Bob Holthus

STEPHEN FOSTER BID POSSIBLE FOR GENERAL QUARTERS – Owner-trainer Tom McCarthy wanted to keep Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI) winner General Quarters on the grass after that big Derby Day victory, but there is a tempting target in three weeks that could put the 4-year-old Sky Mesa colt back on dirt.
“I am thinking about it,” McCarthy said of the $600,000 Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) to be run June 12. “I’d like to keep him on the grass, but there is nothing for him on the grass when we need to run.”

After the Turf Classic victory, the second Grade I triumph for General Quarters who took the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes last spring on Polytrack at Keeneland, McCarthy had mentioned the Arlington Handicap (GIII) to be run July 17 as his prep for the Grade I Arlington Million on Aug. 21.

The Stephen Foster is six weeks (from the Turf Classic),” McCarthy said. “The only other spot where he could run would be at Monmouth, but I don’t want to ship him when I can just walk out the door here.”

A Stephen Foster triumph would put General Quarters in exclusive company. Only Lava Man has won Grade I races on grass, dirt and a synthetic surface. General Quarters is two-thirds of the way there.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND STAKES FIELDS TAKING SHAPE – Atta Boy Roy did not take the money and run back west.

Winner of the Grade II Churchill Downs on May 1, Atta Boy Roy is one of four sprinters considered as “probable” by Churchill Downs racing officials for next Saturday’s 22nd running of the $100,000-added Aristides (GIII) at six furlongs on dirt..

Trained by Valorie Lund for R.E.V. Racing, Atta Boy Roy made his Churchill Downs debut a winning one by holding off Warrior’s Reward in the seven-furlong sprint on Derby Day.

Others considered likely to face Atta Boy Roy in the Aristides are Richard, Bertram and Elaine Klein’s Cash Refund, winner of five of six career starts; Courtlandt Farms’ Cassoulet; and, Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch’s Chief of Affairs, winner of the James Whitcomb Riley at Indiana Downs on May 12 in his most recent start.

Also slated for next Saturday is the 36th running of the $100,000-added Dogwood (GIII) for 3-year-old fillies going a mile on the main track.

Topping a list of seven probables is Starlight Partners’ Ailalea, who is coming off a fifth-place finish behind Blind Luck in the Kentucky Oaks (GI). Other probables are Patricia Blass’ Bell’s Shoes, Lansdon Robbins III and Samuel Delaney’s Fuzzy Britches, Desk Farms’ Helen Belen, Carl Pollard’s Tap Tap Tapping, Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s Vertical Vision and Martin Cherry’s Visavis.

Entries for the Aristides and Dogwood will be taken Wednesday.

Defending champion Dubai Majesty tops a list of six probable starters for the seventh running of the $100,000-added Winning Colors (GIII) to be run at six furlongs on the main track on Monday, May 31.
Owned by the Martin Racing Stable and Dan Morgan, Dubai Majesty has won two of five starts at Churchill Downs and in her career has a record of 4-5-0 in 11 races at the Winning Colors distance.
Other probables for entry in the race on Friday include Dawn and Ike Thrash’s Emmy Darling, Mrs. Ty Scheumann’s J A Warrior, Carl Pollard’s Minewander, Richland Hills and John Kuehl’s Secret Gypsy and Joseph Sutton’s Warbling.

HOLTHUS HOPEFUL THE OLD PURE CLAN RETURNS IN JULY – Two weeks ago, trainer Bob Holthus feared he had lost his stable star, Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan,  when the 5-year-old mare refused to train.
“We didn’t know what it was,” Holthus said of Pure Clan, who has not raced since finishing second in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) at Santa Anita.

Atrip to Rood & Riddle in Lexington discovered a bruised left front foot. Pure Clan is spending her days now at Lakin’s Versailles farm exercising on an Aqua-tred.

“We are trying to keep the weight off her foot,” Holthus said. “If we get her back in the barn by the first of July we have a chance to make the Flower Bowl.”

Pure Clan won the Flower Bowl (GI) last October at Belmont Park and five weeks later made her Breeders’ Cup run to cap a five-race season.

Holthus was hoping for a similar campaign this year, but said “it looks like we are down to two or three (races).

