Paul McGee

RAVI’S SONG RETURNS TO DIRT IN THURSDAY’S FALLS CITY – Ravi’s Song, runner-up to Deluxe in the Cardinal Handicap (Grade III) on the Matt Winn Turf Course, will switch back to the dirt for $175,000-added Falls City Handicap (GII), the Thanksgiving Day racing centerpiece at Churchill Downs.

“I think she’s going to run well,” trainer Carl Bowman said. “She’s a three-time stakes winner on the dirt, so she’ll have no problem with the surface. I think she’ll show she can switch back-and-forth (between turf and dirt).”

A 5-year-old gray/roan daughter of Unbridled’s Song, Ravi’s Song has raced six times on the main track at Churchill Downs and sports a record of 2-1-1 with earnings of $93,683.  She has an assigned weight of 117 pounds for Thursday’s 96^th running of the 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares ages 3 and up.

“She’s run really well here (at Churchill Downs),” Bowman said. “The only bad race she ran was in the La Troienne (GII) on (Kentucky) Oaks Day, but she faced some pretty nice fillies that day in Blind Luck and Unrivaled Belle.”

Ravi’s Song, who was fourth to Dundalk Dust in last year’s Falls City, competed on turf for the first time in her runner-up finish to My Baby Baby in the Mint Julep Handicap (GIII) at Churchill Downs in June. She followed that strong grass debut with second-place finish to Romacaca in the Matchmaker (GIII) at Monmouth Park and was then given some time off before her run in the Cardinal.

“There was no scientific reason for putting her on the turf,” Bowman said. “She had trained well over it and there wasn’t a stake on dirt that really fit her. After she ran so well (in the Mint Julep), we decided to keep her on the grass for her next couple of starts. The purse money is better on the dirt and she will probably make her following start on the dirt at Fair Grounds, so that’s why she’s back on the main track.”

Mrs. Yoshio Fujita’s Ravi’s Song will remain in training following the Falls City; however, Friday will mark the end of her 5-year-old campaign.

“She’s definitely going to run as a 6-year-old,” Bowman said. “She’ll remain in training, but won’t make a start until next year. I gave her some time off after the Matchmaker, so she’s already had her break. We’ll find something for her at Fair Grounds in January or February.”

CASUAL TRICK HAS ZITO THINKING OF FIRST SATURDAY IN MAY – Flash back to a year ago and many Churchill Downs racing fans will easily recall an impressive racing debut by Robert LaPenta’s Dialed In, who overcame a poor start and significant traffic woes to win his first outing and immediately established himself as a horse to watch on the road to the 2011 Kentucky Derby.

Dialed In lived up to his strong early reviews and entered the starting gate as the betting favorite for Derby 137, but he finished eighth behind Team Valor International’s victorious Animal Kingdom.

So it should be no surprise that there was a tinge of déjà vu in the air during Friday’s “Downs After Dark” racing card when the Zito-trained Casual Trick carried LaPenta’s racing colors to an emphatic 2 ½-length win under jockey Jesus Castanon in a one-mile maiden race for juveniles.  It was the second career start for Casual Trick, who finished fifth after pressing the pace in his six-furlong debut at Saratoga on Aug. 27.

With two wins in the Kentucky Derby to his credit, Zito’s mind never wanders far from thoughts of Churchill Downs and the first Saturday in May.  So it was easy for the New York-born Hall of Fame trainer to connect the early fortunes of Dialed In and Casual Trick after the latter’s stylish win on Nov. 18.

“He was doing really well and we were looking for a shorter race, but the mile race came up and we decided to go in there,” Zito said.  “He ran a really good race and the fact that he won at a mile kind of puts us ahead of where we might have been with him.”

Casual Trick has a pedigree that suggests the Kentucky Derby could be right down the bay ridgling’s alley.  He’s by 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini out of Casual Look, a Red Ransom mare who took the 2003 renewal of Britain’s Group I Vodaphone Epsom Oaks for breeder William S. Farish.  Casual Look’s victory for the master of Kentucky’s Lane’s End Farm in the 1 ½-mile race for 3-year-old fillies came during Farish’s service in London as U.S. Ambassador to England.

“Bernardini is one of the hottest sires out there, and being out of one of Mr. Farish’s mares, you know there’s quality there,” Zito said.  “We like to bring our horses to Churchill Downs in the fall and it’s worked well for us.  Dialed In is a good example of why we like to come here.”

Dialed In’s Nov. 12 debut last year was the only race of his 2-year-old season.  He launched his 3-year-old campaign with a stretch-running victory in the Jan. 11 Holy Bull (GIII) at Gulfstream Park, and later won the Florida Derby (GI) over that track.  The son of Mineshaft went to the sidelines with an injury after a fourth-place finish to behind Shackleford and Animal Kingdom in the Preakness (GI).

Zito said Casual Trick would probably have a racing timetable similar to his campaign with Dialed In, with a first outing against winners likely sometime in January at Gulfstream.

Another Kentucky Derby hope for Zito could emerge in Saturday’s $150,000-added Kentucky Jockey Club (GII), the co-feature on the Nov. 26 Stars of Tomorrow II program devoted exclusively to 2-year-olds.  He plans to saddle Tracy Farmer’s homebred Saint Honore in the 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club.

A son of Farmer’s Sun King, who finished 15^th to Giacomo as one of five Zito-trained runners in the 2005 Kentucky Derby, Saint Honore rallied to score a narrow maiden victory on Oct. 10 at Belmont Park.  Saint Honore’s win came at the Kentucky Jockey Club distance in the third start of his young career.

MCGEE HOPES FOR BIG WEDNESDAY AS HE NEARS 300 HOMETOWN WINS – Louisville-native Paul McGee has saddled 295 winners at Churchill Downs and could make substantial progress in his bid to reach a personal milestone of 300 wins at his hometown track when he saddles a strong group of starters beneath the historic Twin Spires on Wednesday.

McGee has six horses entered in five Wednesday races, including heavy hitters Infrattini, Worldly and Dubious Miss.  All have turned in strong performances at Churchill Downs during their careers.

Z Thoroughbreds LLC’s Infrattini could be McGee’s strongest chance on Wednesday.  The runner-up to Scotus in Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn (GIII), Infrattini enters a 1 1/16-mile allowance race on the main track off a fifth-place finish to Redeemed in the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.  The 3-year-old son of Include is the 3-5 favorite in Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia’s morning line for the race.

“He’s a nice horse and he’s doing well,” McGee said. “After the Matt Winn, I sat on him for six weeks and then ran him in the West Virginia Derby (GII), and then waited again and ran in the Oklahoma Derby. There’s no reason for giving him a lot of time in-between races other than that we’ve just tried to pick our spots with him.”

Infrattini will break from post four under Corey Lanerie in Wednesday’s seventh race.

Two races later, McGee will saddle Jay Em Ess Stable’s Worldly for Wednesday’s featured ninth, a one-mile allowance race on the Matt Winn Turf Course. Worldly, a 4-year-old son of A.P. Indy and full-brother to multiple graded-stakes winner Suave, will be making his first start on turf since running second in an allowance on the Matt Winn Turf Course in May of 2010.  Worldly comes into Wednesday’s race off a disappointing ninth-place finish behind Headache in last month’s Hawthorne Gold Cup (GII) and a third-place run before that in the $100,000 Governor’s Cup at Remington Park.

“I was at the mercy of the condition book,” McGee said. “He’s still eligible for three other-than (allowances) and coming off his last two defeats I wanted to put him back in the allowance ranks to give him some confidence. The only three other-than on dirt (at Churchill Downs) is a one-turn mile and I don’t think that fits him. Also, he’s run well on the grass.”

If the race should be taken off the Matt Winn Turf Course, McGee would have another starter in the race with Dubious Miss, who is entered for the main track only. A 7-year-old gelded son of E Dubai, Dubious Miss has won eight races during a career that includes four wins on the main track beneath the Twin Spires.

“If the race comes off (the turf) then I would run both of them,” McGee said.

McGee’s other entries Wednesday include Pandering (Race 1, 4-1 morning-line), Even Forest (Race 6, 6-1) and High Quality (Race 8, 4-1).

The 49-year-old trainer, who does not have any horses entered Sunday, is confident in his entries on Wednesday and can see a 300^th win beneath the Twin Spires coming rather soon.

“I’ve got a good shot to do it before the meet ends,” McGee said. “We have about ten horses left to run and they all have a chance to win.”

WHO’S HOT – The hottest jockey over the last five racing days (Nov. 12-18) is Julien Leparoux (8-for-23). Dale Romans (4-for-11) and Ken McPeek (4-for-12) are the hottest trainers over the same period. No owner has more than one win in the last five racing days.

WORKTAB – John Oxley’s Golden History breezed four furlongs in :47.80 on a “good” Churchill Downs main track Sunday morning for trainer Mark Casse. The work was the sixth fastest of 38 at the distance. Golden History, fifth in the Pocahontas (GII) in her most recent start, is being pointed to Saturday’s Golden Rod (GII) at Churchill Downs. …

Pattons Creek Farm’s Will’s Wildcat, winner of the Jimmy V “Don’t Give Up…Don’t Ever Give Up!” at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.80 for trainer Jimmy Baker. It was the seventh fastest work of 32 at the distance. …

Team Block’s Never Retreat, winner of the First Lady (GI) at Keeneland in her most recent start, breezed four furlongs in :48.20, the ninth-fastest half-mile breeze of the morning. Never Retreat will make her next start in Friday’s Matriarch (GI) at Hollywood Park.

RAVI’S SONG RETURNS TO DIRT IN THURSDAY’S FALLS CITY – Ravi’s Song, runner-up to Deluxe in the Cardinal Handicap (Grade III) on the Matt Winn Turf Course, will switch back to the dirt for $175,000-added Falls City Handicap (GII), the Thanksgiving Day racing centerpiece at Churchill Downs.

“I think she’s going to run well,” trainer Carl Bowman said. “She’s a three-time stakes winner on the dirt, so she’ll have no problem with the surface. I think she’ll show she can switch back-and-forth (between turf and dirt).”

A 5-year-old gray/roan daughter of Unbridled’s Song, Ravi’s Song has raced six times on the main track at Churchill Downs and sports a record of 2-1-1 with earnings of $93,683.  She has an assigned weight of 117 pounds for Thursday’s 96^th running of the 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares ages 3 and up.

