David Vance

Eileen Hartis’ Princess Haya, winner of the 2009 Canadian (Grade II) at Woodbine, will carry top weight of 117 pounds and concede from 1-5 pounds to six rivals entered for Sunday’s 37th running of the $100,000-added Cardinal Handicap (GIII) at Churchill Downs.

The Cardinal, won last year by Acoma, will go as the 10th race on Sunday’s 11-race post-Breeders’ Cup card that begins at 12:40 p.m. (all times Eastern). Post time for the Cardinal, which will be run at 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course, is 5:15 p.m.

Trained by Carl O’Callaghan, Princess Haya enters the Cardinal off a seventh-place finish in the Yellow Ribbon (GI) at Hollywood Park on Oct. 2. Kent Desormeaux, who rode Indescribable to victory in the 2008 Cardinal, has the mount on Princess Haya, who will break from post position four.

The second high weight at 116 pounds is Carl Pollard’s Kiss Mine, trained by David Vance. Kiss Mine had a four-race turf win streak snapped in her most recent start, a seventh-place finish in the First Lady (GI) at Keeneland on Oct. 9. Robby Albarado, who won the 2002 Cardinal on Quick Tip, has the call on Kiss Mine, who will break from post position five.

The field for the Cardinal, from the inside out, is as follows: War Tigress (Rosemary Homeister Jr., 112 pounds), Romin Robin (Calvin Borel, 115), Askbut I Won’ttell (Shaun Bridgmohan, 113), Princess Haya (Desormeaux, 117), Kiss Mine (Albarado, 116), Paracaidas (Garrett Gomez, 114) and My Baby Baby (Julien Leparoux, 115).

ATTA BOY ROY WORKS BULLET FOR IOWA EXCURSION –Atta Boy Roy, winner of the Churchill Downs (GII) on Kentucky Derby Day, worked a half-mile in :47.40 over a fast track after the renovation break Sunday morning with jockey Calvin Borel aboard.

The move was the fastest of 60 at the distance and served as a final prep for a planned run in Friday night’s $125,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap at Prairie Meadows.  Borel is scheduled to make the trip to Iowa to ride

Based this spring and summer at Churchill Downs’ Trackside Training Center, it was Atta Boy Roy’s first work at Churchill Downs since his runner-up effort in the May 29 Aristides (GIII) in which he lost his footing at the break and came out of the race with a little nick on his heel.

“It was about the size of a dime and it didn’t cost him any training,” trainer Valorie Lund said of the 5-year-old who earned himself an extended stay in Louisville with his victory in the Churchill Downs on May 1.

“If he would have gotten outrun, I would have just gone home,” said Lund, who races in the fall and winter at Turf Paradise in Phoenix and in the summer at Emerald Downs in Washington. “I thought he fit here. If he had been outrun, I guess I would have been wrong.”

Atta Boy Roy’s stay could last until November.

“I plan to be here until the Breeders’ Cup (Nov. 6). I have that much confidence in the horse,” Lund said. “I had plenty of invitations to run elsewhere and people saying they would take care of us, but the end goal is the Breeders’ Cup (Sprint) and everything is pointing to that as long as it fits his schedule.”

Atta Boy Roy has compiled a record of 9-4-0 in 14 races in sprints on dirt tracks and Lund has been high on him since Day One.

“When he first started at two, I told the owner (Roy Schaefer of R.E.V. Racing) this horse is probably a once in a lifetime horse for you and me,” Lund said, adding with a laugh, “Then I turned him out and waited for him to develop.”

When Atta Boy Roy goes to Iowa he will be accompanied by his regular traveling partner, Lund’s pony Written in Red.

“Written in Red has been with him since he was two,” Lund said. “They started training at the same time and they would gallop and breeze together. Written in Red is a 6-year-old thoroughbred stallion and he ran twice for me. He actually outworked ‘Roy’ and I guess it is not good when the stable pony outworks the big horse, but that was a long, long time ago.”