“We’d like to make the Flower Bowl and then train up to the Breeders’ Cup (at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5-6). But you have to get to the first one first.”

Pure Clan, who has compiled a career mark of 8-4-3 in 16 races with earnings of $1,987,498, was turned out after the Breeders’ Cup last year.

“She was as good as she was all year after the Breeders’ Cup,” Holthus said. “Sometimes, I wish I had not taken her out of training.”

BARN TALK – Tom and Jack Conway’s Stately Victor, eighth in the Kentucky Derby, is scheduled to work Monday or Tuesday at Trackside Training Center as he continues preparations for the June 5 Belmont Stakes (GI). “He will leave for New York on the 27th and then have one work at Belmont,” trainer Mike Maker said of the winner of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) at Keeneland on April 10. …

Apprentice Freddie Lenclud posted his second three-win day of the meet on Friday. Lenclud, who also won three races on May 6, moved into a tie for seventh place in the rider standings with 10 victories this spring. Lenclud’s winners were Hands On ($4.40 in the 1st race), Excitable Boy ($9 in 2nd) and New Frontier ($5.20, 8th). …

Steve Bass, agent for sidelined jockey Julien Leparoux, is hopeful his rider can be back in action by the end of June. “He is resting and he is bored,” Bass said of Leparoux, who suffered a compression fracture in his vertebrae in a spill May 14 at Pimlico. “He goes back to the doctor next week and in four weeks he will get another MRI. Leparoux, second in the rider standings with 13 victories, had been named on six mounts Friday. Of the six, five won and the sixth ran second.

Mine That Bird, winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby (GI), galloped for the first time since returning to Churchill Downs on Thursday night. With Arielle Witkowski up, Mine That Bird was on the “muddy” track shortly after 6:30. “He is light on his feet,” new trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “He went a mile and five-eighths this morning and didn’t take a deep breath coming back.”

WORK TAB (Track: GOOD) – Churchill Downs (GII) winner Atta Boy Roy, prepping for next Saturday’s Aristides (GIII), blazed a half-mile in :46.60 after the renovation break. The move was the fastest of 31 at the distance. Also working a half-mile were defending Winning Colors (GIII) champion Dubai Majesty (:47.80, fourth- fastest) and La Canada (GII) winner Striking Dancer (:48.80) in preparation for the June 12 Fleur De Lis (GII). Custom for Carlos, winner of the Grade III Mr. Prospector and   Count Fleet Handicaps, drilled a bullet five-eighths in :59 after the break. Ben Ali (GIII) winner Dubious Miss covered five furlongs in :59.80, fourth-fastest of 16 at the distance.

HORSEMEN’S GOLF SCRAMBLE RETURNS ON JUNE 8 – The second annual Horsemen’s Golf Scramble will be held Tuesday, June 8 at the Glenmary Country Club in Fern Creek, Ky., to help raise funds for the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs. The cost of the golf outing is $100 per player with four players to a team. Players will be treated to an 11 a.m. lunch. The 18-hole tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. There will be contests for the longest drive, closest to the pin, and a hole-in-one in which someone could win a 2010 Toyota Corolla from Oxmoor Toyota. Registration is due Friday and entry forms can be found at the Backside Learning Center or by visiting www.derbymusuem.org/backsidelc.

PRIZE MONEY, TRIP TO HORSEPLAYER WORLD SERIES UP FOR GRABS IN SUNDAY’S ‘WHO’S THE CHAMP?’ HANDICAPPING CONTEST – Churchill Downs’ “Who’s the Champ?” Handicapping Contest continues every Sunday through June 13 with $4,000 in prize money and a coveted prize package to compete in the Horseplayer World Series each week.

The weekly first prize is $1,500 and a five-day, four-night trip to Las Vegas with round-trip airfare courtesy of American Airlines to compete in the Horseplayer World Series, which is scheduled for Feb. 16-19, 2011 at the Orleans Resort and Casino.

Ira Hopkins of Louisville was last week’s winner. 

The “Who’s the Champ?” Handicapping Contest is a game of skill that tests the player’s ability to handicap Thoroughbred racing. Each contestant will start the day with a $24 imaginary bankroll and may only wager exactly $2 to win and $2 to place on six designated races from Churchill Downs. 

