Street Sense rematches allowance rivals

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If the co-featured Street Sense on the Sunday opening-day card is any indication, the Churchill Downs fall meet should be outstanding.

Eleven 2-year-olds will go a one-turn mile in the $120,000 Street Sense, and more than half the field has a legitimate shot at victory. South Bend might come favored after winning his first two starts, but it’d be no surprise if any of a number of challengers pulled an upset.

After winning at first asking here in September, South Bend, trained by Stan Hough for Sagamore Farm, outgamed Wheat King in a Beard Course allowance on opening weekend of the Keeneland fall meet. They’ll start alongside each other in their Sunday rematch in posts 4 and 3, respectively.

Wheat King “took pressure and acted like he was finished, but he just kept coming,” trainer Mark Casse said this week by phone from his Ocala, Fla., farm. “I was really impressed with him.”

Another contender from the Keeneland meet is Silver Prospector, who broke through by earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure – highest in this field – in an Oct. 13 maiden score for trainer Steve Asmussen. Other possibilities include Sprawl, a last-out maiden winner at Keeneland for Bill Mott; Fighting Seabee, the wild card of the group after racing exclusively on grass for Kenny McPeek; and a second Casse starter, Tap It to Win, who threw in a real clunker in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland off a sharp Saratoga maiden win.

Tap It to Win “has tremendous ability but can be a little spotty,” Casse said.

After breaking from post 1 in the Breeders’ Futurity, “he forgot to take a left, and that was pretty much it,” Casse said.

The Street Sense, named for the 2007 Kentucky Derby winner, goes at 5:36 p.m. Eastern as the 10th of 11 races.