Sharing a heavy favorite in Edgewood Stakes

Sharing figures to be one of the shortest prices of the day on Friday at Churchill Downs. Last year’s winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Sharing seeks her fifth win in her last six starts when she faces seven other 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 2, $300,000 Edgewood Stakes.

At one mile on turf, the Edgewood – race 9 of 13 – is a fastball down the middle for Sharing. Her Breeders’ Cup win last fall at Santa Anita was at that distance, and in her first start this year she won the Tepin over the same course and distance as the Edgewood. Regular rider Manny Franco, tuning up for Tiz the Law in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, has the mount.

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Sharing lost her most recent start, ending a four-race win streak, but she was hardly disgraced, finishing second in the Group 1 Coronation at Royal Ascot to Alpine Star. The form of that race has held up, as Alpine Star was a close second in two subsequent starts in Group 1 company in France.

“I thought she ran a very good race to a really nice horse, said trainer Graham Motion. “I was really proud of her.

“It’s a difficult thing to do. I’ve always said Tepin didn’t get the credit she deserved,” a reference to the mare who won the 2016 Queen Anne at Royal Ascot against males for trainer Mark Casse.

Sharing was considered for last month’s Del Mar Oaks, but Motion said he thought that “was pushing it.”

“She’s had a little foot issue that we’ve had to deal with on and off and it flared up after England,” he said. “After she got over that she got into a regular work pattern. This was the logical spot. She’s won there, Manny will be there. Timing-wise it was best.”

Walk In Marrakesh seems to have the best shot at defeating Sharing. If nothing else, trainer Ignacio Correas is hoping for a better trip than when they met in the Tepin and Walk In Marrakesh just couldn’t extricate herself from traffic, finishing seventh.

“She was stuck all the way around,” Correas said. “Never had a shot to get out.”

Walk In Marrakesh, who starts from the outside, should get a stalking trip in the Edgewood, similar to her last start, a second by a nose in Grade 2 Appalachian at Keeneland.

In Good Spirits, fourth in the Tepin, should set the pace from her inside draw.

Hendy Woods and Pranked were one-two in a stakes at Indiana Grand last time, but over a softer course than they are likely to encounter Friday.

Lucky Betty, Mariafoot, and Outburst complete the field.

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Twin Spires Turf Sprint

The 13-race Friday card at Churchill Downs concludes with a wide-open running of the Grade 2, $250,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint, a 5 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up that became more inscrutable on Tuesday when trainer Wesley Ward said Bound for Nowhere, the morning-line favorite, would be scratched.

Ward said he would await the Grade 3, $700,000 Runhappy Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs Sept. 12.

“Three times the money,” he said.

Two of the main beneficiaries of that development are the speedy Wellabled, who would have found Bound for Nowhere a formidable pace adversary, and High Crime, who wound up on the also-eligible list when posts were drawn Monday but now can get into the 14-horse field and compete on a course over which he won smartly in June.

Wellabled was also under consideration for the Runhappy Turf Sprint, trainer Larry Rivelli said Tuesday.

“But he’s doing great and he’s had a couple of good races over that track already,” he said of Churchill Downs, where Wellabled owns a win and a third in two starts. “So it seemed best to run there.”

Drawn in post 2, Wellabled will try to lead from start to finish under Manny Franco.

“He’ll be in front, that’s for sure,” Rivelli said.

The race could flop a number of ways. Extravagant Kid, a two-time winner over the course, could go favored off a fast-finishing fifth in the Shakertown. Win machine Chief Cicatriz ran well in his turf debut behind Wellabled last time out. Diamond Oops intrigues on the cutback following a fast final work at Palm Meadows. Longshot Just Might ran well against the race shape in the Shakertown, as did Tiger Blood, who subsequently ran second to Carotari at Ellis.