“She’s run really well here (at Churchill Downs),” Bowman said. “The only bad race she ran was in the La Troienne (GII) on (Kentucky) Oaks Day, but she faced some pretty nice fillies that day in Blind Luck and Unrivaled Belle.”

Ravi’s Song, who was fourth to Dundalk Dust in last year’s Falls City, competed on turf for the first time in her runner-up finish to My Baby Baby in the Mint Julep Handicap (GIII) at Churchill Downs in June. She followed that strong grass debut with second-place finish to Romacaca in the Matchmaker (GIII) at Monmouth Park and was then given some time off before her run in the Cardinal.

“There was no scientific reason for putting her on the turf,” Bowman said. “She had trained well over it and there wasn’t a stake on dirt that really fit her. After she ran so well (in the Mint Julep), we decided to keep her on the grass for her next couple of starts. The purse money is better on the dirt and she will probably make her following start on the dirt at Fair Grounds, so that’s why she’s back on the main track.”

Mrs. Yoshio Fujita’s Ravi’s Song will remain in training following the Falls City; however, Friday will mark the end of her 5-year-old campaign.

“She’s definitely going to run as a 6-year-old,” Bowman said. “She’ll remain in training, but won’t make a start until next year. I gave her some time off after the Matchmaker, so she’s already had her break. We’ll find something for her at Fair Grounds in January or February.”

CASUAL TRICK HAS ZITO THINKING OF FIRST SATURDAY IN MAY – Flash back to a year ago and many Churchill Downs racing fans will easily recall an impressive racing debut by Robert LaPenta’s Dialed In, who overcame a poor start and significant traffic woes to win his first outing and immediately established himself as a horse to watch on the road to the 2011 Kentucky Derby.

Dialed In lived up to his strong early reviews and entered the starting gate as the betting favorite for Derby 137, but he finished eighth behind Team Valor International’s victorious Animal Kingdom.

So it should be no surprise that there was a tinge of déjà vu in the air during Friday’s “Downs After Dark” racing card when the Zito-trained Casual Trick carried LaPenta’s racing colors to an emphatic 2 ½-length win under jockey Jesus Castanon in a one-mile maiden race for juveniles.  It was the second career start for Casual Trick, who finished fifth after pressing the pace in his six-furlong debut at Saratoga on Aug. 27.

With two wins in the Kentucky Derby to his credit, Zito’s mind never wanders far from thoughts of Churchill Downs and the first Saturday in May.  So it was easy for the New York-born Hall of Fame trainer to connect the early fortunes of Dialed In and Casual Trick after the latter’s stylish win on Nov. 18.

“He was doing really well and we were looking for a shorter race, but the mile race came up and we decided to go in there,” Zito said.  “He ran a really good race and the fact that he won at a mile kind of puts us ahead of where we might have been with him.”

Casual Trick has a pedigree that suggests the Kentucky Derby could be right down the bay ridgling’s alley.  He’s by 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini out of Casual Look, a Red Ransom mare who took the 2003 renewal of Britain’s Group I Vodaphone Epsom Oaks for breeder William S. Farish.  Casual Look’s victory for the master of Kentucky’s Lane’s End Farm in the 1 ½-mile race for 3-year-old fillies came during Farish’s service in London as U.S. Ambassador to England.

“Bernardini is one of the hottest sires out there, and being out of one of Mr. Farish’s mares, you know there’s quality there,” Zito said.  “We like to bring our horses to Churchill Downs in the fall and it’s worked well for us.  Dialed In is a good example of why we like to come here.”

Dialed In’s Nov. 12 debut last year was the only race of his 2-year-old season.  He launched his 3-year-old campaign with a stretch-running victory in the Jan. 11 Holy Bull (GIII) at Gulfstream Park, and later won the Florida Derby (GI) over that track.  The son of Mineshaft went to the sidelines with an injury after a fourth-place finish to behind Shackleford and Animal Kingdom in the Preakness (GI).

Zito said Casual Trick would probably have a racing timetable similar to his campaign with Dialed In, with a first outing against winners likely sometime in January at Gulfstream.

Another Kentucky Derby hope for Zito could emerge in Saturday’s $150,000-added Kentucky Jockey Club (GII), the co-feature on the Nov. 26 Stars of Tomorrow II program devoted exclusively to 2-year-olds.  He plans to saddle Tracy Farmer’s homebred Saint Honore in the 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club.

A son of Farmer’s Sun King, who finished 15^th to Giacomo as one of five Zito-trained runners in the 2005 Kentucky Derby, Saint Honore rallied to score a narrow maiden victory on Oct. 10 at Belmont Park.  Saint Honore’s win came at the Kentucky Jockey Club distance in the third start of his young career.

MCGEE HOPES FOR BIG WEDNESDAY AS HE NEARS 300 HOMETOWN WINS – Louisville-native Paul McGee has saddled 295 winners at Churchill Downs and could make substantial progress in his bid to reach a personal milestone of 300 wins at his hometown track when he saddles a strong group of starters beneath the historic Twin Spires on Wednesday.

McGee has six horses entered in five Wednesday races, including heavy hitters Infrattini, Worldly and Dubious Miss.  All have turned in strong performances at Churchill Downs during their careers.

Z Thoroughbreds LLC’s Infrattini could be McGee’s strongest chance on Wednesday.  The runner-up to Scotus in Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn (GIII), Infrattini enters a 1 1/16-mile allowance race on the main track off a fifth-place finish to Redeemed in the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.  The 3-year-old son of Include is the 3-5 favorite in Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia’s morning line for the race.

“He’s a nice horse and he’s doing well,” McGee said. “After the Matt Winn, I sat on him for six weeks and then ran him in the West Virginia Derby (GII), and then waited again and ran in the Oklahoma Derby. There’s no reason for giving him a lot of time in-between races other than that we’ve just tried to pick our spots with him.”

Infrattini will break from post four under Corey Lanerie in Wednesday’s seventh race.

Two races later, McGee will saddle Jay Em Ess Stable’s Worldly for Wednesday’s featured ninth, a one-mile allowance race on the Matt Winn Turf Course. Worldly, a 4-year-old son of A.P. Indy and full-brother to multiple graded-stakes winner Suave, will be making his first start on turf since running second in an allowance on the Matt Winn Turf Course in May of 2010.  Worldly comes into Wednesday’s race off a disappointing ninth-place finish behind Headache in last month’s Hawthorne Gold Cup (GII) and a third-place run before that in the $100,000 Governor’s Cup at Remington Park.

“I was at the mercy of the condition book,” McGee said. “He’s still eligible for three other-than (allowances) and coming off his last two defeats I wanted to put him back in the allowance ranks to give him some confidence. The only three other-than on dirt (at Churchill Downs) is a one-turn mile and I don’t think that fits him. Also, he’s run well on the grass.”

If the race should be taken off the Matt Winn Turf Course, McGee would have another starter in the race with Dubious Miss, who is entered for the main track only. A 7-year-old gelded son of E Dubai, Dubious Miss has won eight races during a career that includes four wins on the main track beneath the Twin Spires.

“If the race comes off (the turf) then I would run both of them,” McGee said.

McGee’s other entries Wednesday include Pandering (Race 1, 4-1 morning-line), Even Forest (Race 6, 6-1) and High Quality (Race 8, 4-1).

The 49-year-old trainer, who does not have any horses entered Sunday, is confident in his entries on Wednesday and can see a 300^th win beneath the Twin Spires coming rather soon.

“I’ve got a good shot to do it before the meet ends,” McGee said. “We have about ten horses left to run and they all have a chance to win.”

WHO’S HOT – The hottest jockey over the last five racing days (Nov. 12-18) is Julien Leparoux (8-for-23). Dale Romans (4-for-11) and Ken McPeek (4-for-12) are the hottest trainers over the same period. No owner has more than one win in the last five racing days.

WORKTAB – John Oxley’s Golden History breezed four furlongs in :47.80 on a “good” Churchill Downs main track Sunday morning for trainer Mark Casse. The work was the sixth fastest of 38 at the distance. Golden History, fifth in the Pocahontas (GII) in her most recent start, is being pointed to Saturday’s Golden Rod (GII) at Churchill Downs. …

Pattons Creek Farm’s Will’s Wildcat, winner of the Jimmy V “Don’t Give Up…Don’t Ever Give Up!” at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.80 for trainer Jimmy Baker. It was the seventh fastest work of 32 at the distance. …

Team Block’s Never Retreat, winner of the First Lady (GI) at Keeneland in her most recent start, breezed four furlongs in :48.20, the ninth-fastest half-mile breeze of the morning. Never Retreat will make her next start in Friday’s Matriarch (GI) at Hollywood Park.

POOL PLAY WORKS, FLAT OUT POINTS TO BREEDERS CUP AFTER NEW YORK ROMP – William S. Farish Jr.’s Pool Play worked on Sunday morning at Churchill Downs in his first serious training move since his upset victory in the 30^th running of the $500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap (Grade I).

The 6-year-old son of Silver Deputy breezed five furlongs under regular exercise rider Melanie Giddings in 1:03 over a fast main track for trainer Mark Casse.

“We just wanted him to go nice and easy,” said assistant trainer Norman Casse, the son of the Woodbine-based trainer. “Everything went fine.”

Pool Play, whose Stephen Foster came in his debut over a traditional dirt surface, will likely have one more work beneath the Twin Spires before he heads to New York for the summer.

“We’ll give him another easy one (work) before going to Saratoga,” Casse said. “The plan right now is to ship (to Saratoga) on the tenth (of July) and work him a day before (on July 9). We’ll save the big works for when we get him up there.”

Bred in Canada by Windfields Farm, Pool Play has a career record of 6-6-5 from 28 starts with earnings of $909,556. He will be pointed to the Whitney Handicap (GI) at Saratoga on Aug. 6, with the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5 being the ultimate year-end goal.

Pool Play defeated an impressive group of older horses in the Stephen Foster that included Preston Stables LLC’s Flat Out, who traveled to New York on Saturday for a 6 ½-length romp in Belmont Park Park’s Suburban Handicap (GII) in his first start since his fifth-place run in the Foster.

