Pneumatic starts road back in Churchill allowance
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Sidetracked, but never forgotten. The stakes-winning colt named Pneumatic will make his first start in precisely a year when he returns to action Sunday, closing day at the September meet at Churchill Downs.
It was on Oct. 3, 2020, that Pneumatic finished a distant 10th in the 145th Preakness before a mostly empty grandstand at Pimlico. Shortly thereafter, the Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred was diagnosed with a throat infection so severe that it took all this time to remedy.
“Lengthy treatment, multiple surgeries,” Winchell racing manager David Fiske said, showing photos as proof. “It was pretty ugly.”
Duly recovered, Pneumatic will make his comeback in a $141,000 third-level allowance that helps bring the 12-day meet to an end. The seven-furlong feature goes as the ninth of 10 races, all on dirt.
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Trained by Steve Asmussen, Pneumatic will have Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard from post 4 when he faces eight other older horses. The 4-year-old Uncle Mo colt has been on a steady work pattern since late July, posting nine works at Keeneland, Turfway Park, and Churchill.
“The work tab looks pretty good,” said Fiske. “At some point you have to enter him.”
If he returns in form, Pneumatic could be on his way to re-entering the ranks of the elite. He won his first two races, both at the 2020 Oaklawn Park meet, putting him into a wide discussion for Triple Crown events ultimately delayed by the pandemic. He then was third behind Maxfield in the Matt Winn at Churchill, fourth behind Tiz the Law in the Belmont Stakes, and an odds-on winner of the Pegasus at Monmouth. Then came the Preakness letdown with an obvious excuse.
If Pneumatic isn’t back to his normal self, this closing-day feature could become a real scramble. Sonneman, a second Asmussen trainee, is a logical contender, along with Lamartine, one of three starters in here entered for an optional $80,000 claiming tag. Finnick the Fierce and Necker Island are other notables.
One other allowance, race 7, a $127,000 first-level allowance for fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles, also is part of the Sunday card, which starts at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. An 80 percent chance of rain is in the local forecast.
Purses listed here are the maximum, given that non-claiming/starter races include sizable bonuses for registered Kentucky-breds only.
After Sunday, the Kentucky circuit goes dark for four days before Keeneland starts its fall meet Friday with a 10-race card highlighted by the Grade 1 Alcibiades and Grade 2 Phoenix. Racing returns Oct. 31 to Churchill for the fall meet, which like the September meet will be run exclusively on the main track as the turf-course renovation continues.