Three Californians target Churchill stakes on Kentucky Derby weekend

CYPRESS, Calif. – The stakes winners Calculator, Finnegans Wake, and Frank Conversation will make their next starts at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby weekend.

Calculator, second in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct on April 9, will start in the $400,000 Alysheba Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on May 6 or the $500,000 Churchill Downs Stakes at seven furlongs May 7, trainer Peter Miller said.

Calculator won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita in January 2015 but missed the rest of last season with a leg injury.

Miller plans to run Finnegans Wake in the $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at 1 1/8 miles on May 7, a race the 7-year-old horse won in 2015. In his only start this year, Finnegans Wake was sixth in the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes on a soggy turf course at Santa Anita on April 9.

Miller said he was not discouraged by Finnegans Wake’s loss in the Thunder Road.

“We wanted to get a race under his belt and tighten him up for the Woodford,” he said.

Frank Conversation, who won the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby and California Derby at Golden Gate Fields this year, finished last of seven under jockey Mario Gutierrez in the $2 million UAE Derby at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on March 26.

Frank Conversation is being pointed for the $300,000 American Turf Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on May 7, trainer Doug O’Neill said. A start in that race would reflect a relatively quick turnaround from the UAE Derby, but O’Neill said Frank Conversation emerged from the race in the Middle East with minimal fatigue.

“He came out of the race well,” O’Neill said. “When Mario knew he wasn’t winning, he took care of him.”