Pair of Churchill allowances sport deep fields

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dad will gladly tell you that the only thing better than spending Father’s Day at the races with family is a winning Father’s Day at the races with family.

Of course, that’s easier said than done, especially with the kind of racing Churchill Downs has been staging. There’s real depth in most fields on a 10-race Father’s Day card, particularly in a pair of allowances that highlight the final Sunday of the spring meet, and ferreting out winners can be an elusive endeavor indeed.

Longshot winners here Thursday evening nearly led to a rare carryover in the late pick five and a growing Derby City 6 jackpot being emptied, but those scenarios were rendered moot when the favorite, Whimsical Muse, came through in the finale. The results were just five winning 50-cent tickets worth $24,397.80 apiece in the pick five and a carryover of $129,948 in the Derby City 6 into Friday.

As for Sunday, the co-features go back to back as races 8 and 9, with both serving as key links in the 20-cent Derby City 6, which spans races 5-10. The jackpot can be expected to stand at somewhere near $150,000, assuming it wasn’t emptied by a solo winning ticket before then.

Race 8 is a $104,000, second-level turf mile that drew an oversubscribed field of older horses. Attorney Tim, a winner earlier in the meet for Greg Foley, is among a handful of top contenders in a scramble that also includes two starters in the main body for both Mike Maker (Forty Under and Monarchs Glen) and Cherie DeVaux (Silenced and Own Agenda). In all, 17 are entered, with only as many as 12 allowed to start.

Race 9 is a $102,000, first-level allowance race in which 10 3-year-olds and upward will go 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track. Happymac, well drawn in the outside post for jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. and trainer Steve Asmussen, figures to come favored, armed with superior Beyer Speed Figures, including an 86 that carried him to a near-miss runner-up finish at this same level last month.

First post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with mostly sunny skies and a high of 91 in the forecast.

Purses listed here are the maximum, given that non-claiming/starter races at Churchill include sizable bonuses for registered Kentucky-breds only.

After Sunday, Churchill goes dark for three days before the final three-day stretch of the 38-day meet resumes Thursday with an eight-race twilight card. The meet ends Saturday with the huge Stephen Foster card and with all wagering pools, including the Derby City 6, being subject to mandatory payouts. Ellis Park in western Kentucky opens its summer meet the following day.