The contest costs $30 per entry ($25 for Twin Spires Club members) and is limited to 400 entries with a limit of three entries per person. Registration is open Sundays between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in the Champions Club Lounge on the second floor of the clubhouse.

Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan, a model of consistency on both turf and dirt throughout her career, headlines a stellar cast entered for Saturday’s 33rd running of the $100,000-added Early Times Mint Julep (Grade III) to be run at 1 1/16th miles over the Matt Winn Turf Course at Churchill Downs.

    The Early Times Mint Julep, which goes as the 10th race on the 11-race card that opens with a 12:45 p.m. (EDT) post time, has attracted four graded stakes winners to its field of seven fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

    The Bob Holthus-trained Pure Clan, the only Grade I stakes winner in the field, looms as the marquee attraction as she makes her 2009 debut in the Early Times Mint Julep.  

Pure Clan placed ninth behind eventual filly and mare turf champion Forever Together in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade I) at Santa Anita in her most recent start on Oct. 24.  But the versatile 4-year-old daughter of Pure Prize has always run well at Churchill Downs, where she took the Pocahontas (Grade III) and Golden Rod (Grade II) on dirt as a 2-year-old in 2007, and returned last year to run third to eventual 3-year-old filly champion Proud Spell in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) and later added a win in the Grade III Regret on turf to her local resume.  She followed her Regret victory with a trip to Southern California, where she scored a dramatic win in the American Oaks (GI) at Hollywood Park, an effort that serves as her career highlight to this point.
    
    Pure Clan is the only millionaire in the field as she has earned $1,052,416 while compiling a career record of 6-2-2 in 11 races.  Shaun Bridgmohan will ride Saturday and make up most of the 122-pound impost for Pure Clan, who will spot from 2-9 pounds to her rivals. Pure Clan will break from post position one.

    Other turf graded-stakes winners at Churchill Downs in the Early Times Mint Julep are Helen Alexander and Helen Groves’ Acoma, Darley Stable’s Tizaqueena and Glen Hill Farm’s Closeout.

    Trained by David Carroll, Acoma returns to the sod for the first time since winning the Grade II Mrs. Revere here last fall. The regally bred daughter of Empire Maker will carry 120 pounds and be ridden by Corey Lanerie.  Acoma, who breaks from post three, will be running for the first time since a disappointing third-place finish as the favorite behind Seventh Street in the $500,000 Apple Blossom (GI) over traditional dirt at Oaklawn Park on April 4.

    Tizaqueena, who scored her first graded-stakes victory in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (GII) on Kentucky Derby Day, is 3-for-3 on the grass for trainer Michael Stidham and boasts an overall record of five wins in six career starts. Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount on Tizaqueena, who will carry 119 pounds and drew the outside post in the field of seven fillies and mares.  

    The remaining graded stakes winner in the field Saturday is Glen Hill Farm’s Closeout, who took the Grade III Pucker Up on the Arlington Park grass last September. The Early Times Mint Julep will serve as the 2009 debut for Closeout, who concluded her 2008 season with a fourth-place finish to Alwajeeha in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (Grade I) at Keeneland in October.  

The homebred daughter of Repriced has a win and a runner-up finish in two starts over the Matt Winn Turf Course for trainer Tom Proctor.  Veteran Larry Melancon will be in the saddle aboard Closeout, who was assigned 116 pounds.

Pure Clan will be joined in the Early Times Mint Julep starting gate by stablemate Day of Victory, a 4-year-old daughter of Victory Gallop who is also owned by Lakin and trained by Holthus.  She is coming off an allowance win on the dirt at Oaklawn Park, her fourth win in 17 races, and will be ridden Saturday by Larry Sterling Jr.

    The field for the Early Times Mint Julep, from the hedge out, is as follows: Pure Clan (Bridgmohan, 122 pounds), In My Glory (Jesus Castanon, 113), Acoma (Lanerie, 120), Sugar Baby Love (GER) (Jon Court, 114), Closeout (Melancon, 116), Day of Victory (Sterling, 114) and Tizaqueena (Hernandez, 119).

