Trio of allowance races pivotal in pick five with $119,514 carryover

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Three straight allowances (races 7, 8, 9) serve as co-features at Churchill on Wednesday, when a rare five-day week lacking a stakes race will get under way at 1 p.m. Eastern.

All three co-features not only are in a Single 6 sequence (races 5-10) with a $151,379 jackpot – the first six-figure carryover at this meet – but also in the late pick five (races 6-10), which offers a carryover ($119,514) for the second time in less than a week.

Race 7 is a $97,000 first-level turf route that has a pair of sharp last-out Keeneland maiden winners – Pass the Plate and Across – among the likely favorites in an oversubscribed field of 2-year-old fillies.

Race 8 is a $97,000 main-track mile in which the $2.6 million purchase Gun It will try to get through his first allowance condition as the program favorite in a field of eight 3-year-olds and up.

Race 9 is a $99,000 second-level race with a field of 12 3-year-olds and up going seven furlongs. The morning line has Curate as the 9-2 favorite, which illustrates how competitive a group it is.

A calendar quirk is responsible for Churchill omitting a stakes from the schedule this week. Most fall meets run 21 days at Churchill, but a late Thanksgiving (Nov. 28) led to a 26-day schedule this year. The 2020 fall meet will revert to the norm.

The late pick five here last Saturday resulted in $792,712 in new bets chasing a $85,299 carryover.