Helen Pitts

Stronach Stable’s Einstein, one of the top American hopes for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (Grade I) at Oak Tree at Santa Anita, zipped a fast five furlongs at Churchill Downs on Sunday, Oct. 25 in the veteran star’s final pre-race training move over his home track.

Jockey Julien Leparaoux was aboard the seven-year-old son of 1985 Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Spend A Buck as he covered the distance over a “fast” track in :59.80 under jockey Julien Leparoux.  The work by the Brazlian-bred star was the fastest of 54 at the distance and was accomplished in the company of a pair of 2-year-old stablemates from the barn of trainer Helen Pitts.

Einstein was timed in fractions of :23.80 and :36, and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.80.  After he passed his workmates Einstein took aim on another horse that happened to be working in front of him during his run through the stretch.

“We started about three or four lengths behind, but I caught them at the three-eighths pole and he finished very strong to the wire,” said Leparoux.  “It was perfect.  It was a very nice breeze.  He is strong and he’s going to be ready for the Breeders’ Cup.”

“I just wanted to give him something to keep him interested,” said Pitts of her decision to send Einstein out with workmates.  “He works good on his own, but he gets bored doing it.  He likes being able to run at something in the mornings – he likes clocking something and running past them.  I thought he would get a better work out of it, and it gives him a lot more interest.  When he gets to about the quarter pole he loves bearing down and running by somebody.”

Pitts said Einstein would leave for California on Tuesday and would have only one major work over the synthetic Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita.

“I just wanted him to have a good, fun, happy breeze today,” Pitts said.  “When he gets out there he’ll just have an easy half.  The hard part is done now.”

The versatile Einstein won the prestigious Santa Anita Handicap (GI) over the Pro-Ride footing earlier this year and has won the last two renewals of Churchill Downs’ Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI).  He rolled to an easy victory last fall in the Clark Handicap (GII) over traditional dirt at Churchill Downs and was a troubled third behind Macho Again in this year’s Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) at the Louisville track.

  Einstein, who was purchased this summer by Stronach Stables, will attempt to snap a three-race losing streak in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.  He was edged by Richard’s Kid in his most recent start in the Pacific Classic (GI) over synthetic Polytrack  footing at Del Mar.

“I’m excited about it,” said Pitts.  “Why not take a shot at it?  He likes that track out there and who knows?   Every Grade I in this country is tough, let alone the Breeders’
Cup, but if anybody deserves a shot, he does.  I think he’s tough right now.  He’s matured a lot and I think he’s doing great now.”

Pitts’ star has a career record of 11-4-3 in 28 races and has earned $2,903,324.

Einstein is one of 10 horses that Leparoux is scheduled to ride in the two-day Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Nov. 6-7.

"He loves the game – he loves to run,” Leparoux said of his Classic mount.  “He’ll always give 110 percent – that’s one of the great things about riding him.”

FIELDS TAKE SHAPE FOR IROQUOIS, POCAHONTAS ON ‘STARS OF TOMORROW’ OPENING DAY PROGRAM – Rosters of promising young stars are forming to compete in the Iroquois and Pocahontas Stakes, the $100,000-added Grade III events that will headline the “Stars of Tomorrow” program of races for 2-year-olds that will open Churchill Downs’ 21-day Fall Meet on Sunday, Nov. 1.

Likely contenders for the 41st running of the one-mile Pocahontas include Cradle Stakes winner Gleam of Hope; Piscitelli, third in the Arlington-Washington Futurity (GIII); Three Day Rush, winner of Monmouth Park’s NATC Futurity; Razorback Futurity winner Comedero; Brassy Boy, third in the Bashford Manor (GIII); Call Shot; Callide Valley; Soaring Empire and You Already Know.

Westrock Stable’s Debutante (GIII) winner Decelerator, Bassinet winner All About Anna; Adirondack (GII) runner-up Sassy Image, and unbeaten Miss Indiana Stakes winner Running Bride top the list of likely starters in the one-mile Pocahontas for 2-year-old fillies.

Others include All Due Respect, Biorra, Gold Dust Lady, Happy Week, Snap Happy and Tidal Pool.

WORK TAB (Track: FAST) – Ruffian (GI) winner Swift Temper breezed five furlongs in 1:01.20 for trainer Dale Romans … Debutante (GIII) winner Decelerator, a candidate for next week’s $100,000-added Pocahontas (GIII), breezed four furlongs in :48.80 … Flying Pegasus breezed three furlongs in :38 … Indygo Mountain worked five furlongs in 1:02.80 … Kentucky Cup Classic (GII) runner-up Dubious Miss breezed five furlongs in 1:00. 

STEWART BEAMING AFTER MACHO AGAIN’S FOSTER TRIUMPH – Trainer Dallas Stewart was all smiles Sunday morning as he accepted congratulations on  the victory by West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again in Saturday’s $600,000-added Stephen Foster Handicap (Grade I).

    “He just wanted to win yesterday,” Stewart said of Macho Again, who provided the trainer with his second Grade I victory at Churchill Downs to go with Lemons Forever’s triumph in the 2006 Kentucky Oaks (GI). “He is a well-accomplished horse. He has won on fast and wet tracks and won at Saratoga, Fair Grounds and here. This ought to close a lot of talk about him being an in and out horse.”

    Macho Again won last year’s Derby Trial at Churchill Downs, a race that was followed by a runner-up finish to Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown in the Preakness (GI), the second jewel of the Triple Crown.  The Stephen Foster victory was his first triumph in Grade I company and improved his career record to 6-4-0 in 18 races with earnings of $1,475,247.  The son of Macho Uno has raced five times at Churchill Downs and his record under the Twin Spires is 4-1-0 with earnings of $499,989.

Stewart was worried about the slow early pace in the Stephen Foster, which was similar to the pace Macho Again caught when he finished sixth in the Alysheba (Grade III) on the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (GI) undercard.
“I thought the:48 half was a little slow for us. I thought they would go in :47,” Stewart said.

Next up for Macho Again is the Whitney Handicap (Grade I) at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 8. Macho Again won the Jim Dandy (Grade II) last summer at Saratoga going nine furlongs.

    Asiatic Boy (ARG), who finished a length behind Macho Again, was scheduled to return to New York on Sunday along with stablemate Florentino (JPN), winner of Saturday’s Jefferson Cup (Grade II).

FRUSTRATION REMAINS HIGH IN EINSTEIN CAMP AFTER FOSTER FINISH – Einstein’s bid for racing history came up a length short Saturday when the 7-year-old Brazilian-bred horse ran third after encountering trouble throughout his 1 1/8-mile journey in the Stephen Foster Handicap.

    “I just want the best for him and I really wanted him to get a Grade I win on the dirt,” trainer Helen Pitts-Blasi said of Einstein, who had won the Santa Anita Handicap (Grade I) on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface and the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (Grade I) at Churchill Downs in his two prior starts.
    No horse had won three consecutive Grade I races on three surfaces.

