Winter Sunset will likely face pace pressure
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
Several of the stakes-seasoned fillies and mares set to run on the Churchill Downs turf on Friday might not have looked out of place in one of the turf events this weekend at Pimlico, center of the racing world. But instead, seeking softer spots, they’ve remained in Louisville for Friday’s seventh race.
The $106,000 third-level allowance serves as a feature on a compelling nine-race Friday card, which also features some familiar 3-year-old fillies on dirt earlier in the day.
The pace will likely make the race in the salty turf allowance. Winter Sunset, a Grade 3-placed minor stakes winner for Wayne Catalano, was recently second in a Keeneland allowance race, improving mightily in her second start off a five-month layoff and just her third start since October 2019. She set the pace in that race before being bested three-quarters of a length by multiple graded stakes winner Daddy Is a Legend.
Winter Sunset, drawn in post 2 with Adam Beschizza in the irons, will likely find plenty of company on the front end Friday from Tiltingatwindmills and Toffen, coming off pacesetting allowance wins at Turfway and Gulfstream, respectively, and Rogue Too, a Turfway stakes winner.
An honest pace up front would likely benefit Hendy Woods, who rallied from well back to win the Indiana Grand Stakes in August 2020. She concluded her 3-year-old campaign by finishing second to Sharing in the Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes and sixth in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup.
How Ironic is coming off a Keeneland allowance win in which she also closed from off the pace. The filly was third in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere Stakes last November on this Churchill turf course.
Joy Epifora, a Group 1 winner in her native Argentina, came to the United States last year for trainer Ignacio Correas. She was most recently second by a nose in an allowance event taken off the turf at Keeneland.
Evil Lyn won the Hilltop Stakes last October at Pimlico, while European import Olympic Games was multiple stakes-placed last year in her first season in the United States. This marks the latter’s first start since October, and her first for trainer Brad Cox after being transferred from Christophe Clement.
Earlier in the day, the third race, a $104,000 nonwinners-of-three allowance for 3-year-old fillies, has drawn just five fillies, but those include Grade 2 winner My Girl Red and Grade 2-placed Moon Swag. The latter finished third in the Silverbulletday and then third in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds, behind Clairiere and Travel Column. She was most recently fourth in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes behind eventual Kentucky Oaks winner Malathaat.
My Girl Red won the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes last year, but was then pulled up in the early stages of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante after a poor break. Coming off an eight-month layoff, she showed early speed in the Grade 3 Beaumont at Keeneland before folding.
Friday’s Churchill Downs card also includes a pair of $102,000 turf allowances; a $100,000 maiden special weight for juveniles; and a $100,000 maiden special weight for 3-year-olds and up.