Walkabout gets class relief in allowance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Walkabout is a fitting starter in Thursday’s ninth race at Churchill Downs, a $63,000, second-level allowance. She fits on class, facing easier after a fifth-place finish in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks. And just as fittingly, she is running on the four-year anniversary of when her half-brother Fort Larned won the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 3, 2012.

The same connections involved with Fort Larned – owner Whitham Thoroughbreds, trainer Ian Wilkes, and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. – team up with Walkabout, a daughter of Stroll out of the Broad Brush dam Arlucea.

Although there is no comparing the two in ability, Walkabout does have a strong chance to score a victory on Fort Larned’s Breeders’ Cup-winning anniversary. Aside from two unplaced efforts in stakes races, she has performed well in dirt routes such as Thursday’s, and she is proven over the Churchill Downs main track, having won a maiden race at Thursday’s distance of 1 1/16 miles there June 18.

Since that race, she has run fifth in the July 16 Indiana Oaks, won a first-level allowance at Ellis Park on Aug. 20, and lost by eight lengths in the Remington Park Oaks on Sept. 25.

“It was a credible run,” Wilkes said of her performance at Remington. “I thought she might have run a little better there. But she’s lightly raced and has been coming into herself this year.”

Aside from being out of the same dam as Fort Larned, Walkabout doesn’t share much in common with him, Wilkes said.

It will be the speed horse Emmzy whom she will need to catch if she is to win Thursday. Emmzy is among several front-runners in the seven-horse field, and breaking from post 1, she is positioned to dictate terms under Robby Albarado.

Key Contenders

Emmzy, by Eskendereya
Last 3 Beyers: 66-85-82

◗ In running second in the Grade 2 Indiana Oaks, she finished 3 1/2 lengths in front of fifth-place Walkabout in their only meeting. She then followed with a seventh in the seven-furlong Dogwood Stakes at Churchill on Sept. 24.

Walkabout, by Stroll
Last 3 Beyers: 81-86-80

◗ Wilkes comes off a successful October in which his stable won 11 of 61 starts, including Sunday’s Street Sense Stakes at Churchill with the promising juvenile McCraken.

Dream Dance, by Afleet Alex
Last 3 Beyers: 70-71-77

◗ A twice graded-placed late runner, she has been disadvantaged in slow-paced races in many of her recent starts – a scenario that could unfold again Thursday.