    The footnotes in the Foster chart told the story of Einstein’s race under Julien Leparoux: “Einstein bobbled at the start to get away a bit slow, checked off heels near the seven-eighths marker, was bottled up between horses down the backstretch and through the second turn, shifted out a bit and found a seam entering the stretch, was bumped and stuffed behind rivals with three-sixteenths to run, got through toward the inside late but was left with too much to do.”

    “It was just bad racing luck and he was much the best horse,” Pitts-Blasi said. “I’d like to get Horse of the Year with him and a race like this could hurt him and it was not his fault.”

    Pitts-Blasi said Einstein came out of the race fine with the Arlington Million (Grade I) next up on the radar on Aug. 8.

    “I am going to give him a little break with the Million as the next goal,” Pitts-Blasi said. “The Pacific Classic (on Sept. 6 at Del Mar) I’d strongly consider because that would give us a month between the two races.”

    His difficult trip in the Stephen Foster left Einstein’s career record at 11-3-3 in 26 races with earnings of $2,673,924.

MISS ISELLA DOING WELL AFTER FLEUR DE LIS TRIUMPH – Elaine Jones’ Miss Isella reaffirmed her love for the main track at Churchill Downs on Saturday by winning her third consecutive Grade II stake beneath the Twins Spires in taking the $200,000-added Fleur De Lis.

    “She just loves it here. I’d like to run her here year-round,” trainer Ian Wilkes said of Miss Isella, who now has won five of seven starts with one second at Churchill Downs.

    As she had done in her two previous stakes wins here, Miss Isella benefited from a rail-skimming ride from Calvin Borel. On Saturday, she barely squeezed past Distinctive Dixie, who bumped Miss Isella into the rail as she was trying to get by.

    “She is just a little filly with a lot of determination and heart,” Wilkes said. “You don’t know if they have it until they get in a race.”

    Wilkes said Miss Isella would head next to Saratoga with the $300,000 Go for Wand (Grade I) at 1 1/8 miles on Aug. 2 and the 1 ¼-mile, $400,000 Personal Ensign (Grade I) on Aug. 30 as possible targets.

    Trainer Dale Romans said that Fleur De Lis runner-up Swift Temper came out of the race fine but had no immediate plans for a next start.

    Third-place finisher Temple Street is headed to Delaware Park according to trainer Brad Cox.

    “I am going to Delaware after this meet and I may look at the Delaware Handicap (worth $1 million at 1 ¼ miles),” said Cox, who has guided Temple Street to graded-stakes placings in both springs and routes this spring. “I’d like to have her as a graded-stakes winner. The distance is the great unknown, but when Julien (Leparoux) got off her yesterday said she could go a mile and a half or two. She knows the running starts at the quarter pole.”    

    Wilkes fell a head short of taking two stakes on the Stephen Foster day card when Warrior’s Reward finished second to Successful Dan in the $100,000-added Northern Dancer (Grade III).

    “He had the whole stretch to get by the other horse,” Wilkes said. “But he’s still learning. He ran good, but you’ve got to give that other horse credit, too. They both ran hard.”

    Wilkes mentioned the $200,000 Dwyer Stakes (GII) at 1 1/16 miles at Belmont Park on July 4 as the next possible spot for Warrior’s Reward.

PREPARATIONS CONTINUE FOR FRIDAY’S ‘DOWNS AFTER DARK’ NIGHT RACING DEBUT – Neighbors of Churchill Downs and people traveling in the neighborhood around the historic home of the Kentucky Derby got a preview late Saturday evening of how the track will look under the lights during this Friday’s first ever night racing session.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Technicians from Musco Lighting were at the track to test the fixtures that will illuminate the track for the first time in its 135-year history on Friday, June 19: Friday, June 26; and Thursday, July 2.

    Horsemen will have a chance to get a first-hand look at the lights on Monday and Tuesday as training will open an hour early at 5 a.m. (EDT).  Kentucky Oaks and Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra is expected to be one of the early horses on the track under the lights.  She is scheduled to work for trainer Steve Asmussen between 5:15 and 5:30 a.m. (EDT).

BARN TALK – Robby Albarado’s five-win day on Saturday was his second at Churchill Downs. Albarado, who won the Stephen Foster Handicap on Macho Again and the Regret on Keertana, also won five on July 9, 2005 when he had 11 mounts. Albarado rode 10 races on Saturday.

Training hours will be extended an hour Monday and Tuesday to give horsemen a chance to exercise their horses under the temporary lights. The track will open at 5 a.m. those days with the renovation break remaining at 8 o’clock. The gate will be up at its normal time from 7:15-9:15 on Monday.

Grace Stable’s 2-year-old filly Hot Dixie Chick established the second track record of the Spring Meet on Saturday when she won the sixth race in :56.48 for the five furlongs. The previous five-eighths record was :56.49, established on May 20, 2005 by Wildcat Shoes.

    The other track record to fall this meet was for 1 1/16 miles on the turf when Wise River covered the distance in 1:39.83 on April 26. The previous record had been established by Quite a Bride in winning the 2007 Early Times Mint Julep (Grade III) in 1:40.70.

MILESTONE WATCH – Greg Foley, seeking to move closer to becoming the 12th trainer at Churchill Downs to record 300 victories beneath the Twin Spires, has one starter on Sunday: Zosogood in the second. Foley has 297 Churchill Downs victories.

Midnight Cry Stable’s Einstein (BRZ) will carry high weight of 124 pounds and concede from 2-11 pounds to seven rivals Saturday as he attempts to become the first horse to win three consecutive Grade I races on three surfaces in the 28th running of the $600,000-added Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs.

            The Stephen Foster, which serves as the centerpiece of an action-packed 11-race program that features four other graded stakes, will be the 10th race on the “Reunion Day” card at approximately 5:29 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post time is 12:45 p.m. and grandstand admission gates open at 11:30 a.m.

Trained by Helen Pitts-Blasi, Einstein will again be ridden by Julien Leparoux who guided Einstein to victory in the March 7 Santa Anita Handicap over the synthetic Pro-Ride surface and the May 2 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

          Only Lava Man, who retired from racing last July, has won Grade I races on three surfaces, but he did not do it consecutively.

 Einstein, a 7-year-old son of 1985 Kentucky Derby winner Spend a Buck, will break from post position three in the 1 1/8-mile main track race. Boasting a career mark of 25-11-3-2 with earnings of $2,609,904, Einstein ran second in last year’s Stephen Foster behind Horse of the Year Curlin.

 Of the 11 victories, seven have come in graded stakes with five being in Grade Is. No other Stephen Foster entrant boasts a Grade I victory, but the other seven starters have combined to win 14 graded stakes.

The most accomplished of those is Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum’s Asiatic Boy (ARG), who will make his United States debut under the care of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. A winner of four graded stakes in Dubai, Asiatic Boy has captured seven of 15 starts with earnings in excess of $3 million.