"I think it proves how good the Stephen Foster field was this year,” Casse said. “It also further showed just how big Pool Play ran.”

Flat Out, a 5-year-old son of Flatter, received a Beyer Speed Figure of 113 for his demolition of his Suburban rivals.  That is the highest Beyer recorded this year for a race on traditional dirt at a mile or farther.

"We are really proud of him,” trainer Scooter Dickey said. “We really thought he would run well, but didn’t know he would whoop ‘em like that.”

Flat Out, who shipped to Dickey’s stable at Monmouth Park following his victory in Saturday’s Suburban, is also being pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“We still don’t know just how good he is,” Dickey said. “I talked to the owner and we decided we’ll find out how good he is in the Breeders’ Cup.”

Bred in Florida by Nikolaus Bock, Flat Out has a career record of 4-1-0 from nine starts and earnings of $359,713. No decision has been made regarding his next start.   Flat Out has been plagued by quarter cracks that have limited in racing and training over the past two years, but his feet are fine right now.

“There are a lot of options,” Dickey said. “I think we’ll look to run him at either Saratoga or Monmouth, but we really haven’t discussed it much.”

BOREL, LANERIE SIZZLE WITH LEPAROUX OUT OF TOWN AND JOCKEY RACE TIGHTENS – Leading jockey Julien Leparoux traveled to New York on Saturday for a successful raid on Belmont Park and a victory aboard George Bolton and Stonestreet Stable’s The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial (GIII) runner-up Dominus in the Grade II Dwyer.

But if Leparoux was keeping track of happenings back home in Louisville, the seven-time leading rider at Churchill Downs witnessed fireworks by Calvin Borel and a flurry of wins by Corey Lanerie, his closest pursuer in the battle for leading rider honors in Churchill Downs’ 38-day Spring Meet.

Borel, the three-time Kentucky Derby winner and three-time leading jockey at its home track, tallied five wins in Saturday’s 13 races.  The memorable was capped by a dazzling win aboard Stoneway Farm’s Exfactor in the 110^th running of the $100,000-added Bashford Manor (GIII) for 2-year-olds.

“It was an awesome day,” Borel said.  “I’m riding some good babies (2-year-olds) this year.  Even my brother, Cecil, has a good baby.  I think it’s going to be another good year.”

Cecil Borel trains Brown Eyed Jozi, an eight-length winner under Calvin Borel in the colt’s second career start at Churchill Downs on June 18.

Borel’s big day lifted his Spring Meet win total to 32, good for fourth place in the race for leading rider.

As Leparoux returned to Louisville to prepare for Sunday’s races, he should have been able to again feel Lanerie’s breath on his neck.  A blistering three-week hot streak by Leparoux had allowed the French-born rider to overcome what had one point had been an 11-win lead by Lanerie and surge to a seemingly comfortable six-win advantage in the race for top jockey.  But Lanerie, bidding for his first Churchill Downs riding crown, got out the gate quickly on Saturday with three wins in the day’s first four races.  That burst narrowed Leparoux’s lead to 49-46 with head-to-head competition over two days and 23 races remaining in the Spring Meet.

Leparoux was scheduled to ride in 10 of Sunday’s 12 races and has mounts in all 11 races on Monday’s closing day program.  Lanerie was set to ride in 11 races on Sunday and all but one of Monday’s races.

MCGEE AND JAY EM ESS STABLE: A WINNING COMBINATION – Louisville-native Paul McGee has enjoyed a long run of success for Mace and Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable since he started training for that California-based operation in the early 1990’s, and the ongoing 2011 Spring Meet has provided more of the same for the owner-trainer team.

McGee, who will celebrate his 49^th birthday on July 10, has saddled seven winners during the meet and six were owned by Jay Em Ess Stable. Two Jay Em Ess horses won Saturday when Shameless took Race 7 and Reserved Indian won the ninth.  Both winners were ridden by Calvin Borel.

“I’ve trained for the Siegels for a long time and they’re great people to train for,” McGee said.

McGee, who has 294 career wins beneath the Twin Spires, has trained several high-quality horses for the Siegels, including Miss Pickums and Suave. Miss Pickums, the dam of Shameless, won the Grade II Golden Rod at Churchill Downs in 2000 on her way to $376,809 in career earnings. Suave, a multiple graded stakes winner of over $1.3 million, captured Churchill Downs’ Grade III Northern Dancer (now the Matt Winn) and lost by a narrow head to Magna Graduate in the 2005 Clark Handicap, which was then a Grade II event.

Jay Em Ess Stable is currently second in the owner standings with six wins, two behind Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc., and will have their final starter of the Spring Meet with Ready to Taunt in Sunday’s eighth race, a maiden-special at 1 1/8-miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course.

“He was just second in the same race a few weeks ago (May 22) and so we’re running him right back,” McGee said. “He should have a good shot.”

It will be the fourth start for the 3-year-old gelded son of More Than Ready, who debuted in June of 2010 at Churchill Downs on the main track. Following a 10-month layoff, Ready to Taunt ran third in a $50,000 maiden claiming race on Keeneland’s Polytrack prior to his runner-up effort on the Matt Winn Turf Course at Churchill Downs.

Sunday’s eighth race has a post time of 4:25 p.m. and Ready to Taunt, who will be ridden by Corey Lanerie, is 6-1 on the morning line.

WISE DAN A ‘GO’ FOR TURF DEBUT IN MONDAY’S FIRECRACKER ‘CAP – With just over 24 hours to go before the turf debut of Morton Fink’s homebred Wise Dan in Monday’s $175,000-added Firecracker Handicap Presented by GE (GII), trainer Charles Lopresti reported that all systems were “go” for what could be a pivotal race for his veteran stakes winner.

Wise Dan tuned up for his turf bow last Tuesday when he worked four furlongs in :48.80 around the dogs on the Matt Winn Turf Course in his first experience on grass.  On the same day Preston Stables LLC’s Flat Out, who dominated his foes in Saturday’s Suburban Handicap (GII) on at Belmont Park, breezed a half-mile over the same surface in :50.20.

“He’s doing good,” Lopresti said by telephone from Lexington on Sunday.  “He came out of that breeze good and his blood work is good.  It just depends on whether he likes the grass or not.

A Firecracker victory by Wise Dan would make him the first horse in its 19 renewals on grass to win the one-mile test for 3-year-olds and up without the benefit of a previous race on grass.  The quality of last week’s work over the Matt Winn Turf Course encouraged Lopresti to think that the homebred son of Wiseman’s Ferry possesses the ability to be a major factor in the race.

“Everybody told me that it was really a phenomenal work,” Lopresti said.  “I was watching up in the clocker’s stand and down the backside he (Wise Dan) didn’t know what he was doing at first.  It was like, ‘What am I supposed to be doing on this thing?’  Then when he hit the half-mile pole and went around the turn, I saw Jon lower down and he said he kicked it for home.

"Jon said he eased him up, because I didn’t want him to do too much with him.  I kind of like my outside post, and it wouldn’t bother me if we got a little rain because there was a good cut in the course the other day when he worked.”

Wise Dan has a record of 4-0-0 in nine races, with his biggest win to date coming in last fall’s Phoenix (GIII) at six furlongs over synthetic Polytrack at Keeneland.  He followed that effort with a good sixth place finish in which he finished fewer than three lengths behind the victorious Big Drama in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI) at Churchill Downs.

He is 0-for-3 in 2011, but has a pair of good fourth-place finishes in tough races this season.  He ran fourth to Dogwood Stable’s Aikenite in the Commonwealth (GII) at Keeneland and that rival returned to win the seven-furlong, $300,000 Churchill Downs (GII) on Kentucky Derby Day in his next outing.  After an eighth-place run in his first attempt at a two-turn distance in the 1 1/16-mile Alysheba (GIII) at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks Day, Wise Dane rebounded with a good fourth-place finish in a seven-furlong allowance race on dirt at the Louisville track.  That stakes-quality race was won by multiple stakes winner Native Ruler and the runner-up was two-time Grade I winner General Quarters, the morning line favorite for Monday’s Firecracker.

The change in surface is a bit of a gamble by Lopresti, but a good run by Wise Dan will present new options for the 4-year-old gelding’s future.

“If he likes the grass, that’ll be good,” Lopresti said.  “It will be a pivotal race.  We’ll just figure out where to go from there.”

The field for the Grade II, $175,000-added Firecracker Handicap Presented by GE in post position order (with jockey, weight, and morning line odds) includes General Quarters (Jamie Theriot, 119, 3-1), Omniscient (Manoel Cruz, 113, 20-1), Mister Marti Gras (Shaun Bridgmohan, 115, 5-1), El Caballo (Corey Lanerie, 114, 9-2), Mystic (Jesus Castanon, 114, 12-1), Joshua Reynolds (Brian Hernandez Jr., 114, 30-1), Baryshnikov (Julien Leparoux, 117, 4-1), Plutonium (James Lopez, 112, 30-1), Strike Impact (Robby Albarado, 117, 8-1), Wise Dan (Court, 115, 6-1) and Lubash (Kent Desormeaux, 115, 12-1).

Mister Marti Gras is expected to scratch from the race, a move that would move Wise Dan down to post position nine in the Firecracker starting gate.

BARN TALK – Corey Lanerie, who rode Courtlant Farms’ Power World to a runner-up effort in the Grade III Bashford Manor on Saturday at Churchill Downs, hopped on a plane to Louisiana after that race to ride Brittlyn Stables Inc.’s Star Guitar in the $100,000 Louisiana Showcase Classic at Evangeline Downs for trainer Al Stall Jr.  Star Guitar won the race by 1 ¾ lengths at odds of 1-5. …

Leading rider Julien Leparoux recorded his 499^th Churchill Downs victory aboard Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC’s Raven Hawk in Friday’s eighth race for Steve Asmussen, the leading trainer of the Spring Meet. Leparoux will attempt to become just the tenth jockey to record 500 wins at Churchill Downs with one of his ten mounts Sunday (Races 1-6, 8-11). …

During the final two days of the Spring Meet, Churchill Downs will offer special all-day $1 Budweiser drafts and $1 hot dogs on the bricks of the paddock area to celebrate “Red, White, and Blues Weekend” Presented by GE. Also, there will be live blues music on the paddock stage between races each day from 2-6 p.m. V-Groove will play Sunday and Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons are set to perform on closing day, Monday, July 4. …

The 3^rd Annual Horsemen’s Golf Scramble at Glenmary’s Country Club on Monday, Aug. 29. Registration begins at 11 a.m. and the cost is $100 per player with four players to a team. Lunch will also begin at 11 a.m. and the shotgun start is at 12:30 p.m. Those interested may pick up a form from The Backside Learning Center and return it by Friday, Aug. 12.