TAP TAP TAPPING LOOKS TO BUILD ON DOGWOOD EFFORT – Trainer David Vance said Sunday morning that Carl Pollard’s Tap Tap Tapping, runner-up in the May 29 Dogwood (GIII), may be heading to Prairie Meadows for Saturday’s $200,000 Iowa Oaks (GIII) at 1 1/16 miles.

The good thing there is they enter on Tuesday,” said Vance, one of 12 trainers to surpass 300 career victories at Churchill Downs. “That way, I can see who is running and what post we drew. If she goes, she will be on a van Wednesday.”

Vance, who has won three training titles here (two Spring and one Fall), picked up his fourth winner of the meet Saturday when Sizzleate won the second race. The victory came on Vance’s 21st starter of the meet and equaled his win output for the past two Spring meets that was achieved with more starters: 42 in 2009 and 33 in 2008.

BARN TALK – Jockey Robby Albarado had another big Saturday away from Churchill Downs as he rode Comedero to a 2 ¼-length victory in the $400,000 Red Legend at Charles Town defeating Churchill Downs-based runners Backtalk (third) and Northern Giant (fourth). Tied for sixth in the rider standings through the first 33 days of the meet with 22 victories, Albarado is 10 wins from surpassing Jim McKnight (883) for fifth all-time in Churchill Downs victories. In addition to his 22 wins, Albarado has had 45 seconds with an in-the-money percentage of 52. …

Trainer Steve Asmussen picked up his 20th winner of the meet Saturday when Pistol Pete Afleet won the eighth race. Asmussen, who has won training titles at the past two meets here, has a 20-15 lead on Tom Amoss with nine racing days left in the meet. In all, Asmussen has won seven training titles here, three in the Spring and four in the Fall. …

Making the rounds on the backstretch Sunday morning was jockey Greta Kuntzweiler, 34, who hopes to resume her riding career when the Ellis Park meet begins July 10.

WORK TAB – Just Louise, prepping for a probable run in Saturday’s Debutante (GIII), worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 over a fast track. … Fair Grounds Oaks (GII) winner Quiet Temper worked five furlongs in 1:00.60, second-fastest of 44 at the distance. … Inside Information (GII) winner Warbling worked five furlongs in 1:01.20.

CITIZEN JOHN DELIVERS MILESTONE DOWNS VICTORY FOR VANCE – Trainer David Vance and owner Carl Pollard have been a team for more than 15 years, so it was probably fitting that a Pollard-owned horse, Citizen John, presented the veteran trainer with his 300th triumph at Churchill Downs and his 3,012th win overall.

“That made it special,” Vance said Saturday morning. “He has always been a one of my major supporters and very much so lately.”

Vance currently has 17 horses in his barn, which is overseen by his daughter Tricia. The trainer continues to recover from injuries suffered on Dec. 9, 2007, when his truck hydroplaned on a slick interstate highway while transporting horses to Northern Kentucky’s Turfway Park from Churchill Downs.

“I get here at 7:15 every morning and watch my horses from the third floor and then I am back at the barn until about 11:30,” said Vance, whose mobility is limited to a wheelchair because of the injury to his C-4 vertebra. “I am making a little progress, but not as much as I would like.”

What keeps any trainer going is the prospect of having a good 2-year-old in the barn and the prospects are there for Vance, now 68.

“We have four 2-year-olds in here now and one may start next week,” Vance said. “We have one more coming in July 1 and two more the first of September.”

Vance’s biggest victory at Churchill Downs came in 2000 when Caressing won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (Grade I) for Pollard.  Caressing was named champion 2-year-old filly that year and is Vance’s only Eclipse Award champion.  

Vance, one of 22 North American trainers with more than 3,000 victories, has won three Churchill Downs training titles outright, the 1980 and ’81 Spring Meets and the 1994 Fall Meet, and shared the 1967 spring title.
    
BOREL CONTINUES TO MOVE UP CHURCHILL DOWNS CHARTS – Two-time Kentucky Derby winner Calvin Borel’s spectacular spring added another chapter Friday when he won two races to give him a total of 926 victories at Churchill Downs.

That makes Borel the No. 2 all-time leading rider beneath the Twin Spires as he surpassed Don Brumfield, the 1996 Hall of Fame inductee who rode 925 winners at Churchill Downs.