Regret (GIII) winner Pure Clan returned to the track Thursday morning for the first time since winning her third stakes race at Churchill Downs – and her first over the Matt Winn Turf Course.

Owned by IEAH Stable, Lewis Lakin and the Pegasus Holding Group Stables, Pure Clan added the Regret on turf to victories at Churchill Downs last fall on the dirt in the Pocahontas (GIII) and Golden Rod (GII). The Regret victory earned Pure Clan an invitation to the $750,000 American Oaks (GI) to be run July 5 at Hollywood Park.

“She is doing very well. She will breeze on the grass here on the 26th and then ship to California on the 30th,” trainer Bob Holthus said.

The journey to the American Oaks will mark a career first for the veteran trainer, who will turn 74 next Tuesday.

“This will be the first time I have saddled a horse in California,” said Holthus, “But, I have been to Hollywood Park once to buy a horse. It was 1982. I flew in, vetted a horse and flew back. Her name was Freida Frame and I bought her for John Franks. She turned out to be a stakes winner.”

The Regret win by Pure Clan was her first in four races this year. She finished third to Proud Spell in the Kentucky Oaks prior to her Regret victory.

MACHO AGAIN LOOKING GOOD TO STEWART – West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again “is galloping regularly until we decide where to go with him,” trainer Dallas Stewart said.

Winner of the Derby Trial, Macho Again ran second to Big Brown in the Preakness (GI) and was fifth in the Belmont Stakes (GI) in his most recent start,

“He is doing really good and I don’t see anything that I don’t like,” Stewart said.

The $500,000 Jim Dandy (GII) on July 27 at Saratoga or the $750,000 West Virginia Derby (GIII) on Aug. 2 at Mountaineer are being considered for Macho Again.

Also eyeing the Jim Dandy is William K. Warren Jr.’s Denis of Cork, runner-up in the Belmont Stakes (GI) in his most recent start.

“He is doing well,” trainer David Carroll said of Denis of Cork, who ran third in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI). “We are looking at the Jim Dandy, and from there that would give us four weeks to the Travers.”

APPRENTICE WADE LOOKING TO DRUM UP BUSINESS FOR ELLIS MEET – There was a new face hustling horses on the backside Friday morning at Churchill Downs: apprentice jockey Lyndie Wade.

“I am going to be here until Tuesday working horses and then I will be riding at Ellis Park,” said Wade, who got on horses for Randy Morse, Al Stall Jr., and Bob Holthus. “Fred Aime is going to have my book at Ellis.”

The Ellis Park meet opens July 4 and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 1.

Wade, 17, is trying to jump-start a promising career that stalled last November in a spill at Hawthorne.

“I had won 26 races in Louisiana and then came to Hawthorne and won 26 races in five weeks,” Wade said. “Then on Nov. 30, a horse I was on broke down and two horses ran over me. I had head trauma, a broken jaw and a collapsed lung and I was in a coma for nine days.”

Wade returned to the track in March at Oaklawn Park galloping horses and notched eight winners in April at Hawthorne. He has ridden five winners at the current Arlington Park meeting.

“It has been tough at Arlington and I still have my (apprentice) bug,” Wade said. “I want to rejuvenate my bug. I want to be known as a good rider rather than the kid that got hurt at Hawthorne.”

ASMUSSEN ROARS BACK INTO RACE FOR LEADING TRAINER – Steve Asmussen saddled three winners on Thursday’s nine-race card and in the process turned the two-way race for leading trainer at the Spring Meet into a three-man scramble with 13 days remaining until the meet closes on July 6.

The three-win day was the second of the meet, matching the performance of Ken McPeek on May 24. Asmussen’s 22 wins trail Tom Amoss (26) and McPeek (24).

His winners on Thursday were Tora, who he owns, in the second, Cradle of Peace for Vinery Stables in the sixth, and Stonestreet Stable’s Sonoma Cat in the eighth.

Asmussen has won five training titles at Churchill Downs and swept both the Spring and Fall meets in 2007.

THERIOT, MCKEE TO BE FEATURED DURING 'JOCKEY TALK' – Jockeys Jamie Theriot and John McKee will be the featured guests during this Saturday’s “Jockey Talk” – a new program at Churchill Downs that allows horse racing fans to mingle with their favorite race riders.