WHO’S HOT – The hottest jockey over the last five racing days (June 25-July 2) is Calvin Borel (10-for-32). Bill Mott (4-for-8), Mike Maker (4-for-11) and Eddie Kenneally (4-for-13) are the hottest trainers over the same period. Mace and Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable (3-for-3) are the hottest owners.

WORKTAB – Ed Few’s Lil Cherokee, who won the Texas Thoroughbred Association Sale Futurity at Lone Star Park in his second career start, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.40 on a fast track under Brian Hernandez Jr. on Sunday morning at Churchill Downs for trainer Bret Calhoun. Lil Cherokee, a 2-year-old son of Cherokee Run, was scratched from Saturday’s Grade III Bashford Manor after the earlier scratch of Laurie’ Rocket placed him in the number one post for the race. “He’s perfectly healthy,” assistant trainer Dennis Geier said on Saturday.  “We just didn’t like the post.”

Dr. Joseph Witek’s homebred Joes Blazing Aaron breezed four furlongs in :51.80 on the main track for trainer Mike Maker on Sunday morning. A 3-year-old gelded son of Graeme Hall, Joes Blazing Aaron, who won the Palm Beach (GIII) at Gulfstream Park in March, was fourth in his most recent start, a 1 1/16-mile allowance race that was taken off the Matt Winn Turf Course because of rain and run over a “good” main track beneath at Churchill Downs on June 19.

WEATHER – Sunday: partly sunny with a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 91. Monday: partly sunny with a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 89. Tuesday: mostly sunny, 88. Wednesday: mostly sunny with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 88. Thursday: partly sunny with a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 89. Friday: mostly sunny, 89. Saturday: mostly sunny, 89.

REGAL RANSOM RETURNS TO ‘SECOND HOME’ FOR FOSTER BID - Godolphin Racing LLC’s Regal Ransom, a multiple graded stakes winner of more than $1.8 million who will run in Saturday’s  $500,000-added Stephen Foster Presented by Abu Dhabi (Grade I), arrived at Churchill Downs on Monday and has settled into familiar surroundings in Barn 41.

"This is the fourth time he (Regal Ransom)’s been at Churchill Downs and he’s been in Barn 41 every time,” assistant trainer Ian Grant said. “It’s kind of like a second home for him.”

The 5-year-old son of Distorted Humor has been preparing for his start in the 30^th running of the Stephen Foster at Belmont Park, but the Saeed bin Suroor trainee not been away from his “second home” for very long. Regal Ransom was last seen beneath the Twin Spires on Kentucky Oaks Day when he was second by a nose to Donald Dizney’s First Dude in the Alysheba Presented by Besilu Stables (GIII).

“I think we got a little unlucky last time with an outside post,” Grant said. “If he wouldn’t have been so wide, I think he would have been able to hold on. Hopefully we will get a good post for the Foster and he’ll win it this time.”

Regal Ransom has recorded three works at Belmont Park in preparation for the Stephen Foster; including an eye-opening four-furlong “bullet” work in 46.60 on May 28.

“He’s really doing well,” Grant said. “I think he’ll run another big race this weekend.”

Regal Ransom handled the trip from New York well and Tuesday morning he visited the Churchill Downs track for the first time since the Alysheba.

"He’s always been a great shipper and has had lots of practice,” Grant said. “We galloped him 1 ½ miles this morning and he looked great. He loves this track.”

Regal Ransom has a record of 4-4-0 from 14 starts, with his biggest victory coming under jockey Alan Garcia in the 2009 Grade II, $2 million UAE Derby.  Garcia will be aboard Regal Ransom again on Saturday.

A Stephen Foster contender settling into completely new surroundings at Churchill Downs on Tuesday was Spendthrift Farm LLC’s Crown of Thorns.  He arrived at the track at 1:30 p.m. (all times Eastern) following a flight from Ontario, Cal. to Lexington and a van ride to Louisville. 

Trained by Richard Mandella, the lightly-raced 6-year-old son of Repent is coming off a victory in the Mervyn Leroy (GII) at Hollywood Park.  Crown of Thorns has a record of 3-4-1 in 10 races, with all of the runner-up finishes coming in Grade I races in 2009 and 2010.  That string included a nose loss to Dancing in Silks in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI).

The Stephen Foster Handicap will be the first start outside of California for Crown of Thorns, although Mandella has tried to get him to Churchill Downs on two other occasions.  He was considered to be a major contender for the Kentucky Derby after he won the 2008 Robert B. Lewis (GII) at Santa Anita, but was injured shortly after that race and went to the sidelines for a year and a half.  Mandella also pointed Crown of Thorns to last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (GI) at Churchill Downs, but a minor knee ailment prompted a late scratch from that race.

Southern California-based Tyler Baze is scheduled to ride Crown of Thorns in the Stephen Foster.  He will carry 121 pounds, one fewer than the 122-pound high weight Giant Oak, who won last fall’s Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GI) and the Donn Handicap (GI) at Gulfstream Park.

Crown of Thorns is stabled in Barn 47, stall 6.

Set to arrive later in the week for the 2011 Stephen Foster are Alex and Joann Lieblong, Marilyn McMaster and Fawkes Racing’s Duke of Mischief, winner of the $1 million Charles Town Classic (GIII), and Thoroughbred Legends Racing Stable’s Equestrio, third in his stakes debut in the Alysheba.  Duke of Mischief will settle in stall 6 of Barn 16 for trainer David Fawkes, while the Nick Zito-trained Equestrio will make his home in stall 1 of Barn 36.

With entries for the Stephen Foster due on Wednesday, horses considered likely or possible for the race include (with trainer, assigned weight): A.U. Miner (Clark Hanna, 114); Apart (Al Stall Jr., 118), Crown of Thorns (Mandella, 121), Duke of Mischief (Fawkes, 118), El Caballo (Ralph Nicks, 115), Equestrio (Zito, 116), Flat Out (Scooter Dickey, 114), Giant Oak (Chris Block, 122), Headache (Mike Maker, 114), Mission Impazible (Todd Pletcher, 118), Pool Play (Mark Casse, 116), Regal Ransom (bin Suroor, 117) and Worldly (Paul McGee, 113).

A.U. Miner has been entered in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race on Friday’s “Downs After Dark” night racing program and could opt for that race instead of Saturday’s Stephen Foster.

BANNED PREPS FOR JEFFERSON CUP WITH EASY TUESDAY WORK – Glen Hill Farm’s Banned cruised an easy five furlongs a firm Matt Winn Turf Course in 1:04.40 on Tuesday morning in preparation for his run as the likely favorite in Saturday’s $100,000 Jefferson Cup Presented by Abu Dhabi (GIII) at Churchill Downs.

“That was exactly what I wanted,” trainer Tom Proctor said. “We just wanted him to go an easy five-eighths this morning.”

Exercise rider Gabrial Sanchez was in the irons for Tuesday’s breeze. Jose Lezcano, who was aboard the Proctor-trained Keertana when she made history earlier in the meet by becoming the first filly or mare to win the Louisville Handicap (GIII), will ride Banned on Saturday.  It will be Lezcano’s first ride on the son of Kitten’s Joy since August, when he was aboard the colt in a sixth-place finish in his career debut at Saratoga.

Banned will be looking to collect his second graded stakes victory of the meet in the Jefferson Cup, a race for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course.  He captured the American Turf Presented by Ram (GIII) over a “good” Matt Winn Turf Course on Kentucky Oaks Day in his most recent start.

The colt’s schedule after the Jefferson Cup is undecided, and will remain that way until after the race.

 “I just want to win the next one (Jefferson Cup),” Proctor said. “I don’t look down the road like that. I never have.”Three-year-olds considered likely or possible for the Jefferson Cup (with trainers) include Banned (Proctor). Chalice (Kellyn Gorder), Chinglish (Mark Hennig), Derby Kitten (Mike Maker), Dream Warrior (Eddie Kenneally), Perregaux (Neil Howard), Redboard (Garry Simms), and Swagger Jack (Darrin Miller).

HOLIDAYSATTHEFARM GEARS UP FOR ANOTHER SHOT AT KATHMANBLU – Glen Hill Farm’s homebred Holidaysatthefarm, a contender for the $125,000-added Regret Presented by Etihad Airways (GIII) worked an easy five furlongs Tuesday over the Matt Winn Turf Course in preparation for Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies.

The daughter of 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones breezed in 1:05.40 around the dogs in preparation for her Regret rematch with Five D Thoroughbreds and Wind River Stables’ Kathmanblu.

Holidaysatthefarm last faced Kathmanblu, a multiple stakes winner on turf and dirt, in the Jan. 22 Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream Park.  She finished third to Kathmanblu, beaten 12 lengths, on yielding turf in that one-mile race.

"She didn’t run any good that day even though she was third,” trainer Tom Proctor said.

Proctor’s filly was then entered in the Edgewood on Kentucky Oaks Day, but was scratched from the race by veterinarians.  Proctor then entered the Glen Hill homebred in an allowance race over the Matt Winn Turf Course, but scratched her when the race was moved to the main track because of wet weather.

Proctor believes Holidaysatthefarm has benefited from her longer than expected break between races, but is not sure if that will be enough when it comes to beating a rival as talented as Kathmanblu.

“My filly is doing really well and the layoff has actually helped her a lot,” Proctor said. “But it’s going to be tough to beat Kathmanblu.”

Kathmanblu is one of three Ken McPeek-trained fillies expected to run in the Regret.  Catesby Clay’s Bizzy Caroline and Livin the Dream Racing 2009 LLC’s Sassy’s Dream are also probable starters Saturday.

Susan M. Forrester’s Blushandbashful, another probable starter for the Regret, arrived at Churchill Downs on Monday from New York. The 3-year-old daughter of Even The Score handled the trip well and jogged around the historic track for the first time Tuesday morning for trainer John Terranova II.