“I really didn’t know what was going on,” Borel said of a winner’s circle ceremony that included the presentation of a placard signifying the milestone victory. “It’s just been unbelievable. The last eight, nine, 10 years have just been unbelievable.”

Brumfield won 12 riding titles at Churchill Downs during his career compared to two for Borel.  He won the 1966 Kentucky Derby aboard Kauai King.

“This is a major accomplishment considering the only titles he won were in the fall,” said Jerry Hissam, Borel’s agent. Borel, who began riding regularly at Churchill Downs in the fall of 1995, won the title outright in 1999 and shared it in 2006 with Shaun Bridgmohan.  Along with this year’s Derby win on Mine That Bird, Borel won the 2007 “Run for the Roses” aboard Street Sense.

The all-time Churchill Downs’ leader in victories is Pat Day, who rode 2,482 winners. Borel, who has averaged a little more than 60 victories a year during his career at Churchill Downs, would have to maintain that pace for another 25 years to get in Day’s neighborhood.

“I think Pat will hold that records for a while,” Hissam said.
 
BACKTALK SPEAKS ELOQUENTLY IN CAREER DEBUT – A possible star of the future may have appeared Thursday afternoon when Gold Mark Farm’s Backtalk won his career debut by 2 ¾ lengths over a field of 2-year-old runners sporting high quality pedigrees.

    “He has earned the right to stay here,” trainer Tom Amoss said of Backtalk, who had put together a string of impressive works at Arlington Park. “He ran well and we’ll look to go to the Bashford Manor (Grade III on July 3).”

    Backtalk was purchased for $250,000 at the 2008 Keeneland September Sale for Gold Mark.

    “I didn’t have anything to do with the purchase,” Amoss said. “Todd Quast and his wife (Lori) picked him out and they are good at it. Initially (Backtalk) went to Gold Mark Farm and that is Polytrack, so we thought the transition would be easier taking him to Arlington.”

    Backtalk is a half-brother to two-time graded-stakes winner Bsharpsonata, who ran fifth in last year’s Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) and also won her career debut as a 2-year-old. They are the only two foals of the Affirmed mare Apasionata Sonata.

    “We would have liked to have named him Bsmartsonata, but couldn’t get it,” Amoss said of Backtalk, a son of 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones.

BRASSY BOY GIVES WIGGINS AN UNEXPECTED TREAT – It has been a roller coaster spring for trainer Hal Wiggins, from the high of Rachel Alexandra’s historic romp in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) to the low of having the best horse he has trained sold shortly after that triumph.

    The ride may be heading back up for Wiggins with a 2-year-old colt named Brassy Boy, who improved to 2-for-2 with a neck victory in a Thursday allowance race.

    “I told my wife that I’d be happy if he ran fourth,” said Wiggins of the colt who broke his maiden for a $30,000 claiming tag on May 29 at Churchill Downs. “I may nominate him to the Bashford Manor and see how strong it will be. I am sure some of those in Thursday were prepping for it.”

    Owned by Betty and Leon Millsap, Brassy Boy is an Arkansas-bred son of Storm and a Half out of the Dixie Brass mare Brass Doll.

    “We got him right when we left Hot Springs to come up here,” Wiggins said. “David Whited gets them ready for us. I have had all of the mare’s foals and they are all solid horses.”

    Brassy Boy is the fifth foal for Brass Doll, who has produced two stakes winners in Brassie Prince and Doll and a Half from matings with Storm and a Half, a son of Storm Cat. Brass Doll’s other two foals also were sired by Storm and a Half.

BARN TALK – The final sets of temporary lights have been moved into place in the infield and horsemen will get a chance Monday and Tuesday for a dry run under those lights in advance of Friday’s first “Downs After Dark” night racing card. Training hours will begin at 5 a.m. (EDT) on Monday and Tuesday. Other night cards are scheduled for Friday, June 26 and Thursday, July 2.

