Two allowances highlight final day of meet
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLELOUISVILLE, Ky. – No sooner has the Kentucky racing scene shifted to Churchill Downs before it’s ready to move again. The last of 11 days at the September meet is Sunday.
The circuit has bounced from Ellis Park to Kentucky Downs to Churchill to Keeneland in a little more than 30 days.
Two $45,000 first-level turf allowances highlight the 10-race Sunday finale, which begins at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Race 4 is for 2-year-olds trying a mile, and race 9 is for 3-year-olds and upward going 1 1/16 miles. Neither has a standout favorite.
The likely choice in race 4 is Tell the Truth, in large part because the Graham Motion-trained colt last raced in the Grade 2 With Anticipation at Saratoga. Nassau Talent, Minister’s Strike, and Gemacho look like the top challengers.
Two 3-year-olds who made their latest start at Kentucky Downs, Nessy and Go Navy Go, figure among the core of favorites in race 9. Nessy exits the Dueling Grounds Derby, while Go Navy Go will race with blinkers off when two races removed from an easy maiden score at Ellis.
The fourth race drew nine for the turf and the ninth race has 10, which typifies how this September meet has unfolded. Through Thursday, average number of starters per race was 8.6 horses, easily the most since Churchill took over the September dates for Turfway Park in 2013. Maiden-special races for 2-year-olds have been particularly good, both in quantity and quality.
Keeneland starts its 17-day meet Friday.
KEY CONTENDERS (race 4)
Tell the Truth, by Tizway
Last 3 Beyers: 65-54-36
◗ He wasn’t much of a threat to winner Made You Look while finishing sixth in the With Anticipation, but his two-back maiden triumph over the Delaware Park turf was done the right way.
Nassau Talent, by Talent Search
Last 2 Beyers: 69-45
◗ Ken and Sarah Ramsey homebred romped over the Indiana Grand turf in his second start to earn the field-high Beyer, and comes well-drawn here in post 2.
KEY CONTENDERS (race 9)
Go Navy Go, by Midshipman
Last 3 Beyers: 80-75-79
◗ Cleverly named gelding didn’t have the most comfortable of trips from the one-hole at Kentucky Downs in his latest, finishing sixth in an allowance race. He figures as good as any in this well-matched event.
Nessy, by Flower Alley
Last 3 Beyers: 80-77-79
◗ Sierra Farm homebred won over the Churchill turf course on closing night of the spring meet and finished fifth, beaten seven lengths, in the $346,000 Dueling Grounds Derby.