Likely starters for the 42^nd running of the Regret (with trainers) include: Bizzy Caroline (McPeek), Blushandbashful (Terranova II), Bouquet Booth (Steve Margolis), Diva Ash (Dale Romans). Excited (Todd Pletcher), Gaya (Tom Amoss), Holidaysatthefarm (Proctor), Kathmanblu (McPeek), My Phi Temper (Ronny Werner) and Sassy’s Dream (McPeek).

MCGEE’S INFRATTINI SET FOR STAKES DEBUT IN MATT WINN – Trainer Paul McGee believes Z Thoroughbreds LLC’s Infrattini has found his niche in route races and the Louisville-born trainer keep the 3-year-old son of Include running around two turns when he makes his stakes debut in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile $125,000-added Matt Winn Presented by Emirates Equestrian Federation (GIII).

“He’s eligible for a one-other than (allowance), but the ones here (at Churchill Downs) were only one-turn races,” McGee said. “I wanted to keep him going two-turns.”

The Winn’s distance is not the only reason Infrattini will step into stakes company on Saturday.

“He’s doing really well and likes it at Churchill Downs.,” McGee said.  “We think he’s doing good enough to try (stakes company).”

Infrattini will enter the Matt Winn off a second-place finish to the highly-regarded Wilburn, who is listed as a possible starter in the Matt Winn.  Leading rider Corey Lanerie will ride McGee’s colt in the Winn.

Meanwhile, trainer Steve Asmussen continues to monitor a foot issue that has put the Matt Winn participation of George Bolton, Stonestreet Stables LLC and Spendthrift Farm LLC’s Dominus in doubt.

Asmussen said Tuesday that the son of Smart Strike, the runner-up to Machen in The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial (GIII), is “50-50” to make Saturday’s race.

Entries for the Matt Winn, formerly known as the Northern Dancer, will be taken on Wednesday.

The roster of possible starters in the Matt Winn (with trainers) includes: Alstom (D. Wayne Lukas), Dominus (Asmussen), Infrattini (McGee), Joe Vann (Todd Pletcher), Uncle Brent (Lynn Whiting) and Wilburn (Asmussen).

ARABIANS BEGIN TO ARRIVE FOR THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES CUP - The first race for Arabian horses in the history of Churchill Downs is set for Saturday’s Stephen Foster Day Presented by Abu Dhabi, and some horses pointing to the race were scheduled to arrive at the Louisville track on Tuesday.

Arabians nominated to the first running of Saturday’s $50,000-added The President of United Arab Emirates Cup (GI) for 4-year-olds and at 1 1/4 miles on the main track, include (with trainers):  A Ladys Man (Lynn Ashby); Another Color (Renee Lafleur); Crownn Royal (Ashby); Dixies Valentine (Tracy Nunley); Full of Fiesta (Greg Ketter); Grilla (Bill Waldron); Ovour the Top (Ashby); T M Fred Texas (Ronald Martino); Vip (Martino); and Wodkka (Lafleur).

BARN TALK – Nominations for the 111^th running of the Grade III, $100,000-added Debutante for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs on the main track at Churchill Downs closed Saturday, June 18 with 18 nominations. The Debutante was won last year by Eldon Farm Equine LLC’s Just Louise under Robby Albarado for trainer Dale Romans. …

Corey Lanerie, the leading rider of the Spring Meet, proved Monday that his talents are not limited to riding horses. Lanerie was victorious in the Inaugural Cowgill-Valvano Wild Eggs Scramble Fore Cancer golf tournament at The Cardinal Club in Simpsonville, Ky. The tournament raised money for the American Cancer Society and the V Foundation. …

Calling all poker players – registration is underway for the Blackie Huffman Memorial Scholarship Fund Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament sponsored by the KHBPA, KTA & Churchill Downs Racing Committee. The tournament, which has a buy-in of $125, will take place June 22 at 6 p.m. (Eastern) in Churchill Downs’ Triple Crown Room. The tournament is limited to 250 players and has a first prize is $7,500, with cash prizes being paid to the top five finishers. Contact the KHBPA at (502) 363-1077 to register. …

WORK TAB – Barbara Hunter’s homebred Keertana, winner of the Louisville Handicap (GIII) at Churchill Downs on May 28, worked four furlongs over a “firm” Matt Winn Turf Course on Tuesday in 50.20 for trainer Tom Proctor.  No plans have been made for Keertana’s next start.

Barry Butzow and Westrock Stables LLC’s Hamazing Destiny worked a “bullet” four furlongs in :47.20 over a fast main track Tuesday morning for trainer Wayne Lukas. The 5-year-old son of Salt Lake was second to Big Drama in his most recent start in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI) in November at Churchill Downs.

CLARK WINNER GIANT OAK HEADING TO FLORIDA ON SUNDAY – Drew Coontz, assistant to trainer Chris Block, was all smiles Saturday morning a day after Giant Oak brought the month of November to a successful close for the barn.

“I’m on Cloud Nine,” Coontz said. “It’s like winning the (Kentucky) Oaks and (Kentucky) Derby.”

Giant Oak’s victory in the Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GI) via disqualification of Successful Dan came on the heels of a victory the day before in the Falls City Handicap (GII) by the Block-trained Dundalk Dust.

“He is doing great this morning and he will leave for Ocala tomorrow morning for some time off,” Coontz said of Giant Oak, who gave the Illinois-based Block stable its third stakes victory of the meet. Askbut I Won’ttell had won the Cardinal (GIII) on Nov. 7.

“When I came here with Giant Oak (in early November before the Breeders’ Cup), I had two horses waiting for me,” Coontz said. “One was Askbut I Won’ttell and the other horse (Wulfgar) ran on the Friday night (Nov. 19) program and got claimed.”

The only Block runner that shipped in for a stake and did not take home a major check was Mister Marti Gras, who finished fifth in the Commonwealth Turf (GIII) on Nov. 13.

The Block runners shared the west end of Barn 48 with trainer Tony Reinstedler’s stable.

This was the spot to be in,” Coontz said. “We did great and Tony had four winners and two seconds from six starters. This was the right barn.”

While Coontz and Company were floating on Cloud Nine, a few barns away trainer David Fawkes was getting ready to drive Duke of Mischief back to South Florida after the colt was elevated to fifth on the disqualification of Demarcation.

Duke of Mischief pressed the pressed from the outside No. 11 post position and was with the leaders until things got tight in the upper stretch.

“I thought he was maybe a little too close early, but then I saw :49 (:48.92) for the half-mile and I thought we might be all right,” Fawkes said. “But then he got in tight in the stretch and he just doesn’t like to be in a spot like that.”

Fawkes said Duke of Mischief came out of the race fine and would get some time off before possibly pointing to the Sunshine Millions at the end of January or possibly a return to the grass.

Finishing right behind Duke of Mischief was Brass Hat, who was trying to become the fifth 9-year-old to win a Grade I race.

“That was just a tough field yesterday,” trainer Buff Bradley said. “He had a safe trip and came back fine. He will take a couple of months off for a vacation and if he stays healthy we would look at the Elkhorn at Keeneland in late April to start him back.”

Meanwhile, trainer Paul McGee was wondering what might have after seeing both Demarcation and Dubious Miss with the leaders in upper stretch only to have the roof cave in when Demarcation caused the inference that led to his being placed last by the stewards.

“I really don’t know what they were doing playing bumper cars at the three-sixteenths pole,” McGee said.

Jockey) Robby (Albarado) said he felt Dubious Miss was getting ready to explode and he was getting ready to set him down and then he gets walloped … walloped by the home team.”

McGee said both horses came out of the race in good order.

“I might give Demarcation some time off in Ocala,” McGee said, “but he will eventually go to the Fair Grounds, where Dubious Miss will be.”

TODAY’S POTENTIAL STARS FOLLOWING IN SOME FANCY FOOTSTEPS -- Today’s sixth annual “Stars of Tomorrow II” program is entirely devoted to rising 2-year-old stars who have aspirations of trail-blazing their way to next year’s Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks

In just five years of existence, Stars of Tomorrow has been the launching pad for 17 Grade I winners, including Super Saver ($1,899,766), who would use a win in last year’s Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club as a springboard to Kentucky Derby 136 glory, plus millionaires Rachel Alexandra ($3,506,730), Lawyer Ron ($2,790,008), Court Vision ($2,591,521), Pure Clan ($1,987,498), Macho Again ($1,825,767), Swift Temper ($1,296,688) and Any Given Saturday ($1,083,533).

In addition to Super Saver, last year’s “Stars of Tomorrow” program featured future stars Fly Down ($1,167,070) and First Dude ($860,160), who finished one-two in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race; Stately Victor ($613,612), who would go on to win the Grade I Toyota Blue Grass; Thiskyhasnolimit ($547,532), the runner-up in the Iowa (GIII) and Indiana (GII) Derbies; and No Such Word ($503,213), who has won five of her nine 2010 starts going into today’s Gazelle (GI at Aqueduct), including the Monmouth Oaks (GIII).

MINE THAT BIRD TO GET CHURCHILL DOWNS SENDOFF SUNDAY – Sunday will be a day of celebration as Churchill Downs will honor 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) winner Mine That Bird, who will be leaving on Monday on a journey home to New Mexico.

Owned by the Double Eagle Ranch of Mark Allen and Dr. Leonard Blach’s Buena Suerte Equine, Mine That Bird will walk over with horses for Sunday’s seventh race (post time 3:41 p.m. ET). The 4-year-old gelding will remain in the paddock during the race and then walk to the winner’s circle for his farewell ceremony before returning to Barn 44.

Before Mine That Bird makes his walk to the paddock wearing a winner’s blanket with the Kentucky Derby 135 logo, there will be other festivities.

Following the second race (1:08 p.m. post time) in the winner’s circle, Allen and Dr. Blach will be interviewed in the winner’s circle by Churchill Downs Vice President of Communications John Asher. After the third race (1:38 p.m. post time) Asher will interview former trainer Chip Woolley.

There will be a table in the paddock with a farewell poster for guests to sign along with 1,000 Mine That Bird buttons that will be handed out.

