Top 2 hard to figure

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The feature race Tuesday at Churchill Downs would be difficult to handicap if just one of the favorites were returning from a lengthy layoff.

But both Dream Run and Keats, a pair of graded stakes-winning 4-year-olds, have been away for extensive periods, making race 8 a particularly tough exercise for horseplayers.

Dream Run, winner of the Gulfstream Sprint Championship in February for owner Jack Murphy, is unraced since running poorly in the Moseley Handicap on the Massachusetts Handicap undercard last summer.

Keats, winner of the Coolmore Lexington Stakes at 3 for Henry Pabst, has been away even longer, having run third in the New Orleans Handicap in March in his last start.

Both have been working sharply since being given time off, and both will be strongly backed Tuesday when part of a field of six in a $58,200 allowance. The 6 1/2-furlong distance figures to be beneficial to either horse, since both have natural speed that could be accentuated by their being fresh.

Their four opponents in the Tuesday feature are Binthebest, Cojet, Big Bad George, and Storm Craft.

Two other allowances also are carded for Tuesday, the beginning of the final five-day stretch of racing here. The meet ends with four Grade 2 stakes over the final three programs, starting with the Falls City Handicap on Thursday.

* What a Bad Day, the beaten favorite in the Nov. 3 Iroquois Stakes, will not run in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes after suffering a knee injury in a recent workout, said trainer Carl Nafzger.

The KJC and Golden Rod close out the meet Saturday. Nafzger still has the likely favorite for the Golden Rod in My Boston Gal.

o Big Country, a 2-year-old colt, was never a factor, and finished sixth in his career debut in race 4 Saturday, a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race. Ridden by Pat Day, Big Country was last of 12 down the backstretch before passing tired rivals in the final quarter-mile.

Big Country, an Overbrook Farm homebred, is trained by D. Wayne Lukas. His sire, A.P. Indy, is one of the most successful in the world, and his mare, Flanders, was the 2-year-old filly champion of 1994.

* Bidis ($8.60), a three-time stakes winner in 2001, snapped a seven-race losing streak when leading most of the way in the third race Saturday, a $54,500 allowance sprint. Robby Albarado was aboard for trainer Sonny Wigginton.