Expected to work under the lights Monday is Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) and Preakness Stakes (Grade I) winner Rachel Alexandra. On Saturday morning, Rachel Alexandra back-tracked to the front side and then went 1 ½ times around the main track under exercise rider Dominic Terry.

Mine That Bird, winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI), back-tracked once around on Saturday morning under exercise rider Charlie Figueroa.

“He actually jogged a little bit this morning,” trainer Chip Woolley said. “The other day he just wanted to buck and play. He’ll walk tomorrow and then jog again Monday.”

Mine That Bird finished second to Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness (GI) and third to Summer Bird in last week’s Belmont Stakes (GI), the third and final jewel of the Triple Crown.  Woolley said Friday that his Kentucky Derby winner would likely run this summer in the Aug. 1 West Virginia Derby (GII) and the Aug. 29 Shadwell Travers (GI).

Nominations close Saturday for the 109th running of the Debutante (Grade III) for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs on the main track on June 27. Garden District won the 2008 Debutante by a half-length over Rachel Alexandra.

    Next Saturday, June 20, will be the deadline for nominations for the final three stakes of the Spring Meet. Closing that day will be the $100,000-added Bashford Manor (Grade III) for 2-year-olds going six furlongs on July 3, the $150,000-added Firecracker Handicap (Grade II) at a mile on the Matt Winn Turf Course for 3-year-olds and up on July 4, and the $100,000-added Locust Grove Handicap (Grade III) for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up also going a mile on the turf on closing day July 5.

WORK TAB – Fred Bradley’s Brass Hat, winner of the May 23 Louisville Handicap (Grade III) returned to the tab on Saturday morning by working five furlongs in 1:00.40 for trainer Buff Bradley. The move over the fast track was the second fastest of 29 at the distance. Helen Groves and Helen Alexander’s stakes-winning filly Selva worked the same distance in 1:00.80, third fastest of the morning, for trainer David Carroll. Lawrence Carroll’s Bold Start, winner of the May 30 Aristides (Grade III), worked a half-mile in :48 for trainer Ken McPeek. It was the sixth best of 55 at the distance.

Elaine Jones’ Guam Typhoon took the lead at the head of the stretch and held off Map of the World by 1 ¼ lengths to win Friday’s featured Vodika Collins Purse, named for the first winner of the Stephen Foster Handicap.

Also on Friday’s card, trainer David Vance and jockey Calvin Borel achieved Churchill Downs milestones with Vance saddling his 300th winner at the track and Borel posting his 926th win, second-most all time beneath the Twin Spires.

Trained by Ian Wilkes and ridden by Julien Leparoux, Guam Typhoon covered the seven furlongs on a fast main track in 1:22.61 in defeating nine other 3-year-olds.

The victory from the purse of $49,485 was worth $30,580 and increased Guam Typhoon’s earnings to $62,105 with two victories in four starts.

A half-brother to graded stakes winner Miss Isella and Sir Cherokee, Guam Typhoon returned $17.80, $8.60 and $5. Map of the World, ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., paid $8 and $6.60 in finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of Blame and Garrett Gomez, who paid $6.40 to show.

Earlier on the card in the seventh race, Vance became the 11th trainer to record 300 victories at Churchill Downs when Citizen John won under Corey Lanerie. Vance, a 68-year-old native of Logansport, Ind., is one of only 22 North American trainers with more than 3,000 victories with Citizen John being his 3,012th.

“It’s my home, so it means a lot,” Vance said. “It’s hard to win one race, let alone 300 at one track. It’s a good feeling.”

In the nightcap, Borel guided Smoke Trail to victory pass Hall of Famer Don Brumfield on the list of all-time leading riders at Churchill Downs. Another Hall of Famer, Pat Day, is the all-time Churchill Downs leader with 2,482 wins.

“I didn’t really know what was going on, to tell you the truth,” Borel said. “Jerry (agent Jerry Hissam) just told me what it was.  It’s just been unbelievable.  The last eight, nine, 10 years have just been unbelievable – all my life, really.  I’ve worked hard to get here and have been lucky to accomplish these things and succeed.  I wish Mom and Dad were here to see me, but I know they’re watching.  It’s pretty good; I can’t complain.”

