Principe Guilherme, Dak Attack back from layoffs in opening-day allowance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As summer wanes, there’s no rest for the weary Kentucky horseman.

Aside from morning training hours and long afternoons at the Keeneland yearling sale, there’s also the racing action that has jumped from Ellis Park to Kentucky Downs and now to Churchill Downs, where an 11-day September meet gets under way Friday with a busy 10-race card.

A $60,000 allowance with several intriguing elements will anchor the Friday opener, as both Principe Guilherme and Dak Attack return from lengthy layoffs and face Madison’s Luna, a graded stakes winner, as well as Barry Lee, the first starter in more than six years for trainer Stan Hough.

Principe Guilherme and Dak Attack both were regarded as early hopefuls for the 2018 spring classics before being sidelined, and both have been working steadily toward a seven-furlong race that came up wickedly tough.

Principe Guilherme, a Tapit colt who won his first two starts by a combined 18 lengths for Three Chimneys Farm, was second as the favorite in the Lecomte and seventh as the 5-2 second choice in the Feb. 17 Risen Star before trainer Steve Asmussen had to stop on him.

Dak Attack, winner of the Ellis Juvenile and most recently third in a Gulfstream Park stakes in early January, was bothered by a sore shin before trainer Dale Romans finally called timeout.

“We’ve really been looking forward to getting him back for a long time now,” said Romans. “He’s a real talent.”

Madison’s Luna, trained by Phil Bauer, has gone winless in four starts since a five-length jaunt in the Grade 3 Hutcheson at Gulfstream in late March, including three resounding defeats when matched against some of the upper crust in the 3-year-old class.

“I was hoping for a lighter spot than this,” said Bauer. “We’re just looking to get back to the form he showed earlier in the year. We’re taking the blinkers off and have sharpened him up with a couple of pretty quick breezes. Hopefully, we’ll get back on track here.”

Stakes action gets under way Saturday with four races topped by the Grade 2 Pocahontas and Grade 3 Iroquois, the 2-year-old twins that serve as qualifying events toward the Breeders’ Cup and the Churchill classics next May. In all, nine stakes worth $1.1 million are scheduled at the meet, which runs through Sept. 30.

This is the sixth year Churchill has conducted a September meet since assuming dates from Turfway Park in 2013, and purses have risen steadily every year. The per-day average this September is projected by track officials to reach nearly $480,000, up substantially from the $427,000 paid out in September 2017, which in turn was up 12 percent over the 2016 meet.

Racing will be conducted Thursdays through Sundays. First post daily is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, except for two eight-race Thursdays (Sept. 20, 27), when first post is 5 p.m., and a Saturday card (6 p.m.) on Sept. 29. Keeneland starts its 17-day fall meet Oct. 5.