Spring Again switches surfaces, shortens up

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Spring Again has been something of a disappointment since winning a maiden race last fall, but that doesn’t mean she still can’t become a useful filly for Wesley Ward.

“We’re going to kind of start all over with her,” Ward said. “We’re backing her up to six furlongs and putting her back on the dirt. I’m very interested to see what that does for her.”

Spring Again is one of just five 3-year-old fillies entered in the first of two allowances carded for Sunday at Churchill Downs, where a nine-race program starts at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. With journeyman Dylan Davis taking the call, she was assigned post 2 in the seventh race when turning back from a series of turf routes.

Spring Again likely has Bird Maker as her chief opponent in the $52,000, first-level allowance. Trained by Ian Wilkes for owner and breeder Marylou Whitney, Bird Maker will be making her first start since being well-beaten in the Grade 2 Gazelle at Aqueduct in early April.

The others in the field are Awesome Houdini, Homesick Angel, and Annuity.

The other allowance closes out the card as race 9, another $52,000, first-level event, albeit a turf route for older fillies and mares. The finale drew a considerably larger field but has no clear-cut favorite, with six of the 11 starters being pegged between 7-2 and 6-1 on the program line.

Rocktique (post 8, Corey Lanerie) is the nominal favorite coming off a surprisingly good second in a similar turf allowance on the last Saturday of the Keeneland spring meet, but she clearly must show that that big effort at 31-1 was no fluke. Her logical challengers include Strike Charmer, Princess Mariah, Jadira, Personal Diary, and Bluegrass Sapphire.

◗ There will be racing here Monday, normally a dark day, with the $100,000 Winning Colors Stakes serving as the feature of a Memorial Day card that starts at 12:45. There will be no racing Thursday to make up for the lost dark day.