McLaughlin won the 2007 Stephen Foster with Flashy Bull.

Alan Garcia rides Asiatic Boy, who will break from post position seven and carry 122 pounds.

Three Stephen Foster starters will carry 118 pounds: Arson Squad, a three-time graded stakes winner, Finallymadeit, also a three-time graded stakes winner who has won 12 stakes in his career with 11 of those coming at Calder, and Researcher, winner of the Grade III Queens County Handicap at Aqueduct last fall.

Drawing 117-pound imposts are Macho Again, winner of last year’s Derby Trial here and subsequent victor in the Grade II Jim Dandy and New Orleans Handicap, and Bullsbay, a perfect 3-for-3 at Churchill Downs including a May 1 victory in the Alysheba (Grade III).

The field for the Stephen Foster, from the rail out (with jockey, assigned weight and Mike Battaglia’s morning line odds): Alphabet Magic (Tony Farina, 113 pounds, 30-1), Macho Again (Robby Albarado, 117, 10-1), Einstein (Julien Leparoux, 124, 2-1), Arson Squad (Garrett Gomez, 118, 4-1), Researcher (Calvin Borel, 118, 4-1), Bullsbay (Jeremy Rose, 117, 10-1), Asiatic Boy (Alan Garcia, 122, 7-2) and Finallymadeit (Eduardo Nunez, 118, 8-1).

Since achieving Grade I status in 2002, the Foster has produced three horses that went on to earn “Horse of the Year” titles: 2003 runner-up Mineshaft, 2005 winner Saint Liam and last year’s champ Curlin.

In 1998, Awesome Again and Silver Charm ran 1-2 in the Grade II Foster and then came back in less than five months to duplicate the finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

In 1991, when the Stephen Foster was a Grade III event, Black Tie Affair (IRE) won the race, the first of six consecutive victories in a Horse of the Year campaign that included a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) at Churchill Downs.

Jockey Julien Leparoux, trainer Mike Maker and owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey concluded their assault on the Churchill Downs record book in scoring dazzling victories their respective categories as the 26-day Fall Meet at the historic home of the Kentucky Derby concluded on Saturday, Nov. 29.

            Leparoux earned his fourth title as "leading jockey" at the Louisville track with four victories on the meet's closing day that brought his record victory total for the autumn racing session to 63.  Maker collected his first "leading trainer" title at the Louisville track after saddling a record 31 Fall Meet winners that included two on the meet's final day.  The Ramseys earned a record 14^th "leading owner" crown as horses owned by the Nicholasville, Ky. couple won 24 races.  It was their seventh Fall Meet crown, which pulled them into a tie with the late John Franks for most fall titles.

            The meet was characterized by large fields of competitive horses and ended with special moments for two of Thoroughbred racing's outstanding older horses.  Einstein completed a remarkable year at Churchill Downs when the Helen Pitts-trained son of 1985 Kentucky Derby (Grade I) winner Spend a Buck upset heavily favored Commentator in the 135^th running of the $400,000-added Clark Handicap Presented by Yum Brands (GII) on Friday, Nov. 28.  Einstein completed a rare double as he became the first horse to notch victories in the Clark and the $500,000-added Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI), two of Churchill Downs' most prestigious races.  His spectacular year at the Louisville track also included a second-place finish behind reigning "Horse of the Year" Curlin in the $1 million Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) and was runner-up to Grade I winner Thorn Song in the $200,000-added Firecracker Handicap (GII) on the Matt Winn Turf Course.

            Curlin, based at Churchill Downs for trainer Steve Asmussen for much of his spectacular racing career, was the recipient of a special send-off on the meet's final day as the 4-year-old son of Smart Strike was paraded before the track's fans for a final time.  Curlin, who finished third to Street Sense in the 2007 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands, became the first North American horse to surpass $10 million in career earnings in a career that included wins in the 2007 Preakness (GI) and $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (GI) and the 2008 renewal of the $6 million Dubai World Cup.

            The runaway winners of the trio "human" races during the Fall Meet comprised a formidable team as Leparoux was the first-call rider for Maker, who trains approximately 60 horses for the Ramseys.  Of the Ramseys' 24 winners, all but two were trained by Maker.   

            The Fall Meet performance Leparoux, 25-year-old native of Senlis, France, continued his remarkable ascent through the ranks of the top jockeys in the United States.  Leparoux first appeared at Churchill Downs as an apprentice jockey during the 2004 Fall Meet and notched just one win from 10 starts.  He was atop the leading rider standings from the 2008 meet's opening day on Oct. 26 on the way to eclipsing legendary jockey Pat Day's record of 55 Fall Meet victories established in 1984 by the Hall of Fame jockey and all-time leading rider under the Twin Spires.

            Leparoux's biggest day of the meet came on Tuesday, Nov. 11 when he notched seven wins in nine starts - winning on each of his first seven mounts during the afternoon - to tie Day's record for wins in a single day at Churchill Downs.  Day won seven races from eight mounts on June 20, 1984. 

            Robby Albarado, winner of the track's Spring Meet riding crown, finished second to Leparoux with 41 wins.  Kentucky Derby-winning jockeys Calvin Borel and Kent Desormeaux tied for third with 21 victories.  Brandon Meier won five races to finish as the meet's leading apprentice jockey. 

Maker, a former assistant to Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, continued his breakout year with his dominant performance in the Fall Meet.  The 39-year-old son of the late trainer George Maker completed the Fall Meet with 31 wins, a total that demolished the previous record 20 victories established by Dale Romans during a 27-day Fall Meet of 2003.  Ken McPeek finished second with 18 wins, while Romans came in third with 15 victories.  Along with collecting his first "leading trainer" crown at Churchill Downs, Maker's year has included fall training titles at Keeneland and Turfway Park, and he earned the training crown at the Winter-Spring Meet at Turfway.

The Ramseys are now competing only against themselves when it comes to the record for "leading owner" titles under the Twin Spires.  But their final tally of 24 wins during the 26-day meet nearly doubled the previous Fall Meet record of 15 victories set by T. Alie Grissom during a 23-day session in 1965.  So thorough was the dominance by the red-and-white clad Ramsey horses that the stable threatened the record for wins in the track's much longer Spring Meet.  That record belongs to A.J. Foyt Jr., whose horses won 27 races during the track's 93-day Spring Meet in 1984. 

            Maggi Moss finished second in total victories during the meet with eight wins, and Zayat Stables, LLC earned six victories.

            The Fall Meet at Churchill Downs continued its tradition of offering large and competitive fields for races throughout its 26-day run.  A total of 2,557 horses competed in 268 races for an average of 9.5 starters per race. 

            Other outstanding equine performances during the 2008 Fall Meet included victories on closing day by John C. Oxley's Beethoven in the $150,000-added Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) and a romp by Dolphus Morrison's homebred Rachel Alexandra in the $150,000-added Golden Rod for 2-year-old fillies.  Rachel Alexandra rolled to a 4 ¾-length victory in a stakes record 1:43.08 for 1 1/16 miles.  Calvin Borel rode both closing day winners, along with Domino Stud's Miss Isella in the $150,000 Falls City Handicap (GII) on Thanksgiving Day.

