Stevens picks up mount on Effinex for Stephen Foster Handicap

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Effinex will be ridden by Gary Stevens next Saturday night in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs in the absence of regular rider Mike Smith, who is committed to ride Songbird a few hours earlier in the Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita.

Effinex figures as a solid favorite in the 35th running of the $500,000 Foster, a Win and You’re In event toward the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Classic and the richest of five graded stakes on a Downs After Dark program.

Effinex was sent through his final prerace breeze Friday morning over the Belmont training track, going five furlongs in 1:01. He will be flown Sunday to Louisville via equine charter alongside other Kentucky-based horses returning from the big Belmont Stakes weekend.

Effinex, a 5-year-old New York-bred horse, won the Oaklawn Handicap on April 16 in his last start and is regarded among the top handicap horses on the continent. He won the Grade 1 Clark Handicap here last fall after finishing second to American Pharoah in the BC Classic at Keeneland. The Friday breeze was his fifth since the Oaklawn victory.

Stevens, the Hall of Fame jockey with more than 5,000 career wins, has been riding regularly this spring in Kentucky, where he still maintains a home. Smith, also a Hall of Famer, has ridden Effinex in his last four races.

“It’s a one-time deal,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said of using Stevens. “It’s great having Stevens regardless, but he understands the situation.”

Effinex is one of at least six older horses expected for the 1 1/8-mile Foster, along with El Kabeir, Eagle, Majestic Harbor, International Star, and Mobile Bay. Weights will be released Saturday, and entries for the entire 11-race card will be taken and drawn Wednesday.

Majestic Harbor, a 13-1 winner of the Grade 2 Alysheba on the May 6 Kentucky Oaks undercard, went a bullet five furlongs Thursday in 1:00.40 at Churchill for trainer Paul McGee. Eagle, the Alysheba Stakes runner-up, is scheduled to breeze Monday for Neil Howard.

El Kabeir, owned by the Zayat Stables of American Pharoah fame, was scratched by trainer John Terranova from the Met Mile on Saturday at Belmont after being assigned post 1. He also will be on the Sunday charter.

– additional reporting by Jay Privman