O'Prado Ole in good spot to end losing streak
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Peacock Stable that owns a 6-year-old horse named O’Prado Ole is a group that includes Tom Hammond, Cris Collinsworth, and Michele Tafoya, all famous for their work as award-winning broadcasters for NBC Sports.
Such stardom has eluded O’Prado Ole. However, a small measure of celebrity could come his way in the feature race Friday afternoon at Churchill Downs.
“I made him 6-5 in there,” said Mike Battaglia, the Churchill oddsmaker who also is one of about a dozen people invested in Peacock. “He sure looks like the controlling speed.”
O’Prado Ole was acquired by Peacock last summer from his original owners, Donegal Racing. Dale Romans, who trained O’Prado Ole before the horse was turned over briefly to Christophe Clement, arranged for Peacock to buy him privately.
O’Prado Ole has gone winless in his last 17 starts, but he frequently has run against considerably better company than the six other horses he will face Friday in the fifth of nine Friday races, a $57,500, second-level allowance at 1 1/2 miles on turf. He appears to have rounded back to top form, having finished second for this same condition in his last two starts. He will have leading jockey Corey Lanerie aboard when breaking from post 3.
Two other allowances (races 2 and 8) also are scheduled Friday, when first post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern. The 20-cent Single 6 will be on races 4-9, and bettors will be chasing a carryover of about $525,000, unless a solo perfect ticket happens to empty the jackpot on Twilight Thursday.
KEY CONTENDERS (race 5)
O’Prado Ole, by English Channel
(Last 3 Beyers: 90-94-64)
◗ He was an exciting prospect for Donegal at 3 when capturing back-to-back turf races at Ellis Park and Keeneland, but that was a long time ago, and his new connections will settle for merely ending the drought Friday.
King Ptolemy, by Pioneerof the Nile
(Last 3 Beyers: 89-76-81)
◗ Mike Maker-trained gelding was a grind-it-out winner in an off-the-turf, first-level allowance here less than three weeks ago and figures to get a decent stalking trip under Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens.
Another Lemon Drop, by Lemon Drop Kid
(Last 3 Beyers: 89-68-63)
◗ Allowance romp early in his 3-year-old year at Fair Grounds earned him a few shots on the Kentucky Derby trail, but it wasn’t until he outran his 33-1 odds here May 15 that he returned to decent form.