            Other outstanding stakes performers during the meet included the regally bred Acoma, a daughter of Empire Maker who won the Mrs. Revere (GII) for 3-year-old fillies on turf; Nistle's Crunch, who rallied for an upset win in the Commonwealth Turf (GIII) for 3-year-olds; the Todd Pletcher-trained veteran Leah's Secret won the Chilukki (GII) for older fillies and mares; while record-setting trainer Steve Asmussen notched his only stakes win of the meet when the veteran Magna Graduate won the Ack Ack Handicap (GIII) on the meet's opening day.  Bill Mott, Churchill Downs' all-time leader in victories and stakes wins by a trainer, lifted his career stakes total to 75 when Indescribable won the Cardinal (GIII) for fillies and mares on turf.  The River City Handicap (GIII) for 3-year-olds and up on turf finished in a rare dead heat as Karelian and Demarcation finished on even terms after 1 1/8 miles.       

Pitts Ecstatic Over Einstein's Clark Performance - More than 12 hours after Einstein's tour de force victory in the $400,000 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (Grade II), the smile had not left the face of trainer Helen Pitts.[asset|]

            "I am just so proud of him," Pitts said of Einstein's 1 ½-length victory over Delightful Kiss. "I have never had a horse that loves his job so much."

            Einstein, winner of the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI) on Kentucky Derby Day, tracked odds-on favorite Commentator until the top of the stretch when he powered by to give jockey Julien Leparoux his fifth winner of the day.

            The victory was the fourth of the year for Einstein to go with three seconds in an eight-race campaign. Pitts called it his best race of the year.

            "The Turf Classic on Derby Day here was phenomenal," Pitts said of that victory, "and his Stephen Foster (second to Curlin) was great. But yesterday was sensational, the top of the heap, the way he did it coming off the layoff."

            Einstein had not run since a troubled fifth in the Aug. 9 Arlington Million (GI) on the Arlington Park turf. The Clark victory closed out the year for Einstein.

            "He will leave in 10 days for Gulfstream Park," Pitts said. "Our next goal with him is the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (GI to be run Feb. 1)."

            Einstein is a two-time winner of the Gulfstream Park race.

            Is there any chance Einstein could return to the dirt?

            "Probably the only place I would run him on the dirt would be here," Pitts said of Einstein, who broke his maiden at Churchill Downs on the dirt on Nov. 6, 2005 and has a 2-1-0 record in three races over the local course. "He really loves the dirt here."               

SUNSHINE MILLIONS NEXT OBJECTIVE FOR DELIGHTFUL KISS - Hobeau Farm's Delightful Kiss, a hard-charging runner-up to Einstein in the Clark Handicap, was scheduled to leave Churchill Downs around noon on Saturday for a return to his home base at Calder Race Course in Miami.

            "He ran a big race yesterday; he was really running at the finish," trainer Pete Anderson said.

            The 1 1/8-mile Clark closed out a strong finish to 2008 for Delightful Kiss, who scored Grade III victories in the Turfway Park Fall Championship and the All American Stakes at Golden Gate before running fourth, beaten two lengths, in the inaugural Breeders' Cup Marathon at Oak Tree at Santa Anita.

            "My next goal for him will be the Sunshine Millions at the end of January (Jan. 24)," Anderson said. "I might run him on the grass prior to that."

            Anderson first brought Delightful Kiss to Churchill Downs in the spring of 2007 with hopes of getting in the Kentucky Derby. However, insufficient graded earnings kept Delightful Kiss out of the "Run for the Roses" won by Street Sense.

            Anderson was asked if he thought he would have had the same success with Delightful Kiss had he run in the Kentucky Derby.

            "It is hard to say because he won the Ohio Derby soon after that and he was very close to top form," Anderson said. "He had a quarter crack that we were fighting after the Arkansas Derby. I would have liked to have made the Kentucky Derby, because at my age (now 77), I don't think I am going to get many chances.

            "I am fortunate to have him, he is a true delight. He has added 10 years to my life and for that I don't mind him biting me and kicking me."

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED FOR LEPAROUX - Julien Leparoux started the 26-day Fall Meet on fire and never cooled to an ember.

He took the lead for keeps in the rider standings with a four-win day on Oct. 30, the third day of the meet, and never looked back.

Leparoux hit the 10-day mark with 23 victories and the early pace had him on a path to break Pat Day's 23-year-old Fall Meet record of 55 victories. The bulk of the wins came for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trainer Mike Maker.

"Hopefully, everyone will break a record," Leparoux said three weeks ago of the record pace the Ramseys and Maker were on.

In Friday's third race, Leparoux made it mission accomplished on all counts when his victory aboard the Ramseys-owned and Maker-trained Just Like William gave him 56 winners.

Leparoux added three more winners on his five-win Friday and entered Saturday's card with 59 victories. Leparoux also had also posted 40 second-place finishes and 25 thirds for an in-the-money percentage of 62. He was named on nine mounts on Saturday's final racing program of the Fall Meet.

Maker enters closing day with 29 winners, 28 of which have been ridden by Leparoux. Maker, who obliterated the previous Fall Meet record of 20 victories set by Dale Romans during the 27-day meet of 2003, has four horses entered today.

The Ramseys have 24 victories of which 22 have been ridden by Leparoux. With only two runners entered Saturday, there is one record that will elude the Ramseys' grasp: Most wins at a single meet.

During the 93-day Spring Meet in 1984, A.J. Foyt Jr. established that mark with 27 winners during the 93-day Spring Meet of 1984.  The previous Fall Meet record was 15 victories, set by T. Alie Grissom during the 23-day session in 1965.

WORK TAB (Track: FAST) - Magdalena Racing's Mrs. Revere (GII) runner-up My Baby Baby worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:01.60 for trainer Ken McPeek. Also working for McPeek were Koolmen Racing Stable's graded stakes-placed A to the Croft (1:02.60 for five-eighths, 10^th best of 17) and Lansdon Robbins III's stylish 2-year-old debut winner Danger to Society (:48.40 for a half-mile, fourth best of 35).

(November 28, 2008) – Einstein, a 6-year-old son of 1985 Kentucky Derby winner Spend a Buck, collared 2-5 favorite Commentator at the head of the stretch and then held off a late surge from Delightful Kiss to win Friday’s 134th running of the $440,400 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII) at Churchill Downs by 1 ½ lengths.

Trained by Helen Pitts, Einstein ran the 1 1/8 miles on a fast main track in 1:49.79. The victory was the fifth of the day for Leparoux, who earlier in the card established a Fall Meet record for victories.

            The Fall Meet concludes its 26-day run Saturday with the “Stars of Tomorrow II” card featuring all 2-year-olds. The 12-race program begins at 11:30 a.m. (ET) with general admission gates opening at 10 a.m.