Racing resumes Saturday with the 11-race Reunion Day Featuring the Stephen Foster Handicap card. First post time is 12:45 p.m. EDT for the card that also features four other graded stakes races.

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MINE THAT BIRD BACK-TRACKS OVER CHURCHILL DOWNS MUD – Kentucky Derby (Grade I) winner Mine That Bird returned to the racetrack for the first time since finishing third in last Saturday’s Belmont Stakes (Grade I) by leisurely back-tracking once around early Thursday morning under exercise rider Charlie Figueroa.

"He is fresh as a daisy this morning,” trainer Chip Woolley said as Mine That Bird pranced off the Churchill Downs track that had been rendered sloppy by overnight and morning rain.

The break from the track was the longest for Mine That Bird “since we brought him back last December off the layoff from the Breeders’ Cup,” Woolley said. “He will walk the next two days and go back to the track Sunday.

Owners Mark Allen of Double Eagle Ranch and Dr. Leonard Blach are scheduled to arrive in Louisville from New Mexico on Friday and, along with Woolley and jockey Calvin Borel, receive their Kentucky Derby trophies on Saturday.

“I am going to get with Mark and Doc when they get here and right now I am aiming for Monday for a decision on what we are going to do,” Woolley said. “We have six options that we are looking at.”

TIME MAY BE RIGHT FOR WARRIOR’S REDWARD IN NORTHERN DANCER – For A. Stevens Miles Jr.’s Warrior’s Reward, the road to the Kentucky Derby hit a dead end in Tampa, Fla., with an eighth-place finish behind Musket Man in the Tampa Bay Derby (Grade III) on March 14.

    “He didn’t get the best of rides that day and it might have been a blessing for him,” trainer Ian Wilkes said. “He made some noise in that race and had a little throat surgery after that has been good since. Maybe it was not our time yet.”

    Fast forward nearly three months and it appears the time may be at hand for the son of Medaglia d’Oro who figures to be an overwhelming favorite in Saturday’s 12th running of the $100,000-added Northern Dancer (Grade III) at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Warrior’s Reward will break from post position three under Calvin Borel.

    Warrior’s Reward returned to the races on May 1 and won a seven-furlong allowance test by 2 ¼ lengths over Munnings. All Munnings did in his next start was romp in last Saturday’s Woody Stephens Stakes (Grade II) at Belmont Park.

     “I was pleased to see that,” said Wilkes, whose summer goals for Warrior’s Reward include the Jim Dandy (Grade II) and the Travers (Grade I) at Saratoga.

    Warrior’s Reward tuned up for the Northern Dancer with a bullet, five-furlong work in the mud of 1:01.60 on June 4. He worked in company with Miss Isella, who figures to be the favorite in Saturday’s 35th running of the $200,000-added Fleur De Lis Handicap (Grade II) at 1 1/8 miles on the main track.

   Miss Isella has won four of her six starts at Churchill Downs and will be ridden Saturday by Borel, who has been aboard in all five of the 4-year-old filly’s victories.

    “She just loves this track,” said Wilkes of Miss Isella, who has won the Grade II Louisville Distaff and Falls City Handicap (Grade II) in her two most recent Churchill Downs races. “The only track she doesn’t seem to like is Gulfstream Park and I have never figured that out.”
    
ARSON SQUAD RELISHING RETURN TO THE DIRT – If horses could talk, one would imagine that Jay Em Ess Stable’s Arson Squad’s succinct appraisal of synthetic surfaces would go something like this: “NAY!”

    “The dirt turned him right around,” said Michelle Nevin, assistant to trainer Rick Dutrow, of Arson Squad, who joined the barn late last summer following a run of seven consecutive off-the-board finishes over Southern California’s three synthetic race tracks.

    In his first start for Dutrow, Arson Squad won the Meadowlands Cup Handicap, the third Grade II victory of his career. All three of those victories have come at 1 1/8 miles, the distance he will be asked to run Saturday in the 28th running of the $600,000-added Stephen Foster Handicap (Grade I).

