Weather, race conditions will play a huge role in co-features

Weather conditions, and race conditions, could turn a pair of turf allowances Friday at Churchill Downs into dirt sprint stakes.

Races 3 and 9 on the Friday card share eligibility conditions, and both are carded for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, the lone differentiating factor a sex restriction – older fillies and mares – in race 3. These races, at base, are for third-level allowance horses or $100,000 claimers, but a surface-related condition in both spots could change everything.

Horses who haven’t won two turf races “other than” during 2023 and 2024 are eligible to start, regardless of their dirt record. With a very rainy forecast this week in Louisville, Ky., good dirt horses entirely unproven on turf are among the entries.

Trainer Steve Asmussen, unsurprisingly, has a key player in both races, the 4-year-old filly Zeitlos and the 4-year-old colt Ryvit. Zeitlos has raced once on turf and ran well, finishing a creditable second late last summer at Kentucky Downs. Ryvit never has started on turf.

“With both horses being Kentucky-breds, this is with an eye toward Kentucky Downs, with the purses they have there,” Asmussen said.

But if the weather forecast holds, Asmussen won’t get a look at Zeitlos or Ryvit on turf – and that won’t bother the connections of either horse.

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“As you probably can tell, I am strongly hoping it rains off with both of them,” said Asmussen.

Zeitlos could have started this coming Monday in the $250,000 Winning Colors Stakes, a filly-and-mare dirt sprint, and would have fit the spot. The filly, by Curlin, in her most recent outing won the $200,000 Roxelana Stakes, a dirt sprint April 27 at Churchill. In February, she won the $150,000 Carousel at Oaklawn Park.

“She’s a multiple stakes winner of a half-million dollars and is extremely versatile,” Asmussen said.

Zeitlos is 4-1 on a morning line made for turf and would be favored if the race rains off. On grass, especially grass with some give to it, the Mark Casse-trained Run for the Hills should be formidable. The mare won a Keeneland turf allowance in April on a course rated good, and she was a strong closing second, beaten a half-length by Ova Charged, on May 3 in the Unbridled Sidney, contested over a sodden Churchill course.

Ryvit on dirt in race 9 would be facing stronger opposition, including Just Might, Minnesota Ready, and Candy Man Rocket.

Six-year-old Candy Man Rocket might have lost a step from his 5-year-old peak, but Minnesota Ready is only two races removed from a performance easily good enough to win this race. Racing for the first time since being purchased at an online auction for $380,000 and turned over to trainer Tom Amoss, Minnesota Ready finished very strongly going 5 1/2 furlongs over a sloppy Fair Grounds track to win the Colonel Power Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths over Just Might. The gelding is back on Lasix and back to 5 1/2 furlongs after a pair of seven-furlong tries in graded stakes.

While Candy Man Rocket and Minnesota Ready are entered main track only, Just Might resides in the main body of the field because he handles both turf and dirt. No match late at Fair Grounds for Minnesota Ready, the 8-year-old millionaire returned with a strong second in a stakes-class turf allowance race at Keeneland and is a dirt stakes winner at Churchill.

Ryvit, though, is younger than those two and already as fast. An unknown on turf, he’s a proven horse on wet tracks.

“I have no idea if he’ll like the turf, but he’ll like a sloppy Churchill track,” Asmussen said.

Disarm gets in useful prep

Disarm earned only an 85 Beyer Speed Figure in an allowance win last weekend at Churchill, his first start since a second-place finish in the Travers Stakes, but there was nothing at all wrong with his comeback run.

In a four-horse field, Disarm, a horse with little early speed, wound up on the lead, setting a glacial pace. The second half of his two-turn dirt race was far faster than the first half, and Disarm’s 1 1/2-length victory was less important than getting the 4-year-old back in the game. His immediate target, Asmussen reiterated, is the Grade 1 Stephen Foster on June 29.

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“We’re aiming high with him. I thought it was a great experience just for him to go through the paddock and everything. And he came out of it extremely good,” Asmussen said.

Asmussen also thought another talented 4-year-old dirt route horse, Extra Anejo, would get a chance to run on May 18. But when forecast rain failed to materialize, a turf allowance in which Extra Anejo was entered main track only stayed on grass, leaving Asmussen to look for another spot.

Extra Anejo hasn’t raced since finishing fourth last July in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, his stakes debut and just his fourth career start. The colt, instead of racing Saturday, worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 on Monday.

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