            Highlighting the card will be two Grade II stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the main track: the $150,000-added Golden Rod for fillies that goes as the ninth race at approximately 3:28 p.m. and the $150,000-added Kentucky Jockey Club that goes as the 11th race with an approximate 4:27 p.m. post time.

Also, reigning Horse of the Year and North America’s leading all-time money-earner Curlin will be paraded before the crowd between Races 5-6, and there’s a $23,365 carryover for the Z-5 (Super Hi-5), which requires bettors to pick the top five finishers in order, for the fifth race.

            Commentator, ridden by John Velazquez and carrying high weight of 124 pounds, led the field of seven through early fractions of :24.57, :48.58 and 1:12.64 with Einstein, toting 119 pounds, as his closest pursuer. Leparoux moved Einstein to the outside of Commentator at the top of the stretch, dueling on even terms for a sixteenth of a mile before beginning to draw clear.

Delightful Kiss, ridden by Calvin Borel, rallied from far back to be a clear second, but was no threat to Einstein, who took home the winner’s check of $267,588 to raise his career earnings to $1,634,019.

Racing for court-appointed owner Matthew Garretson, Einstein posted his first career graded-stakes victory on dirt. Einstein, who had run second to 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin in this summer’s Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) here, owns three Grade I victories on the grass.

Einstein rewarded his backers with mutuels of $11.80, $5.20 and $2.60. Delightful Kiss returned $10.80 and $3.80 in finishing 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Commentator, who paid $2.10 to show.

Completing the field in order were Magna Graduate, Wayzata Bay, Dominican and Anak Nakal.

Two races before the Clark Handicap, 2008 Belmont Stakes winner Da’ Tara finished third in a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claiming race. Da’ Tara was the first Belmont Stakes winner to run at Churchill Downs since 1999 winner Lemon Drop Kid ran in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Leparoux broke a 23-year-old Fall Meet record for victories when he recorded his 56th win. The victory in the third race aboard Just Like William eclipsed the mark of 55 set in the 30-day meet of 1985 by Pat Day. Leparoux’s total entering Saturday’s card is 59.

POST-RACE QUOTES – THE CLARK HANDICAP

JULIEN LEPAROUX (Jockey, EINSTEIN-BRZ, winner) – “I knew I had to stay close to Commentator and he broke sharp. I just kind of eased up a little bit on the outside. I just ran behind him all the way. When I asked him, he stuck his head in front of him and we were gone. It was done.”

Q: Did you work him in the morning?

“Yes. I breezed him last time and he breezed very good. We were expecting a good race from him, that’s for sure.”

Q: Was the game plan not to let Commentator get away?

“Yes, yes. The plan was to be right behind him and to not give him too much to do. Commentator is a very, very good horse and if you give him too much to do it would be tough.

Q: You were second aboard Einstein in the Stephen Foster. What was the difference today?

“That was a different race. It was a slow pace and he didn’t break very, very good that day. We came from the back and then finished. He still finished very good and just got beat by Curlin. Not bad.”

HELEN PITTS (Trainer, EINSTEIN-BRZ, winner) – “To be able to win a stake like that means the world to me but to get a graded stake on the dirt for him is super. It was kind of my main objective coming in here. He was second in a Grade I in the Stephen Foster. But to win a graded stake on the dirt for him, he deserves it more than anybody out there because I’ve never had a horse that loves his job and loves to train and loves to run as much as he does. When he turned for home, I knew he’d dig deep down inside to find all he could to get there. He’s a very special horse.”

Q: The game plan was to stay close, but isn’t there a fine line?

“There is. I mean, he worked him the other day and it was a big key. He rode him in the Stephen Foster but he had him close today and I think he realized that. In the Stephen Foster, I think he left him with a little too much to do. Today, they went :24 and change in the first quarter and he was perfect. It was a little bit out of Einstein’s style but at the same time they went slow enough where it wasn’t putting him totally out. I might have been second-guessing my own training at the three-eighths pole, but he pulled through for me. Just to have a horse like him means the world to me.”

Q: It was a nice win off the layoff . . .

“It was and I was hoping he hadn’t lost too much. That’s why everybody kept asking me, ‘Are you going to run? Are you going to run?’ I was going to let him tell me. When he worked like that last week and Julien said he did it all on his own, I figured he was ready.”

PETE ANDERSON, trainer of DELIGHTFUL KISS (runner-up)

“He (jockey Calvin Borel) gave him a lot to do.  I like the guy’s riding and all that, but he just gave him a little too much to do.  But it was a big effort.  At one stage of the game he had to be close to 20 lengths off the lead, I would think.  Unless my eyes are bad, I would say he was close to that.  When the horse (Timber Reserve) scratched, it changed the complexion of the race.”

Q: Will Delightful Kiss return racing next year?

“I’m staying with this horse until he dies.  I’ll have him until he dies.  It’s better than the fountain of youth, having this horse.  It’s one of the great thrills in my life, and I’ve had a whole lot of them.  But this is one of the great thrills of my life – I love this horse.”

CALVIN BOREL, jockey on DELIGHTFUL KISS (runner-up)

“I wish the other horse (Timber Reserve) hadn’t scratched – I think he would have added a little more pace.  But he ran good – he ran his race.  He ran a huge race – no complaints.  This horse is doing good.”

NICK ZITO, trainer of COMMENTATOR (third as the 2-5 favorite)

“He wasn’t himself.  Like everything else, it could just be the effect of a long year for him, the way he is.  He puts everything into everything he does.  You know, Helen (Pitts) did a good job with Einstein – coming off a three-month layoff.  He’s a nice horse that finished second to Curlin.  But John (Velazquez) said Commentator was just skipping.  He wasn’t getting a good hold (of the track).  He just wasn’t himself.”

Q: Were you concerned throughout?

“When he left there I was happy, but down the backside he just couldn’t accelerate and get away, and I knew something was wrong.  John said he just wasn’t himself.”

JOHN VELAZQUEZ, jockey on COMMENTATOR (third)

“He struggled with the track.  He was good the first part of the race, but he got to the half-mile pole and I tried to encourage him, but it seemed like he was skipping – he was slipping and sliding a little bit.  That’s the first time he ever felt that he was not getting hold of the track, and he’s been everywhere.  But today he just struggled with it.  I got after him, but he just went through the motions.  He didn’t do like he can.”

SHAUN BRIDGMOHAN, jockey on MAGNA GRADUATE (fourth)

“He ran OK.  He went around and had a good trip around there.  He was just fourth today.”

EINSTEIN GIVES ALL THE RIGHT CLARK ANSWERS TO PITT- The question trainer Helen Pitts was asking her stable star Einstein this month was whether the 6-year-old would be up for a run in Friday's $400,000-added Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (Grade II).[asset|height=12|width=1]

            With a bullet five-eighths work Sunday, the answer was a definitive "yes."

