Grade 3, $150,000 Matt Winn Stakes; 1 1/16 miles; Churchill Downs; May 23, 2020
(50 Derby qualifying points for a win, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth)
Winner: Maxfield, by Street Sense
Trainer: Brendan Walsh
Jockey: Jose Ortiz
Owner: Godolphin LLC
Beyer Speed Figure: 95
Storm the Court, the champion 2-year-old male of 2019, might have his next start in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on July 4, trainer Peter Eurton said Monday.
Storm the Court is winless in three starts this year and recently underwent precautionary tests after finishing sixth in a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on May 2 at Oaklawn Park.
“We didn’t find much of anything,” Eurton said. “We gave him a little freshening.”
Champion and prominent sire Bernardini is steadily emerging as a broodmare sire, following in the footprints of his late, great sire, A.P Indy. Bernardini recorded a triple with three stakes winners out of his daughters on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Maxfield rewarded the patience of his connections and ran himself squarely into the Kentucky Derby picture with a one-length triumph Saturday in the 23rd running of the Grade 3, $150,000 Matt Winn Stakes at fan-free Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Three-year-olds going two turns at Churchill Downs in May is cause for celebration – in previous years, and now in this wacko year.
The Matt Winn Stakes, which will be run Saturday without fans in attendance at Churchill, represents something of a return to normalcy. While the Kentucky Derby was postponed to Sept. 5 because of the coronavirus pandemic, its lead-in schedule of Derby qualifying races took a hit, too.
Trainers keep early hours, but Brendan Walsh awoke in a start the other morning at 3 a.m., earlier than usual. “My mind started to running,” he said.
That’s not the only thing he has running. After more than 7 1/2 months, Walsh on Saturday will finally get his prized colt Maxfield back to the races when he makes his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3, $150,000 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs. The anticipation has left Walsh both excited and anxious.
WHO’S HOT
The lightly raced, unbeaten Pneumatic, who makes his stakes debut Saturday in the Matt Winn at Churchill Downs, is the latest newcomer to the Derby Watch top 20. He comes in as a 50-1 shot on the line set by Marty McGee of Daily Racing Form for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby. There were no changes over the past fortnight to the other 19 runners in the top 20, with Nadal still slightly favored at 7-2 over the pair of Charlatan and Tiz the Law, who are 4-1. Those three are all under consideration for the reconstituted Belmont Stakes, set for June 20.
Tiz the Law is ready to go home.
Trainer Barclay Tagg said Monday that in light of the recent announcement that racing will begin again at Belmont Park the first week of June, he is tentatively planning to ship Tiz the Law and the rest of his stable back to New York on June 1.
