Paid Up Subscriber targets Saratoga stakes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Paid Up Subscriber, who earned an expenses-paid berth to the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Distaff by rolling to her first stakes victory Saturday night in the Fleur de Lis Handicap, will head soon to Saratoga, where she could take part in the major filly-and-mare races that start with the Grade 3 Shuvee on July 31, according to trainer Al Stall Jr.

Stall is working backward from the Breeders’ Cup and already is penciling in the Grade 1 Spinster on Oct. 9 at Keeneland as the logical final BC prep for Paid Up Subscriber, a 4-year-old Candy Ride filly owned by Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence.

While Untapable has been retired after finishing fourth in the Fleur de Lis, trainer Neil Howard will consider where to go next with Ahh Chocolate, who faded to fifth as the 5-2 second choice.

“She was up closer than normal, and I don’t know if that’s her best style,” he said. “But then, you can’t always get it the way you want.”

• Downs After Dark attendance was 19,043 on Saturday, with all-sources handle of $7,150,205.

Understandably, those numbers were down substantially from the 2015 Foster night, when Triple Crown winner American Pharoah was on parade just a week after his Belmont Stakes victory. A crowd of 28,968 turned out that night and contributed to all-sources handle of $8,089,559, the third-highest for a Downs After Dark card (the record is $8.86 million, set in April 2011).

This was the 38th Downs After Dark program at Churchill, where lights were first used in 2009. The 39th is set for closing night of the spring meet, July 2. The Foster, which dates to 1982, was first held at night in 2012.

• Although tickets were alive on two horses for a solo sweep worth more than $800,000 in the Single Six on Sunday, the result was the same: yet another jackpot carryover when live action resumes here Thursday. The pool stands at $622,389.

The Single Six still has not been swept since it was “reseeded” on May 13 with half the money left over from the $2 pick six offered on Kentucky Derby Day (the other half was used in a mandatory payout May 12). Whether or not the jackpot is emptied before then, a mandatory payout will be required on closing night, July 2.

Churchill officials said they asked the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for permission to have half of the burgeoning Single Six pool offered as a mandatory payout on Foster night, but the request did not make the agenda for the KHRC meeting held last week.

• With just seven of 38 days remaining at the spring meet, only the trainers’ race is tight, with Mark Casse and Mike Maker deadlocked atop the standings with 18 wins each. Corey Lanerie is the top jockey with 46 wins, while Ken and Sarah Ramsey lead all owners with 12 wins.

• The next victory for Channing Hill, who is named on two mounts each Thursday and Friday at Churchill, will be the 1,000th of a riding career that began in 2003 in his native Nebraska.