Mine That Bird, who paid $103.20 for the second-highest Kentucky Derby payoff in the race’s 136 years, was retired from racing following a 10th-place finish in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (GI) on Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs. He completed his racing career with a record of 5-2-2 in 18 races with earnings of $2,228,637.

BARN TALK – Not so fast on handing the Fall Meet’s leading rider title to Julien Leparoux. Robby Albarado rode three winners on Friday to move within two victories of Leparoux with two racing days left in the meet. Leparoux’s margin stands at 25-23 with Leparoux slated to ride 11 races and Albarado all 12. Both riders have 10 mounts Sunday. Also moving into contention with three wins Friday was Shaun Bridgmohan, who now has 20 victories. He has nine mounts today and seven on Sunday. …

Steve Asmussen maintains a comfortable five-victory lead in his bid for a fourth consecutive leading trainer title. This would be Asmussen’s fifth Fall Meet title and ninth overall. …

Ken and Sarah Ramsey also maintain a nice cushion as they pursue their fourth consecutive Fall Meet leading owner title. The Ramseys have sent out six winners, three more than closest pursuer Penny Lauer. The Ramseys have won 16 leading owner titles (eight fall, eight spring) with 15 of them being outright crowns.

WORK TAB – Due Date, sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (GII), worked six furlongs in 1:16.20 for trainer Steve Margolis.

Adele Dilschneider’s Apart wore down defending champion Demarcation in the final 100 yards to win Friday’s 18th running of the $108,600 Ack Ack Handicap (Grade III) by three-quarters of a length at Churchill Downs.

Trained by Al Stall Jr. and ridden by Garrett Gomez, Apart made a four-wide move at the head of the stretch and gradually wore down Demarcation, who was ridden by Calvin Borel.  The victory provided a good start to the two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships for Dilschneider, Stall and Gomez, who will team to send Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm's Blame into the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (GI) against the unbeaten favorite Zenyatta on Saturday.

Apart, a 3-year-old homebred son of Flatter out of the Unbridled mare Detach, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.79, the first time the race has been run at that distance.

The victory was worth $67,332 and increased Apart’s earnings to $469,878 with a record of 7-4-1-0 that includes a victory in the Super Derby (GII) in his race prior to the Ack Ack.

Sent off as the favorite in the field of five, Apart returned $4.80, $3 and $2.10. Demarcation paid $3.40 and $2.20 with Colizeo, ridden by Ramon Dominguez, finishing two lengths back in third and paying $2.20 to show. Jackson Bend finished fourth, followed by Silver Edition.

The race prior to the Ack Ack, Chasing Dreams Racing 2008’s Noble’s Promise won the $87,700 Jimmy V. “Don’t Give Up … Don’t Ever Give Up!” overnight stake for 3-year-olds by 2 ¼ lengths over Backtalk.

Trained by Ken McPeek and ridden by Julien Leparoux, Noble’s Promise covered the six furlongs on the main track in 1:08.92 and increased his bankroll by $53,287 to boost his career earnings to $946,703 with four victories in 11 starts.

Noble’s Promise, the fifth-place finisher in the 2010 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI), returned $6, $3.40 and $2.80. Backtalk, ridden by Rafael Bejarano, returned $4.80 and $3.80 with Don Tito, Joel Rosario up, finishing a half-length back in third and returned $4.80 to show.

An 11-race program, highlighted by the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is scheduled for Saturday with first post time of 12:05 p.m. (all times Eastern). Eight Breeders’ Cup races dot the card that also features the 25th running of the $150,000-added Chilukki (GII) for fillies and mares running a mile on the main track and the $85,000 Dream Supreme overnight stake for 3-year-old fillies sprinting six furlongs.

 POST RACE QUOTES

Al Stall Jr. (trainer, Apart, 1st) – “In Louisiana, he ran off on us a couple of times.  Garrett was waiting around a little because sometimes this horse grabs the bit.  Garrett wanted to put him to sleep, and obviously he did a very good job.  He was a big gangly colt, starting to fill in and he’ll be a nice 4-year-old for us.”

Garrett Gomez (jockey, Apart, 1st) - “This colt's a nice colt. He's a colt that certainly figures things out as we go along. I can't wait until next year with him. He's moving in the right direction and today he got to see some different kind of competition than he's been facing and he passed that test. This is the first time I've ridden him. I watched his Super Derby run and when they picked up the pace a little, I thought I'd just move up on top of them and he stayed on well.”

Regarding coming back from yesterday's fall to ride today: “I'm fine. Just watch me ride. I'm a little achy, that's to be expected, I had a 1,200-pound animal fall on top of me yesterday. All in all my hand's a little swollen, but it doesn't really hurt. My shoulder's a little sore, but all you've gotta do is see me come down the lane.”

Paul McGee (trainer, Demarcation, 2nd) – “He was up a little closer than I thought he’d be, but he hung in there and ran a good race.”

Calvin Borel (jockey, Demarcation, 2nd) – “He ran a bang-up race, but we got outrun late. We have no excuses.”

Mike McCarthy (assistant trainer to Todd Pletcher, Colizeo, 3rd) – “It was an oddly run race. They all seemed to be jockeying for position at the half-mile pole and Ramon (Dominguez) didn’t have any choice but to keep his position. In the end it was OK. Better to run third than fourth.”

Ramon Dominguez, (jockey, Colizeo, 3rd) – “He ran well. Everybody took a shot at my horse and the other two just outran me.”

McGEE DOUBLES UP ON CLARK HANDICAP CHANCES – Trainer Paul McGee was all set to send Dubious Miss on a solo mission for his barn in Friday’s 135th running of the $400,000-added Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (Grade II).

But when entries were taken Tuesday, McGee had doubled up with the Amerman Racing Stables’ Demarcation, winner of the Ack Ack Handicap (GIII) here on Nov. 6.

It was a joint decision (with owner John Amerman),” McGee said. “There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. He ran so well in the Ack Ack it makes sense to give it a try. If you are going to try the big boys, it may as well be now.”

The Ack Ack victory was Demarcation’s first start on the dirt since Feb. 17, 2008, at the Fair Grounds. His previous victory prior to the Ack Ack had come in last fall’s River City Handicap, a race many observers thought Demarcation would run in Friday.

Jesus Castanon, who was aboard for the Ack Ack and River City victories, has the call Friday and will break from post position four.

    Dubious Miss, owned by David Holloway Racing, Inc., comes into the Clark off an easy allowance victory on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Dubious Miss will break from post position 13 in the Clark under Calvin Borel.

“From the 13 hole, it is going to be all about the trip,” McGee said. “I feel like I have the right pilot to get us a good trip.”

Borel has ridden Dubious Miss seven times and won six of those starts. The lone loss was in the Kentucky Cup Classic (GII) at Turfway Park when Furthest Land prevailed by a neck. Furthest Land went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (GI) in his next start.

“Calvin’s got a great record on him,” McGee said. “Why? It’s just one of those things that you can’t put your finger on.”

The Clark has long been a special race for McGee, a Louisville native who scored one of his first significant victories as a trainer in the 1988 renewal with James Shields’ Balthazar B.  He narrowly missed another Clark victory in 2005 when he saddled runner-up Suave, who lost by a head to Elisabeth Alexander’s Magna Graduate.

Demarcation would be just the second horse to sweep the Ack Ack (GIII) and the Clark, the track’s major Fall Meet races for older horses.  John Franks’ Littlebitlively won both races in 1999.

KARELIAN MAKES QUICK TURNAROUND INTO RIVER CITY – A week ago, Jack Bohannan discounted the chances of Karelian coming back to defend his title in the River City Handicap (GIII) on Friday.”

“He’s not going to run; we’ve already got Wicked Style in there,” said Bohannan, assistant to trainer Rusty Arnold.

Turns out, both Arnold runners will be in the River City.

“He came out of the Breeders’ Cup (Mile) well and he worked super on Saturday at Keeneland,” Bohannan said of Karelian, who worked a bullet five-eighths in 1:00 over the main track at the Lexington oval.

Karelian, owned by Green Lantern Stables, dead-heated with Demarcation in last year’s River City and then did not run again until the Shadwell Turf Mile (GI) at Keeneland on Oct. 10 in which he finished second, beaten a nose by Court Vision.

“He had a minor injury in behind after last year’s race,” Bohannan said of the 7-year-old gelding. “He has had a lot of problems; suspensory, sesamoids. It is amazing that Rusty has been able to hold him together. We get three or four races out of him and then something happens.”

Rajiv Maragh will ride Karelian in the River City and make up the bulk of the top weight of 122 pounds. Wicked Style, owned by Ashbrook Farm, will be ridden by Robby Albarado and carry 116 pounds.

Wicked Style returns to the turf after three races on Polytrack, the most recent a third-place finish behind Clark Handicap contender Blame in the Fayette (GII) on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

RICH PEARL BRINGS TODD BACK TO THE DOWNS – Jerry Todd’s eyes gleam as he stands in the viewing stand on the backstretch gazing upon the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs,

"I was a groom with Gene Cleveland and we brought Ga Hai to the Kentucky Derby,” Todd said. “That was big … going to the Derby, to Churchill Downs, the Mecca.”

Ga Hai ran 14th in the 100th Derby in 1974 behind Cannonade. Now, more than 35 years later, Todd has returned to run a horse that he owns and trains, Rich Pearl, in Saturday’s Caressing overnight stakes for 2-year-old fillies going a mile on the grass.

Rich Pearl, winner of the Donnie Wilhite Memorial at a mile on the Louisiana Downs turf on Aug. 15, comes into the Caressing off a two-month layoff after being eased in the Sept. 19 Happy Ticket at Louisiana Downs.

“That race came off the grass and she was running second when the whole field came over on her,” the 65-year-old Todd said. “She got hit and quickly dropped 4-5 lengths back and the rider (Sidney LeJeune) just protected her when he saw he had no chance.”

Todd, who is based at Lone Star Park in suburban Dallas, said the filly was not injured in the race.
“There are just no races down there for her going long on the grass,” said Todd, whose filly turned in two bullet works at Lone Star before shipping here.

On Tuesday, Rich Pearl worked a half-mile in company around the “dogs” over the Matt Winn Turf Course in :49.80 with Francisco Torres up. Torres will have the riding assignment on Saturday.

