Next Shares facing tough company in Tourist Mile

Next Shares has done enough, you’d think, to merit favoritism Saturday in the $750,000 Tourist Mile at Kentucky Downs. But his recent form isn’t all that swell, and with so many other viable alternatives, horseplayers should really enjoy picking apart the full field entered in the opening-day feature at the south-central Kentucky track.

Next Shares, an earner of more than $1.5 million in his 25-race career, will break from post 2 under Florent Geroux in the 22nd Tourist Mile. With his best effort, sure, the 6-year-old gelding can emerge a winner as a lukewarm morning-line favorite, but he has finished no better than sixth in his last three races – although all were Grade 1’s in which he experienced some kind of trouble.

Last September at Kentucky Downs, Next Shares won the Old Friends, a restricted race that catapulted him to a 23-1 upset of the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile in his next start. A return to those peak efforts obviously would make him a major player Saturday, and seven workouts in Southern California since mid-July for trainer Richard Baltas are intended toward that end.

Among the multitude of capable opponents are Hembree, a steadily improved sort for trainer Mike Maker since winning over the local course last September; Snapper Sinclair, winner of the Kentucky Downs Juvenile in 2017 for Steve Asmussen; and Mr Cub, a gritty last-out winner of the Tourist Preview at Ellis Park when returning from a six-month layoff for Ian Wilkes.

Also, Majestic Eagle, a two-back winner of the Grade 3 American Stakes at Santa Anita for Neil Drysdale; Parlor, a last-out stakes winner at Delaware Park for Eddie Kenneally; and Real Story, a last-out stakes winner at Indiana Grand for Ignacio Correas.

One of a handful of sleeper types, First Premio, signaled a readiness to join the ranks of elite turf milers in winning a Keeneland allowance in April, but three subsequent defeats have tempered those thoughts, particularly with his 10th-place finish last month in the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple at Saratoga.

“He’s kind of a horse that needs some time between races sometimes, so maybe that’s what got him,” said trainer Mark Casse.

There’s speed aplenty in the Tourist lineup, with Siem Riep and the only non-Kentucky-bred Great Wide Open likely to contest the early fractions, and a too-hot pace could set the table for a stretch runner such as Next Shares.

In all, 14 are entered in the Tourist, with only as many as 12 allowed to start. The top performers can be expected to run back Oct. 5 at Keeneland in the $1 million Shadwell, a Win and You’re In event toward the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

The Tourist is named for the young WinStar Farm stallion who won the 2016 BC Mile at Santa Anita in a record 1:31.71. The race previously had been known as the More Than Ready Mile, and before that the Franklin-Simpson Mile. It goes as the eighth of 10 Saturday races, with post time set for 4:11 p.m. Central.