            "He worked super Sunday and I thought that was good enough to get us there," Pitts said of Einstein, who has not raced since a troubled fifth-place finish in the Grade I Arlington Million on the grass at Arlington Park on Aug. 9. "He had done enough while he was off and he had a good bottom to him."

            Einstein, who will break from post position three in the Clark under meet-leading jockey Julien Leparoux, did not have his first work after his Million run until Nov. 2.

            "I didn't want to say yes (to the Clark) and get my hopes up," Pitts said. "He had an easy half, a good half, then an easy five-eighths and a good five-eighths. He couldn't have lost a whole lot."

            Einstein has done his best work on the turf, where he has recorded Grade I victories this year with scores in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap and the Derby Day Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.  The son of 1985 Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Spend A Buck was runner-up to 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin in Churchill Downs' Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) in his most recent run on the main track.

            "There was no pressure to run here and it is going to be awhile before he runs again," Pitts said. "He's got some good works in him, he's doing good and we're going to take a shot. I am comfortable with him. I know he will give his 110 percent like he always does."

BROWNIE POINTS LOOKS TO RETIRE AS A MILLIONAIRE - The cash machine in trainer Donnie Von Hemel's barn will be shutting down Thursday after embarking on one last search for a major deposit.

            Pin Oak Stable's Brownie Points will make her swan song in this afternoon's $150,000-added Falls City Handicap (GII).  A victory in the 94th renewal in that 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares would swell her career earnings past the $1 million mark.

            "These kind of horses are hard to find," Von Hemel said. "You like to have one or two of those in the barn to keep things going."

            Through four years of racing, Brownie Points has compiled a record of 9-8-4 in 26 races with earnings of $946,442 - with almost equal success on dirt and turf.

            "I was just glad that she ran on either one," Von Hemel said. "We picked our spots with her and there was never a soundness issue."

Brownie Points ran the worst race of her career in her debut on dirt, finishing 10th in a field of 12 in a five-furlong sprint at Remington Park.

"We knew she was talented, and a lot of them train well and then when they run they don't do much," Von Hemel said. "We were disappointed in her first race, but the next time she ran on the dirt she ran second at 70-1."

The Falls City will mark the second trip to Churchill Downs for Brownie Points in 2008. She was a fast-closing second in the Grade III Locust Grove on the turf in July.  Luis Quinonez rode here that day and will be aboard again on Thanksgiving Day.

"Luis has been important to her success," Von Hemel said. "He has stayed with her for three years."

WIGGINS LOOKING FOR EARLY BIRTHDAY TREAT ON SATURDAY - Trainer Hal Wiggins will turn 66 on Sunday, but he would not mind picking up a present or two a day earlier on the "Stars of Tomorrow II" card at Churchill Downs.

            Wiggins will saddle Dolphus Morrison's homebred Rachel Alexandra in the $150,000-added Golden Rod (GII) at a mile and a sixteenth on the main track. He will also run Morrison's Abbott Hall in the $56,000 Caressing at a mile on the turf.

            Rachel Alexandra enters the Golden Rod off a runner-up finish to Sara Louise in the Pocahontas (GIII) on Nov. 1. It was her second race back after a 3 ½-month layoff that followed a promising runner-up finish to Garden District in Grade III Debutante.

            "She had a chip removed from her left front ankle," Wiggins said of the layoff. "We were hoping she would come back around and she ran good at Keeneland going short. She came out of that race fine and also the Pocahontas."

            Abbott Hall returns to the turf after a fifth-place finish in the Pocahontas.

            "That was just to see how she would handle it," Wiggins said. "She ran on it well in her first start at Ellis finishing second and she didn't run that well in her previous start at Keeneland (fourth in the Jessamine)."

            Saturday will bring down the curtain on 2008 for both fillies.

            "Rachel Alexandra will go to Hot Springs and they have that little series at Oaklawn with the Honeybee and the Fantasy," Wiggins said. "I'd like to run her twice before hopefully the Kentucky Oaks. They also have the Silverbulletday and the Fair Grounds Oaks in New Orleans, so we have a lot of options and she ran good on the Polytrack at Keeneland, so we could look at the Ashland."

            Abbott Hall could get see a later start for her 3-year-old campaign.

            "She may get a break. Rachel Alexandra's already had her break," Wiggins said. "There is not much for her out there now."

            Whatever the decision for Morrison's talent fillies, Wiggins will make the call.

            "I have trained horses for him for 27 years," Wiggins said. "The last thing he tells me when we talk is ‘you're the coach.' "

BARN TALK - Julien Leparoux added one victory Wednesday to elevate his meet-leading total to 51. With three days remaining in the meet, Leparoux has Pat Day's 23-year-old fall record of 55 squarely in his sights. Leparoux is named on 11 mounts each Thursday and Friday and on nine on Saturday. ... Robby Albarado had his third four-win day of the meet on Wednesday to raise his meet total to 37. Albarado also won four races on Nov. 14 and Nov. 19. ... "Happy Birthday" wishes to trainer Greg Foley, who turns 51 today.  The second generation trainer - the son of veteran trainer Dravo Foley and brother to fellow trainer Vickie Foley - has four horses entered on the Thanksgiving Day card at Churchill Downs.

Tracy Farmer's Commentator, Elisabeth Alexander's Magna Graduate and Midnight Cry Stable's Einstein (BRZ), who have combined to earn $5,769,604 in their stellar careers, headline a field of eight for Friday's 134^th running of the $400,000-added Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII) at Churchill Downs.

            The Clark Handicap, named for the family of Churchill Downs founder Meriwether Lewis Clark, was first run at the track's inaugural meet in 1875 and, like the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) and the Kentucky Oaks (GI), has been run annually without interruption since.  The 1 1/8-mile race over the main track will be the 11^th race on the 12-race card with an approximate post time of 4:29 p.m. (all times Eastern). Post time for the first race is 11:30 a.m. and admission gates open at 10 a.m.

            The 7-year-old Commentator has won 13 of 20 careers starts for earnings of $1,841,936 while racing for five years under the care of trainer Nick Zito. Ridden by John Velazquez in all five of his starts this year, Commentator has won four times, highlighted by a second victory in the Grade I Whitney at Saratoga, and enters the Clark off a 14-length victory in the Massachusetts Handicap on Sept. 20 at Suffolk Downs.

            The New York-bred gelding by Distorted Humor is enjoying the finest year of his career with four victories in five races and earnings of $1,025,700.  His only loss came in a runner-up finish to Divine Park in the Metropolitan Handicap (GI) at Belmont Park.  Commentator will carry top weight of 124 pounds and break from post position four under Velazquez.  He easily won his only previous start at Churchill Downs in 2004.