BARN TALK – Clarence Scharbauer’s Indygo Mountain, who emerged from last fall’s meet as a prime candidate on many Kentucky Derby watch lists, returns to the races Friday for the first time since the Risen Star (GIII) on Feb. 7 at Fair Grounds. Trained by Bret Calhoun, Indygo Mountain came out of the Risen Star with a chipped knee and his return to the races was further delayed by a throat issue according to Calhoun assistant Dennis “Peaches” Geier. Indygo Mountain is entered in Friday’s 10th race, a seven-furlong main track allowance test with regular rider Jamie Theriot named to ride. …

Trainer Tom Bush was not here to see Get Stormy win the Commonwealth Turf (GIII)    on Nov. 15 and he won’t be here Friday to see Banrock run in the River City Handicap. “I came in with the horse on Monday and I am flying back to New York today,” Bush said Wednesday morning. “I have three horses entered Friday and the races were all extras and they all went.” Banrock has won three consecutive races at the River City distance of nine furlongs and in his career has won eight New York state-bred races. “He got beat a nose by Presious Passion at Monmouth in June and that’s pretty good form right there.” …

Julien Leparoux became the 15th rider in Churchill Downs history to reach 400 victories when he won Tuesday’s sixth race on Countus in Mon. The victory was one of four for Leparoux on the day and moved him ahead of Calvin Borel for leading rider at the meet 22-21. Leparoux is named on eight mounts and Borel five on Wednesday’s card. … Steve Asmussen maintains a three-win edge (14-11) on Dale Romans in the race for leading trainer. Both trainers have three horses entered on the Wednesday card. The 21-day meet ends Saturday.

WORK TAB – A.C. and Clare Asbury’s Gleam of Hope, fourth in the Iroquois (GIII) on Nov. 1, worked a half-mile in :48.80 over a fast track in preparation for an expected run in Saturday’s Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) for trainer Tony Reinstedler.

STEWART: MACHO AGAIN “READY TO ROLL” FOR CLARK – The heavy lifting is all done and according to trainer Dallas Stewart, Macho Again is “ready to roll” for Friday’s 135th running of the $400,000-added Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (Grade II) at Churchill Downs.

“I feel good about our chances,” Stewart said of Macho Again, who is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds. “I like where we are, he loves this track and he worked great yesterday (five furlongs in 1:01.20).”

Macho Again has compiled a record of 5-3-1-0 at Churchill Downs with his biggest victory coming in June’s Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) in which he defeated likely Clark rivals Einstein (Brz) and Bullsbay.

The Clark will be Macho Again’s first start since finishing fourth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (GI) on Oct. 3.

“There was no pace in that race and things just didn’t pan out that day,” Stewart said.

Macho Again came down with a cough after the Jockey Club that forced Stewart to cancel a trip to Santa Anita for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI). Since recovering from the brief setback Macho Again has had three five-furlong works.

The 4-year-old colt’s top effort of 2009 in which he also won the New Orleans Handicap (GII) was a runner-up effort to Kentucky Oaks (GI) winner and top Horse of the Year contender Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward (GI) at the Clark Handicap distance of 1 1/8 miles.

“That was a great race,” Stewart said of the Saratoga race in which Macho Again came the closest of any horse this year to Rachel Alexandra in falling a head short. “One more jump … that would have made my year.”

Stewart said that Macho Again would ship with his barn to the Fair Grounds at the end of the meet with the initial plans for 2010 being the Sunshine Millions Classic at Santa Anita on Jan. 30 or the Donn Handicap (GI) on Feb. 6 at Gulfstream Park.

GIANT OAK MAKES BELATED RETURN TO CHURCHILL DOWNS – After running second in last fall’s Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) here Giant Oak appeared on many watch lists as a contender for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI).

However, instead of running here on the first Saturday in May, Giant Oak will make a belated encore appearance beneath the Twin Spires on the last Friday in November in the Clark Handicap.

  “We had bad luck with him in New Orleans,” said Drew Coontz, assistant to trainer Chris Block. “In the Risen Star (GIII), that was a train wreck. A narrow track with 13 head and no pace. Then two hours before the Louisiana Derby (GII) there was a major downpour.”

Giant Oak went on to run second in the Illinois Derby (GII) under Shaun Bridgmohan, but Block pulled the colt from Kentucky Derby consideration because he did not feel he was seasoned enough for the Run for the Roses.

Owned by the Virginia Tarra Trust, Giant Oak spent the summer running on the grass at Arlington Park where he had made a spectacular debut as a 2-year-old. Giant Oak returned to the dirt in the Indiana Derby (GII) on Oct. 3 in which he ran second.

“Chris had wanted to try him back on the dirt,” Coontz said. “He ran very well in the Indiana Derby and we were very pleased.”

However, after the Indiana Derby, bumps in the road continued to emerge for Giant Oak.

“Five days after the Indiana Derby, he stepped on an Allen’s wrench with his right front,” Coontz said. “We shipped him to Keeneland a week before the Fayette (on Oct. 31). I flew in Thursday night and the next morning we were going to train and he was off in the left front and we had to scratch him.”

Giant Oak shipped directly to Churchill Downs instead of returning to his home base in Chicago and had three works, the most recent being Saturday morning, a bullet five furlongs in :59.80 with Bridgmohan up.

“He’s been doing great since he got here,” Coontz said. “He has worked well and this morning I got him in a minute.”

ONE CAROLINE SIDELINED; DERBY WEEK RETURN EYED – One Caroline, the talented 4-year-old daughter of Unbridled’s Song who won her first five career starts, has been sidelined by an injury that occurred during a third-place finish to Malibu Prayer in the Nov. 7 running of the Chilukki (GII).

“When she wasn’t nominated to the Falls City (Handicap), I figured somebody would be calling,” trainer Rusty Arnold said. “She got hurt in the Chilukki, has had surgery and is now on the farm.”

Owned by G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and the Louise Ireland Humphrey Revocable Trust-2008, One Caroline suffered her first career loss in the Louisville Distaff (GII) here on May 1. Shortly after that, she suffered an injury that sidelined her until the Chilukki.

“It is not the same injury and she has not been retired,” Arnold said of One Caroline, who ran third in the Chilukki. “The plan is to have her join the barn in Florida in February and try to run her (at Churchill Downs) Derby Week.

“The goal is to run in the Louisville Distaff, the same race she ran in this year.”

One Caroline suffered her first career defeat in that Kentucky Oaks Day race when she ran second to Miss Isella.

BARN TALK – For the followers of leading riders Calvin Borel and Julien Leparoux, mutual clerks were printing money on Friday at Churchill Downs. Borel and Leparoux, who have opened considerable daylight in the race for leading rider, combined to sweep the early Pick 4 resulting in payoffs that boggled the mind. Leparoux won the opener on Next May ($18.40), Borel won the second on Unreachable Star ($23) and third on Misleader ($10.60) and Leparoux took the fourth on Turfiste ($10.20). The rolling doubles came back $225.20, $199.80 and $72.20; the rolling Pick 3s returned $1,619.20 and $1,024; and, the Pick 4 returned $5,825.20 for a $2 bet. Borel added two more victories on the Friday card – Cielo Classic ($12.60) in the eighth and Haven’s Honey ($15) in the ninth for a $71.20 double – to open an 18-16 lead on Leparoux. Shane Bridgmohan is third with 12 victories.

WORK TAB – Dubious Miss was on the track a little after 6 a.m. Saturday with jockey Calvin Borel up to work five furlongs in 1:01 over a fast track in preparation for Friday’s Clark Handicap. “I got him in :26 the first part and :35 the last three-eighths,” trainer Paul McGee said. “Perfect.” McGee also worked Demarcation a half-mile in :50.80 for a probable start in Friday’s River City Handicap (GIII). Also working toward the River City was Pleasant Strike, who covered a half-mile in :48.60 for trainer Todd Pletcher. … Pocahontas (GIII) winner Sassy Image worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 for trainer Dale Romans in readying for next Saturday’s Golden Rod (GII). Other juveniles working five furlongs toward a likely closing-day stakes engagement on the “Stars of Tomorrow II” card were Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) nominees Callide Valley (1:00.60) for trainer Eddie Kenneally and Mr. Saturdaynight (1:01.80) for Romans. … Working at the Trackside Training Center for trainer Mike Maker were Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (GI) winner Furthest Land (half-mile in :50.40) and Kentucky Jockey Club probable William’s Kitten, the eighth-place finisher in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (GI), who worked a bullet five-eighths in 1:00.

CATALANO LOOKS TO 2010 WITH BREEDERS’ CUP WINNER SHE BE WILD – Trainer Wayne Catalano was back at Churchill Downs on Thursday morning, reunited with Nancy Mazzoni’s She Be Wild, winner of last Friday’s $2 million Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (Grade I) at Santa Anita.

“Everything had to go right and it did,” said Catalano, who spent a few days in Chicago before returning to Churchill Downs. “When they put that other horse (Connie and Michael) in there, I knew there would be some speed to run at.”

Now a winner of four of five career starts, She Be Wild will spend the winter in Florida. Catalano has not mapped out a 3-year-old campaign yet for She Be Wild, who has done all of her racing on all-weather tracks.

“I have no concern about her running on the dirt, because she has a dirt pedigree and she won on Polytrack,” Catalano said of the daughter of Offlee Wild out of a Seeking the Gold mare.

It was the second Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies victory for Catalano, who also saddled Dreaming of Anna to score here in the 2006 World Championships.

“She was a grass horse who won on the dirt,” Catalano said.

McPEEK EYES MORE CALIFORNIA CASH WITH BREEDERS’ CUP RUNNERS – Trainer Ken McPeek started five runners in last weekend’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita and four of them brought home checks for a combined haul of $837,000.

For the time being, the quintet is remaining in California, along with Teamgeist (Arg) who ran sixth in the Grade II Las Palmas on Friday.

“The stakes program at Hollywood Park is the main reason, and some of them may stay out there through the winter,” McPeek said.

“Beautician (second in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies) needs more time than three weeks,” McPeek said of the decision to point for the Dec. 20 Hollywood Starlet over the Nov. 28 Golden Rod here.
“Noble’s Promise (third in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile) will probably be 2-1 or less in the (Dec. 19) CashCall Futurity and that is $750,000.”

