Turf allowances are bookends of Friday card
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The only two allowances on a nine-race Friday card at Churchill Downs will serve as bookend features when going as the first and last races on a program that starts at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Both are scheduled for turf, although another rainy spell was being forecast for this region for Thursday through Sunday, perhaps imperiling grass racing for much of the weekend.
A $94,000 allowance for fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles starts the Friday proceedings, while an $87,000 allowance for 3-year-olds and up going five furlongs will bring things to a close as race 9.
The weekend highlight comes Saturday, with 3-year-old fillies clashing in the $100,000 Mamzelle, a five-furlong race scheduled for turf. Entries were to be drawn Wednesday.
Hot streak for Arnold
It’s been a terrific last few weeks for trainer Rusty Arnold, who pulled one of the biggest upsets of Derby weekend when he sent out Concrete Rose to defeat the heavily favored Newspaperofrecord in the Grade 3 Edgewood Stakes last Friday.
After winning with 4 of his last 9 starters at Keeneland, Arnold went 4 for 8 to start the Churchill meet, winning three allowances besides the Edgewood. One of his allowance winners, Borracho, captured a Derby Day race over the highly regarded Hidden Scroll.
◗ Trainer Brendan Walsh said he is considering the Belmont Stakes for Plus Que Parfait, eighth in the Derby, “but I need to see where we are with him after he goes back to the track.”
“I’m taking it easy with him through this weekend,” he said.
Walsh added that he will consider the Just a Game for Proctor’s Ledge, sixth in the Distaff Turf Mile. “She was in a good spot and just didn’t have her usual punch,” he said.
◗ Amy’s Challenge, third in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff behind winner Mia Mischief, could make her next start in the six-furlong Winning Colors here May 25, “although it’s a little quick back,” said trainer Mac Robertson.
“I do want to shorten her back up, though,” he said.
◗ Trainer Al Stall Jr. said he also is inclined to cut back Bobby’s Wicked One to six furlongs after the colt finished second to Mitole in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs at seven furlongs on Derby Day. Bobby’s Wicked One won the seven-furlong Commonwealth at Keeneland in his prior start.
◗ The usual post-Derby turnover in the horse population on the Churchill backstretch was ongoing this week as a number of stables shipped out and others shipped in. Churchill stall superintendent Steve Hargrave estimated 75 to 100 stalls would turn over.