            Now trained by Steve Asmussen, the 6-year-old Magna Graduate has won 10 of 34 career starts with six seconds and six thirds for earnings of $2,561,237. Two of those victories have come at Churchill Downs, one in the 2005 Clark Handicap for former trainer Todd Pletcher and the other in this year's Grade III Ack Ack Handicap on Oct. 26.  Shaun Bridgmohan, who rode Magna Graduate in the Ack Ack, will be aboard Friday.  Magna Graduate will break from post position two and carry 120 pounds.

            The 6-year-old Einstein, trained by Helen Pitts, is a two-time Grade I winner on the grass this year and has built a career resume of eight wins in 21 starts for earnings of $1,366,431. Idle since finishing a troubled fifth in the Grade I Arlington Million on Aug. 9, Einstein last started on the dirt in the Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) at Churchill Downs on June 14 when he ran second to 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin.

            Julien Leparoux, who rode Einstein in the Stephen Foster, will ride Friday and break from post position three. Einstein will carry 119 pounds.

            Bidding for a return to form in the Clark will be Silverton Hill LLC's Dominican, winner of the 2007 Toyota Blue Grass (GI) at Keeneland.  The Darrin Miller-trained son of El Corredor defeated Street Sense by a nose over the Polytrack course that day, but finished 11^th to that rival on the dirt in the Kentucky Derby.  Dominican snapped a six-race losing streak in an allowance win over the synthetic Tapeta surface in July at Pennsylvania's Presque Isle Downs, and has since finished third to Delightful Kiss in the Turfway Fall Championship (GIII) and was runner-up to longshot Ball Four in the Fayette (GIII) at Keeneland.  Robby Albarado will ride.

            Three other graded-stakes winners on dirt in 2008 are in the Clark field: Four Roses Thoroughbreds' Anak Nakal, winner of the Grade II Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 1 at Philadelphia Park, World Thoroughbreds Racing's Wayzata Bay, winner of the Grade II Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows on June 28, and Hobeau Farm's Delightful Kiss, winner of the Turfway Park Fall Championship on Sept. 6 and the All American Stakes at Golden Gate on Sept. 27.  Delightful Kiss most recently finished fifth to Albertus Maximus in the $500,000 Breeders' Cup Marathon over the Pro-Ride course at Santa Anita.

            The field for the Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare, from the rail out, is as follows: Delightful Kiss (Calvin Borel, 116 pounds), Magna Graduate (John Velazquez, 120), Einstein (Julian Leparoux, 119), Commentator (John Velazquez, 124), Anak Nakal (Jesus Castanon, 118), Timber Reserve (Kent Desormeaux, 116), Wayzata Bay (Israel Ocampo, 117) and Dominican (Robby Albarado, 115).

            Appearing on the Clark Handicap undercard on Friday will be Robert LaPenta's Da' Tara, the upset winner of the Belmont Stakes (GI) who derailed Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown's bid for a Triple Crown.  The Nick Zito-trained son of Tiznow has lost three consecutive races since then, with the most recent setback coming in a sixth-place finish to Tale of Ekati in the Jerome Handicap (GII) at Belmont Park. 

Da' Tara will face seven rivals in the 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claiming race for 3-year-olds and up.  He will be the first Belmont Stakes winner to run at Churchill Downs since 1999 winner Lemon Drop Kid finished fifth to Tiznow in the 2000 Breeders' Cup Classic (GI).  Victory Gallop, the 1999 Belmont Stakes winner, won the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs the following year.

PERSEVERANCE REWARDED FOR JOCKEY TROILO - Veteran rider Bill Troilo had no idea that Saturday would end up as a memorable afternoon packed with "firsts" for him at Churchill Downs.[asset|height=12|width=100]

            "I was just riding out my engagements and I think I found out about the sixth race that I had picked up the mount," Troilo said of obtaining the ride on Karelian in the $100,000-added River City Handicap (Grade III). "It turned out to be a great day."

Troilo got the head for Green Lantern Stable's 6-year-old gelding up on the wire to earn a dead-heat victory with Demarcation in the River City. It was Troilo's 258^th career victory at Churchill Downs, but more important his first career graded-stakes win and first stakes win under the Twin Spires.

"It was a great feeling," Troilo said of the milestone win. "You just never know what the next day will bring."

A 47-year-old native of Philadelphia, Troilo began his riding career in 1982 and has ridden 2,455 winners in his career. The victory aboard Karelian was even more special for Troilo because it came for trainer Rusty Arnold, who he began working with before his started his career.

"I was 21 at the time and the exercise rider for Wavering Monarch. He ran third in the Blue Grass behind Linkage and Gato Del Sol," Troilo said. "He fell with me in New York one morning right before I started riding."

Jack Bohannan, Arnold's assistant at Churchill Downs, reported Karelian was doing well Sunday morning.

"This horse has overcome a lot of injuries," said Bohannan, who did not think Karelian had won. "We were watching it in the grandstand on the second floor and I thought he got beat."

Bohannan said Karelian would head to Florida for the winter. Demarcation, on the other hand, is headed to the Fair Grounds according to trainer Paul McGee.

"He is doing good this morning and he will go to New Orleans," McGee said. "They have a lot of opportunities on the grass down there."

McGee thought Demarcation had won outright.

"In grass races here, the outside horse generally has the edge in a photo and I thought he had won it," McGee said. "Then they showed the replay in slow motion on the big screen in the infield and then I wasn't so sure. I'll take the dead heat."

McGee also brought a check in the Bet On Sunshine overnight handicap when Success Success rallied for third behind Native Ruler.

"He ran pretty huge," McGee said of Success Success, who also will go to the Fair Grounds. "He comes with that late run all the time. He is a hard-trying little horse."      

ASMUSSEN CAN BUILD ON RECORD ON CLOSING WEEKEND - With a record-tying 555 North American victories in hand, trainer Steve Asmussen had 11 chances at five venues Sunday to break the mark he established in 2004.           

            Asmussen has two horses entered at Churchill Downs on Sunday: Hawaii Calls in the fourth and Mister Fusaichi in the seventh. On Wednesday, Asmussen will be represented by one starter: Coach Gravy in the sixth.

            Asmussen will be represented in the four graded stakes to be run at Churchill Downs over the Thanksgiving weekend and he is optimistic about the roster he will send out.

"I think that we are in very good shape," Asmussen said. "We've got Magna Graduate for the Clark, we've got Copper State running (in the Falls City) and the two-year-olds, we've got War Echo (for the Golden Rod) and Star of David and Zion (for the Kentucky Jockey Club). So, I like our chances."

            Asmussen won the 2005 Kentucky Jockey Club with Private Vow. He will be seeking his first victory in the Falls City, Clark and Golden Rod.

ROSAS RELISHED THE RIDE ON CURLIN - For 22 months, Carlos Rosas has been on the ride of his life. During that span, Rosas has been the regular exercise rider for Curlin.

            The morning rides will come to an end soon as Curlin heads off to Lane's End Farm to begin a stallion career in 2009.

            "It has been a great feeling to be on him every morning," said Rosas, who first got on Curlin when he came into trainer Steve Asmussen's barn in February 2007.