    Arson Squad last ran in $6 million Dubai World Cup (Grade I) on March 28 in which he finished 11th, placing 3 ¼ lengths in front of fellow Foster rival Asiatic Boy. Once back from Dubai, Arson Squad has run of a string of five bullet works at Aqueduct.

    “I was on some of those; we spread it around,” said Nevin, who served as the regular exercise rider for 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown. “His last work there on June 3 in company with Kip Deville was lights out. Hopefully he will like it here.”

    That five-furlong move with the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Mile (Grade I) winner was accomplished in 1:00.

    Arson Squad arrived at Churchill Downs on Monday on the same flight that brought Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird back to Louisville from his third-place effort in the Belmont Stakes. With Nevin up, Arson Squad worked a half-mile after the break in :49.60, the 17th fastest of 31 at the distance.

    Arson Squad, who will break from post position four under Garrett Gomez, will carry 118 pounds, six fewer than probable Stephen Foster favorite Einstein. It makes a 3-pound shift in Arson Squad’s favor from the most recent matchup of the two in the Jan. 31 Donn Handicap (Grade I) at Gulfstream Park in which Einstein finished 3 ¼ lengths ahead of Arson Squad.

WHIRLIE BERTIE BACK IN ACTION FOR MARGOLIS – When Whirlie Bertie zoomed through her conditions here last spring and summer, her opportunities appeared limitless. But after leaving Churchill Downs she ran third in the Monmouth Oaks (Grade III) and then faded badly in the Oct. 3 Indiana Oaks (Grade II) at Hoosier Park.

    Owned by Richard, Bertram and Elaine Klein, Whirlie Bertie has not been seen at the races since, but that will end Friday in the fourth race when she returns in a seven-furlong, allowance optional claiming event.

    “She got hot that day and after that race we sent her to Rood and Riddle (in Lexington) to check her out,” trainer Steve Margolis said. “She had a little bit of a fracture in her right hind leg. No surgery was required and it healed well on its own and she stayed here all winter.”

    All of Whirlie Bertie’s win have come around two turns and Margolis is not quite sure what to expect in Friday’s sprint.

    “It will be interesting. I was looking to run a mile and a sixteenth, but there was nothing for her,” Margolis said. “She has been training good and we’ve done a lot of schooling with her. The outside spot (post five of six) should be good and (jockey) Shaun (Bridgmohan) knows her and has won on her.”
    
MILESTONE WATCH – Jockey Calvin Borel, who has ridden 922 winners in his career at Churchill Downs, is named on five mounts Thursday. He needs three victories to equal Don Brumfield’s total of 925 for second all time at Churchill Downs behind Pat Day (2,482).

    Trainer David Vance, who has sent out 299 winners at Churchill Downs, is represented by Northeast Harbor in Thursday’s sixth race as he bids to become the 11th conditioner with 300 victories at Churchill Downs.

    Also closing in on the 300-win mark at Churchill Downs is trainer Greg Foley. Currently tied for third in the trainer standings with 10 victories this spring, Foley has a career total of 295 here. He has two horses entered Thursday: Gerivello in the first and Speak of Kings in the ninth.

BARN TALK – Fleur De Lis Handicap contender Miss Isella will now run under the ownership of Elaine Jones.

    Stephen Foster Hadicap favorite Einstein is scheduled to school in the paddock with horses in Thursday’s second race for trainer Helen Pitts-Blasi.

Nominations close Saturday for the 109th running of the Debutante (Grade III) for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs on the main track on June 27. Garden District won the 2008 Debutante by a half-length over Rachel Alexandra.

    Training hours will begin at 5 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday to give horsemen the opportunity to train under the lights that will be used for the three night cards this meet. The first of those nights is Friday, June 19, followed by June 26 and Thursday, July 2.

CORRECTION – An item in the May 31 Barn Notes incorrectly stated that Lady On Holiday was bred to Jump Start. She was bred to 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown and is in foal.

WORK TAB – Jake Wil Gallop, winner of the USA Stakes at Lone Star Park on May 25 in his most recent start, worked three furlongs over a sloppy track in :38.60 in advance of Saturday’s Jefferson Cup (Grade II).