Regret contenders come from all angles
McKulick, who has proven graded stakes form, is making her second start off a layoff. Walkathon, who blossomed when switched to turf, is making her first start in a graded race. And Candy Raid is launching the second half of her season after pursuing the Kentucky Oaks. All are eligible to take a step forward and make up an interesting field for the Grade 3, $200,000 Regret Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at nine furlongs on the turf Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs.
McKulick, who will have leading Churchill rider Tyler Gaffalione in the irons for the first time for trainer Chad Brown, won her debut at Saratoga, defeating Consumer Spending, a stablemate who has gone on to win two stakes. McKulick was then third by a length in the Grade 2 Miss Grillo last October at Belmont. In her first outing in seven months, she was a rallying second, beaten 2 3/4 lengths, on this Churchill Downs course in the Grade 2 Edgewood on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 85, narrowly the top career number in this field.
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Candy Raid runs similar numbers on her best days, but is still something of a mystery. She posted an 83 Beyer with a rallying upset victory in the Bourbonette Oaks on Turfway’s Tapeta. That earned her a spot in the Kentucky Oaks, in which she was a troubled ninth of 14 with an 84 Beyer. She has been well beaten in two turf starts.
Walkathon has won two straight around two turns since moving to turf for Ian Wilkes, winning a maiden race at Keeneland and then winning an allowance May 14 at Churchill with a career-best 80 Beyer. The filly has shown tactical ability to adjust to the pace, and, although she is less than ideally drawn on the rail under Julien Leparoux, that adjustability may prove key. McKulick, Candy Raid, and stakes winner Kneesnhips, fourth in the Edgewood, are reliant on the development of early pace. That speed would likely come from Beside Herself, a last-out allowance winner in post 2, and Lola Flo, a front-running claiming winner.
Later in the card, the Regret’s corresponding open race is the $200,000 Audubon Stakes. The gutsy Grand Sonata is looking for his third stakes victory this season, but the field is more competitive than it appears at first glance.
Grand Sonata opened 2022 with narrow wins in the Dania Beach and Grade 3 Kitten’s Joy in Florida. He most recently made a mild rally into a slow pace to be second by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 3 Transylvania at Keeneland.
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Grand Sonata is this field’s only graded winner on turf. His Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Major General won last September’s Grade 3 Iroquois on the Churchill dirt – which often plays kindly to turf-type horses – but is moving to turf for the first time.
This is a well-matched field in terms of last-out Beyers, as Smokin’ T earned an 83 when fourth in the Grade 2 American Turf on Derby Day; Grand Sonata, James Jones, and Speaking Scout each come off an 81; and Red Run, Summer Anthem, and Tallahatchiebridge each posted 80 in their last. James Jones and Tallahatchiebridge are the only winners at this 1 1/8-mile distance.