounts) since his recovery from a broken sternum.

Geroux, 33, suffered the injury in an Oct. 13 training spill at Keeneland. He returned Saturday by finishing third aboard Not Fade Away, then also was third on Elle’s Town with his first mount Sunday prior to nailing both ends of the late double.

◗ The next winner for Randy Morse will be his 1,000th in a training career dating to 1981. Starting Wednesday, Morse, 57, has three entries in the coming days at Churchill and five at Remington Park.