Bridgetown, who ran second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and House of Grace, who was third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, most likely will resurface Thanksgiving Weekend at Hollywood Park."

Bridgetown is a one-mile max 2-year-old now and the Generous (on Nov. 28) is a mile and the race here (the Grand Canyon) is a mile and a sixteenth,” McPeek said. “With House of Grace (pointing for the Nov. 29 Miesque), it’s the same thing and those races out there are for $100,000 and the ones here are $60,000.”
Connie and Michael, who finished eighth in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, is slated to test allowance company at Hollywood and Teamgeist is being pointed to the Bayakoa Handicap (GII) on Dec. 5.

“Connie and Michael needs the Polytrack the way she goes,” McPeek said. “With Teamgeist, why bring her back here and then turn around and ship her back out?”

EMIGH OK AFTER FALL; MAY RETURN SUNDAY – Journeyman rider Chris Emigh is expected to return to the races on Sunday after being involved in a spill in Wednesday’s sixth race.

“They released him from the (Norton Audubon) hospital last night and I dropped him off at his hotel about 9,” said Terry Miller, agent for Emigh. “He had a slight concussion and was real sore. I think he will be off all mounts for a couple of days and possibly be back Sunday.”

Emigh’s mount, Silent Candy, appeared to clip heels with Dreaminofjosephine in the far turn of the one-mile grass race causing Emigh to be unseated. Silent Candy did not go down and was caught by outriders in the upper stretch.

McGEE JUVENILES STRUT THEIR STUFF – For the second time in two racing days, trainer Paul McGee visited the winner’s circle with a stylish 2-year-old. On Sunday, it was Worldly, who fought back after being headed to win by a nose. On Wednesday, it was Pick and Pray, a 9 ¾-length winner.

Worldly, a full brother to millionaire runner Suave, won at a mile and a sixteenth in his third start rallying to edge Colizeo after that rival ran by Worldly and opened a half-length lead in the stretch. “The heart, that part you can’t teach,” McGee said.

Pick and Pray was making her dirt debut on Wednesday. “That is why we skipped Keeneland,” McGee said. “Before her first start at Arlington (on Polytrack), I told Sam (owner Samantha Siegel) that I really liked her and then she runs eighth, beaten 20 lengths,” McGee said. “Her second start was much better, but when she worked here on the dirt, she smoked it. She worked very, very well.”

Both juveniles likely will return to the races at the Fair Grounds in the winter.

Worldly is nominated to the (Nov. 28) Kentucky Jockey Club (GII), but we are leaning against that,” McGee said. “We have a filly named Rapid Racer, who won a straight maiden race at Keeneland (on Oct. 15), pointed for an allowance race closing weekend and we don’t want to run the two against each other.”
 
BARN TALK -- Jockey Julian Leparoux, winner of the past two riding titles here and five overall, will be out of town Saturday to ride in seven stakes at Calder on Florida Million Day. A winner of five races the past two racing days to move into a five-way tie for second with six victories, Leparoux has six mounts for trainer Marty Wolfson and one for trainer Tom Proctor. … Leandro Goncalves, currently the leading rider at the meet with seven victories, will ride this winter at Oaklawn Park according to agent Steve Elzey.

WORK TAB – West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again, prepping for an expected run in the Nov. 27 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII), worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 over a “fast” track after the renovation break for trainer Dallas Stewart. The move was the third fastest of 28 at the distance. … Jerry Romans’ Sassy Image, winner of the Nov. 1 Pocahontas (GIII), worked a half-mile in :48, the second fastest of 36 at the distance, for trainer Dale Romans. Sassy Image is being pointed to the closing-day Golden Rod (GII). … Tom McCarthy’s General Quarters, winner of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) and 10th in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI), worked a half-mile in :49.40, 12th fastest of 36 at the distance.

JONES GOES AROUND THE TRACK ON LAST TIME – It was business as usual Saturday morning at Barn 43 at Churchill Downs with trainer Larry Jones in the saddle and galloping his horses during training hours.

But the game, and Jones’ life, will change on Sunday.

"I am sleeping in that morning,” said Jones, who is turning over the training of his 23 horses to his wife Cindy. “I’m gonna tell Cindy that I’m sick.”

Jones, a 53-year-old native of Hopkinsville, Ky., who began training in 1982, is retiring as a trainer after the Saturday card in which he will send the 3-year-old Payton d’Oro out to face older foes in the $150,000-added Chilukki (Grade II).

Jones galloped four horses Saturday morning, the final one being No Such Word.

“That’s it, I’m done,” Jones said with a laugh after he got off the 2-year-old filly.

“I’m gonna keep on galloping. I think I’m on the gallop list tomorrow, but on the late, late ones. I think tomorrow will be my first day as an exercise rider because I have always had a trainer’s license when I have been galloping my horses.”

Jones owns one stakes victory at Churchill Downs, where he saddled his first starter. That winner was Proud Spell in the 2008 Kentucky Oaks.

But it was another filly that really kick-started Jones’ career, Island Sand, who finished second to Ashado in the 2004 Oaks.

“She was right here in this barn and she was the one that really put us on the map,” Jones said. “We drove back to Ellis Park with her in the trailer that afternoon after the race. We stopped at a McDonald’s for a bite to eat and she went through the drive-through with us.”

Jones, who saddled Hard Spun and Eight Belles to runner-up finishes in the 2007 and 2008 runnings of the Kentucky Derby, still has that trailer.

“It is in Maryland with all my stuff in it that has to get to Oaklawn Park,” Jones said.

Cindy Jones will oversee the barn operations through the end of the Churchill Downs meet on Nov. 28 and then the couple will head home to Henderson, Ky., for the holidays and Christmas with the grandchildren.
Longtime assistants Deirdre Jackson and Cory York will handle the stable’s move to Arkansas and continue to work with Cindy.

DEMARCATION COULD RETURN CLOSING WEEKEND – Trainer Paul McGee already had one horse in his barn targeting the Nov. 27 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII) in Dubious Miss.
He may have picked up a second on Friday when the Amerman Racing Stables’ Demarcation rallied to win the Ack Ack Handicap (GIII) in his first main track start since February 2008.

“The way Mr. (John) Amerman was talking last night, he was thinking about the Clark,” McGee said. “We will talk about it, but Demarcation could come back and defend his title in the River City (Handicap, GIII). He is fine this morning.”

The victory by Demarcation was his first since dead-heating with Karelian in last year’s River City Handicap. Jesus Castanon, who was aboard Demarcation on Friday, also was aboard in the River City to account for the rider’s two Churchill Downs stakes victories.

TAPITSFLY COMPLETES FRIDAY GRAND SLAM FOR ROMANS – If there was any lingering doubt that Friday was Dale Romans’ day, Tapitsfly erased it in Southern California.

Romans was not at Churchill Downs yesterday to see each of his three starters reach the winner’s circle. First up was Bobby B. Goode ($8.80) in the second, followed by Buckwild ($11.60) in the fourth and Sir Jock ($5.80) in the fifth.

The trio of wins gave Romans five through the first four days of the 21-day meet and lifted him into the top spot in the race for “leading trainer” honors.

But the crowning achievement of the day came at Santa Anita when Louisvillian Frank Jones Jr.’s homebred Tapitsfly won the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf under Robby Albarado.

The victory by Tapitsfly, Romans’ only horse in the 2009 World Championships, was Romans’ first Breeders’ Cup win from seven starters.. It was the second Breeders’ Cup victory for Albarado, who won the 2007 Classic on “Horse of the Year” Curlin.

Albarado nearly doubled up in the next race, the $2 million Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI), finishing second on Beautician for Churchill Downs-based trainer Ken McPeek.

Baldemar Bahena, assistant to Romans, said that Tapitsfly was scheduled to return to Churchill Downs on Sunday.
 
FUND ESTABLISHED TO ASSIST INJURED RIDER BRIMO – Cindy Werner, wife of trainer Ronny Werner, has set up a fund at Fifth Third Bank to assist with the cost of rehabilitation for jockey Julia Brimo who was injured in an Oct. 30 spill at Keeneland.

“They have taken the respirator out and she is breathing on her own,” Cindy Werner said of the 33-year-old Brimo, who remains hospitalized in serious condition at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. “She has some movement in her extremities.”

Brimo’s mount, Golden Stride, clipped heels and feel in the first race on the Polytrack surface at the Lexington track.

“She has been galloping horses for us and rode some for us at Turfway Park,” Cindy Werner said.

Brimo had been a regular fixture at Churchill Downs the past few years as an exercise rider for trainer Mark Casse and among the horses she had galloped here was Sealy Hill, Canada’s Horse of the Year in 2007.

Werner said donations to the fund would be accepted at any Fifth Third Bank or can be mailed to Werner at 1116 Flat Rock Road, Louisville, KY 40245.

BARN TALK – Five-time Churchill Downs riding champion Julien Leparoux was the riding star of the first day of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita on Friday with two victories. Leparoux guided She Be Wild to victory in the $2 million Grey Goose Juvenile Fillies (GI) and Informed Decision in the $1 million Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (GI). Leparoux also finished third on Forever Together in the $2 million Emirates Airline Filly & Mare Turf (GI),

She Be Wild is trained by Wayne Catalano, who has 22 horses stabled in Barn 42.

Three-time Churchill Downs graded-stakes winner Pure Clan atoned for her last-place showing in last year’s Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf by running a fast-closing second to Midday (GB) for veteran trainer Bob Holthus.

The 1-2 finishers in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, Life Is Sweet and Mushka, both spent time here in the Spring of 2008 in Barn 19 for trainer Bill Mott.

“Mushka spent some time between here and Keeneland after she wintered at Payson Park,” said Kenny McCarthy, Mott’s Churchill Downs assistant. “Life Is Sweet was here after she ran at Keeneland (fourth in the Grade I Ashland), but the owners (Pam and Marty Wygod) saw that she liked the Polytrack and sent her to John Shirreffs in California.”

Former jockey Joe Deegan, who spends the first part of each morning galloping horses at Churchill Downs, picked up a training victory Friday when Pop Tarrt posted a $101.80 upset in the eighth race.

“We have some horses at the High Point Training Center in LaGrange,” Deegan said. “I gallop here until 7:30 and then go out there. We can train as long as we want out there.”