Sharp chasing first Churchill training title with Cox on his heels

It’s no surprise seeing Brad Cox in contention for the trainer’s title at the Churchill spring meet, but there are other surprises within the trainer standings.

Cox came into the last five days of the season trailing Joe Sharp by one winner, 16 to 15. Sharp beat out Cox for the Fair Grounds training title this past winter but never has led the trainer standings at Churchill. Moreover, those are low win totals for this meet: Steve Asmussen won the spring meet crown a year ago with 33 wins, while Mike Maker and Cox both notched 20 winners. Asmussen has 10 winners (and 37 second- and third-place finishes!) from 137 runners, the same number of winners as Maker and Kenny McPeek during a meet in which training wins have been more widely distributed than normal.

In another unsurprising development, Jose Ortiz with 47 winners and Luis Saez with 44 are head and head for leading rider entering the meeting’s final week.

◗ Agent Matt Muzikar told Steve Byk from the satellite radio show “At the Races” that jockey Tyler Gaffalione had a doctor’s appointment Wednesday that would help determine exactly when Gaffalione can resume riding. Gaffalione broke his ankle in late March.

◗ A first-level dirt sprint allowance, race 8, is the modest headliner on Wednesday’s nine-race program. The race looks inscrutable, but B Sudd, 2-3-2 from nine Churchill starts, should get a favorable setup. B Sudd ran into an extremely sharp winner named Pinfire finishing third at this class level May 29 and ought to have room for modest improvement making his second start back from a freshening.

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