McPeek, Maker load up Louisville Handicap

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Judging from Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Louisville Handicap lineup, few trainers in this region other than Ken McPeek or Mike Maker have a turf stakes horse that can go a marathon distance.

Those two trainers placed three horses apiece in the 1 1/2-mile Louisville Handicap, with McPeek entering Vettori Kin, Some in Tieme, and Harlan Strong, and Maker entering Designed for War, Roman Approval, and Bronson. Yet the rest of the field includes just two others – Cooptado, an invader from Laurel for trainer Tom Morley, and Cartoon, a comebacker who last raced at Keeneland in the fall but who has been breezing this month at Arlington.

Most of the better horses nominated to the Louisville Handicap were not entered, leaving Some in Tieme as the 118-pound starting highweight, and he hasn’t won in five starts since winning this race last year.

If ever there was an opportunity to bounce back from a losing spell, the Louisville Handicap is it. In addition to him starting in what seems a soft Grade 3 race, he returns to a course over which he rolled by three lengths a year ago.

“That was a monster race,” McPeek said.

In addition to being a clear winner that day, he closed his final quarter-mile in approximately 23 seconds. He also received a 101 Beyer Speed Figure for completing 1 1/2 miles on a firm course in 2:27.25.

Sidelined from that race until the fall, he has not been as sharp since, though he has some flashes of that promise, such as when second in the Grade 3 John B. Connally on Jan. 28 at Sam Houston.

He followed that race by going unplaced behind Sadler’s Joy in the March 3 Mac Diarmida at Gulfstream and One Go All Go in the April 21 Elkorn at Keeneland, but there are no rivals of their quality in the Louisville Handicap. Six of his seven foes Saturday last raced in allowances, and the one that raced in a stakes race, Cooptado, ran 10th in the ungraded Henry Clark on April 21 at Laurel.

Manny Cruz, aboard for Some in Tieme’s Louisville Handicap win last year, returns in the irons.

Maker’s top prospect appears to be Roman Approval, a 7-year-old he reclaimed March 24 for $40,000 after losing him via a claim in May 2017 for $62,500. In one race since the claim, he showed the way in a high-priced optional claimer April 27 at Belmont before fading to second, beaten three lengths.

“He ran a great race to be second,” Maker said. “If he duplicates that effort, he should be competitive.”

Although Roman Approval has won 9 of 49 races, his win tally is but a fraction of the 19 times he has been the runner-up.

Post time for the Louisville Handicap is 5:26 p.m. Eastern, roughly an hour before the Preakness Stakes, which will be simulcast on track.