            Rosas, who has been with Asmussen for six years, served as Curlin's morning pilot through the 2007 campaign that culminated in Horse of the Year honors after winning the Breeders' Cup Classic (GI) at Monmouth Park and this year that was highlighted by a victory in the Dubai World Cup (GI) and the Stephen Foster Handicap (GI).

            So, Carlos, after all the travels with Curlin, what will you remember most many years down the road to tell the grandkids about?

            "It would be probably be Dubai," Rosas said with a widening smile. "I got there once and he took me there."    

BARN TALK - Training hours will end at 8 a.m. this Thursday, Friday and Saturday because of the early 11:30 a.m. post times. There will be no training on the turf on Thursday. ... Dennis "Peaches" Geier, assistant to trainer Bret Calhoun, said that Marilyn and James Helzer's Euroears was none the worse for wear after a fifth-place finish in Saturday's Bet On Sunshine overnight handicap. "He is doing OK this morning," Geier said after Euroears suffered the first defeat in his seven-race career. "He will be going to the Fair Grounds." ...  With five racing days to go in the meet, jockey Julien Leparoux needs to ride nine winners to break Pat Day's 23-year-old Fall record. Leparoux rode three winners Saturday to lift his total to 47 through 21 racing days. Day accumulated his 55 winners over a 30-day meet. 

WORK TAB - Midnight Cry Stable's Einstein, nominated to Friday's Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII), worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.80 with trainer Helen Pitts up. "He went well," Pitts said as she gave a big thumb's up on the work shortly after the track opened. ... Frank Calabrese's Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Sugar Mom worked five furlongs in 1:04.20 after the renovation break for trainer Wayne Catalano. ... Overbrook Farm's Big Surf, a Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) nominee, worked a half-mile in :51.40 for trainer Todd Pletcher.

CARROLL BEAMING AFTER ACOMA'S MRS. REVERE TRIUMPH - Trainer David Carroll said Sunday morning that Acoma came out of her triumph in Saturday's Mrs. Revere (GII) in good order.

"She is going to the farm and will be let down," Carroll said. "I'll pick her up in February and look for maybe the Doubledogdare in April at Keeneland."

Owned by Helen Alexander and Helen Groves, Acoma made the Mrs. Revere her third graded stakes victory of 2008 with one coming on dirt and two on turf.

"We have a lot of options with her," Carroll said. "She has won Grade IIIs, a Grade II and I'd like to get a Grade I with her.

"I don't think it is just the turf. She ran 1:34 when she won the Dogwood (on the dirt at Churchill Downs). The thing is that she just doesn't ship well and it is just a question of how she is doing. She likes to be settled in one place. Surface does not matter."

The two fillies who chased Acoma home on Saturday, My Baby Baby and Scolara, were both doing well Sunday morning.

"I thought she was gone at the sixteenth pole," Billy Wright, assistant to trainer Ken McPeek, said of Magdalena Racing's My Baby Baby. "She is fine this morning. There is no disgrace in losing to a filly of Acoma's caliber."

Kenny McCarthy, assistant to trainer Bill Mott, said that Scolara, who had finished fourth in the Valley View (GIII) behind Acoma, "came back fine and will live to fight another day. We just have to steer clear of Acoma."

LEPAROUX'S HOT START HAS RIDER ON RECORD PACE - When Pat Day set the riding standard for a Fall Meet with 55 victories in 1985, he averaged 1.8 wins a day over the 30 day-meet.

Through the first 10 days of the current 26-day meet Julien Leparoux has notched 23 victories, an average of 2.3 a day. Leparoux, who rode for the first time at Churchill Downs in the 2005 Fall Meet, is winning at a 30 percent clip (23 of 76). In Day's record Fall Meet, he won at a 28.6 percent rate (55 of 192).

Included in those victories are scores in half of the six stakes run thus far: the Iroquois on Capt. Candyman Can, the Dream Supreme on Elope and Saturday's Mrs. Revere on Acoma.

The bulk of the victories have come riding for trainer Mike Maker, who has saddled 14 winners and is on a record pace of his own to break the Fall Meet record for training wins of 20 set by Dale Romans in 2003. Many of the Maker horses have been for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who have 11 wins this meet and well within range of the record of 15 held by T. Alie Grissom in 1965 over a 23-day meet.

"Hopefully everybody will break a record," said Leparoux, who has ridden all of Maker's winners.

Maker is taking his stable to Gulfstream Park in the winter, but Leparoux is not saying if he will go in the same direction.

"I don't know yet where I am going for the winter," Leparoux said. "I have three more weeks here, so there is no hurry to make a decision."

EINSTEIN WORKS HALF-MILE TOWARD COMEBACK - Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI) winner Einstein worked a half-mile in :49.40 over a fast track with trainer Helen Pitts up on Sunday morning.

It was Einstein's second work since finishing a troubled fifth in the Arlington Million (GI) on Aug. 9.

"He went beautifully, very nice," Pitts said of the 6-year-old gelding who is owned by Midnight Cry Stable. "He will work five-eighths next week and I will let him tell me (about a next start)."

Pitts said Einstein could make an appearance in the Nov. 28 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII).

"I am just going to wait and see," Pitts said of the 1 1/8-mile race on the main track where Einstein finished second to 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin in the Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) in June. "If he doesn't go in the Clark, I may look around for something or just wait until Gulfstream."

NOMINATIONS FOR FIVE STAKES CLOSE SATURDAY - Nov. 15 is the closing day for nominations for five stakes, including four Grade II events slated for Thanksgiving Weekend.

The richest of the stakes is the $400,000-added Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII) to be run at 1 1/8 miles on the main track on Friday, Nov. 28. On Thanksgiving Day, the fillies and mares will get their chance at the same distance in the $150,000-added Falls City Handicap (GII).

Highlighting the closing-day "Stars of Tomorrow II" card that features all 2-year-old races are the Golden Rod (GII) for the fillies and the open Kentucky Jockey Club (GII). Both races are 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

Also closing Saturday is the Bet On Sunshine, a $61,000 overnight handicap for sprinters 3-years-old and up going six furlongs on the main track on Saturday, Nov. 22.

BARN TALK - Apprentice rider Brandon Meier posted his first Churchill Downs victory when Kori Kori scored a 5 ½-length triumph in Saturday's second race. "It felt great to get that first one out of the way," Meier said. "I rode her the other day at Keeneland and ran second and yesterday they took the blinkers off her and added distance and it made all the difference." Meier, 20, is the son of journeyman rider Randall Meier. ... A happy 42nd birthday to trainer Darrin Miller.

WORK TAB - Zabeel Racing International's Game Face, winner of this spring's La Troienne (GIII), worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 over a fast track for trainer Todd Pletcher. The move was the third fastest of 35 at the distance. ... Dogwood Stable's Blackberry Road, runner-up in last fall's Kentucky Jockey Club (GII), worked five furlongs in 1:03.60 for trainer David Carroll.