Each Saturday throughout the remainder of the Spring Meet fans will get a chance to meet, visit, receive autographs and take pictures with select Churchill Downs jockeys from 11:30 a.m. to noon (all times Eastern) in the paddock area.

Theriot, a 29-year-old native of Arnaudville, La., is currently the hottest rider on the grounds, coming off a six-victory day on Wednesday. Theriot is fourth in the rider standings with 40 victories.

McKee, 26, entered Friday’s card with 10 wins on the meet, good for a tie for 10th place in the rider standings. The Cincinnati native was leading rider the 2004 Fall Meet.

NOMINATIONS CLOSE SATURDAY FOR CLOSING WEEK STAKES – Saturday, June 21 is the deadline for nominations for the final three stakes of the 52-day Spring Meet: The Firecracker (GII), the Bashford Manor (GIII) and the Locust Grove Handicap (GIII).

The $200,000 Firecracker is a mile on the Matt Winn Turf Course for 3-year-olds and up on July 4. The Bashford Manor carries a $150,000 purse for 2-year-olds going six furlongs on the main track on July 5 with the $150,000 Locust Grove scheduled for closing day July 6 at a mile on the turf for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

Information is available by calling Churchill Downs Racing at (502) 636-4470 or nominations may be made via fax at (502) 636-4479.

BARN TALK – Overbrook Farm’s Clearly Foxy, scratched out of last Saturday’s Regret (GIII), is scheduled to ship to Hollywood Park on June 23 for the July 5 American Oaks Invitational (GI). Scheduled to be on the same flight is Melnyk Racing Stables’ Canadian champion filly Sealy Hill, who is shipping to Churchill Downs from Woodbine. Sealy Hill is scheduled to run in the July 5 Vanity Handicap (GI). Both fillies are trained by Mark Casse. … Unbridled Spring is the lone horse to be a perfect 3-for-3 at the Spring Meet, but he could get some company on Saturday when two-time winners Point Perfect and Antrim County go postward. James Gilliam’s Point Perfect will try the Churchill Downs turf for the first time in the sixth race, a five-furlong sprint, and Father Maloney Stable’s Antrim County is entered in the seventh race, a one-mile starter/allowance test on the main track. …Silverton Hill Farm’s Dominican, winner of the 2007 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI), worked a half-mile on Friday over a “muddy” track in :52.20 for trainer Darrin Miller.

2008 SPRING MEET LEADERS

Through Thursday, June 19

Jockeys (Starts 1-2-3)
1. Robby Albarado (199 50-28-25)

2. Miguel Mena (259 47-34-35)

3. Julien Leparoux (245 41-46-44)

4. Jamie Theriot (199 40-31-21)

5. Shaun Bridgmohan (175 35-32-22)

6. Calvin Borel (225 34-33-34)

7. Jesus Castanon (202 22-20-23)

8. Corey Lanerie (161 13-21-18)

-. Brian Hernandez Jr. (145 13-20-15)

10. John McKee (111 10-16-18)

--. Elvis Trujillo (76 10-10-18)

Trainers

1. Tom Amoss (61 26-10-10)

2. Ken McPeek (63 24-12-5)

3. Steve Asmussen (97 22-16-13)

4. Mike Maker (43 12-9-4)

-. Ian Wilkes (39 12-8-5)

6. Dale Romans (106 11-24-18)

7. Eddie Kenneally (50 9-9-8)

-. Bret Calhoun (20 9-1-3)

9. Cody Autrey (46 8-9-9)

-. Nick Zito (20 8-5-1)

-. Greg Foley (55 8-9-8)

Five (5) trainers tied with 7 wins

Owners

1. Ken and Sarah Ramsey (45 12-7-8)

-. Maggi Moss 2(3 12-4-3)

3. Zayat Stables, LLC (41 7-8-9)

4. Richard, Elaine & Bert Klein (31 6-7-4)

5. Heiligbrodt Racing Stable (14 5-1-0)

6. Heflin & Driver Racing (22 4-5-4)

-. Padua Stables (7 4-1-0)

-. Eliah and Lisa Kahn (4 4-0-0)

Ten (10) owners tied with three wins