McPeek has leading contenders in Bourbon Trail, Seneca

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Creative Minister delivered a breakthrough performance on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs by winning a first-level allowance, one further validated by a highly respectable third-place finish two weeks later in the Preakness.

Since then, however, the colt has yet to follow up. Three straight defeats have dulled some of that luster, but now comes an opportunity for Creative Minister to once again make his presence felt in the 3-year-old division. He’ll be among a core of lukewarm favorites Saturday night at Churchill when he tries to keep his trainer, Kenny McPeek, unbeaten in the very brief history of the Bourbon Trail Stakes.

“I’m excited to get him back to Churchill,” said McPeek, who won the inaugural Bourbon Trail last September when King Fury romped by 13 lengths. “I’m thinking maybe he didn’t handle those heavier racetracks quite as well in New York and up east,” referring to losses at Belmont Park, Saratoga, and Parx Racing. “His races at Churchill and Pimlico were exceptional.”

The $275,000 Bourbon Trail will be run at 1 3/16 miles under the Churchill lights with as many as nine 3-year-old colts. Creative Minister will break from post 8 with Brian Hernandez Jr. riding.

Besides Creative Minister, who earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure in his May 7 win at Churchill and a 100 in the Preakness – only to regress to an 85-85-82 sequence – a well-matched lineup also includes Home Brew, Saint Tapit, and Warrior Johny as major players.

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Home Brew (post 2, Ricardo Santana Jr.) will draw solid play as a two-back winner of the Pegasus at Monmouth Park with a 96 Beyer. Trainer Brad Cox now adds blinkers after the Street Sense colt was hindered by a poor start in the West Virginia Derby in his latest.

Saint Tapit (post 3, Tyler Gaffalione) ships in from Saratoga for Todd Pletcher as the apparent speed in here when exiting a pair of promising one-turn efforts to start his career.

Warrior Johny (post 4, Joe Talamo) got a 99 Beyer in a last-out Saratoga allowance triumph for Phil Bauer, who entered this week with eight wins from his last 17 starters.

The Bourbon Trail goes as race 10 (10:42 p.m. Eastern) as the last of four straight stakes on an 11-race night program. Its filly counterpart, the Seneca overnight, is the first of the stakes (race 7, 9:05).

Seven fillies in Seneca

McPeek stands an excellent chance in here, too, when he saddles the last-out Saratoga allowance winner Cocktail Moments, a late-striding Uncle Mo filly who earned an 89 Beyer when snapping a five-race losing streak that included several attempts versus the elite of the division.

Cocktail Moments will have Junior Alvarado back aboard when she breaks from post 5 in the $160,000 Seneca, which goes at 1 1/16 miles.

“That last one really picked her head up,” said McPeek.

Turnerloose (post 1, Santana) goes turf to dirt for Cox as a top challenger, particularly in view of how she became a Grade 2 winner in February when upsetting the Rachel Alexandra on the Fair Grounds main track.

At least one other prime contender in an interesting cast is Falconet (post 3, Gaffalione), a Pletcher trainee making her first start since finishing second as an odds-on favorite behind the McPeek-trained Butterbean in the July 9 Iowa Oaks.

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