St. Joe

NO DECISION ON NEW RIDER FOR MINE THAT BIRD – Trainer Chip Woolley said Thursday morning that he had a couple of riders under consideration to ride Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I) winner Mine That Bird in the West Virginia Derby (Grade II) on Aug. 1.

    Woolley had not received a firm commitment from Calvin Borel, who rode Mine That Bird to the Kentucky Derby victory, for the West Virginia Derby, which led Woolley to seek a new rider. Woolley is seeking a three-race commitment covering the West Virginia Derby, Shadwell Travers (GI) and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI).

    “I thank Calvin for the job he has done for us, but going race to race is not a good option for us and we think we are better off going with someone who will be there when we need him,” Woolley said. “It is strictly a business decision and Calvin and (agent) Jerry (Hissam) will always be welcome in my shedrow.”

    Mine That Bird, who went twice around the main track Thursday morning with exercise rider Rudy Gallegos up, had his first work since finishing third in the Belmont Stakes (Grade I) on Monday when he covered a half-mile in :51 under Borel.

    Woolley has three more Churchill Downs works scheduled for Mine That Bird before leaving for Mountaineer. Woolley had planned to ship Mine That Bird to Mountaineer on July 16 or 17 to get two breezes over the track, but that has changed.

    “I think we are better off staying here and move up there closer to the race,” Woolley said. “He will work here on the 20th and we’d go up the 24th in time to gallop him twice over the track before one work there. But even that is subject to change.”

THORN SONG REWARDS CONNECTION’S CONFIDENCE – The past performance lines may have hinted otherwise, but trainer Dale Romans insists he never lost confidence in Zayat Stables’ Thorn Song.

After a victory in the Shadwell Turf Mile (GI) at Keeneland, Thorn Song failed to finish better than fifth in his next four starts. Undeterred, Romans sent Thorn Song west for Memorial Day and the 6-year-old gray responded with a gutsy, wire-to-wire victory in the Shoemaker Mile (GI) at Hollywood Park.

“We still have faith in him,” Romans said. “If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have shipped him across the country.”

Thorn Song immediately returned to Churchill Downs and the Louisville-born Romans set his sights on Saturday’s 19th running of the $150,000-added Firecracker Handicap (Grade II), a race Thorn Song won last year.

“He has done well since he returned here and I think he’s still got it,” he said. “He is as good as he has ever been and I think he can put two good ones back to back.”

Romans cited circumstances in the races Thorn Song lost as the major reason for the poor results and the past performance lines bear that out.

In his two 2009 starts before the Shoemaker, Thorn Song had trouble at the break. In his final two starts of 2008, the Breeders’ Cup Mile (GI) and the River City Handicap (GIII), Thorn Song broke from outside post positions.

Mike Smith will have the mount Saturday and break from post position four in the one-mile Firecracker over the Matt Winn Turf Course. At the mile distance on the grass, Thorn Song has four victories and a third from seven starts.

ST. JOE FINDS HIS CALLING AS TURF SPRINTER – Throughout his three-year racing career, St. Joe has been a bit of a puzzle for trainer Darrin Miller. After Sunday’s 3 ½-length romp on the turf, the guessing game may be over for the Silverton Hill runner.

    “You can take a breath now and not worry how he’ll perform,” Miller said after St. Joe’s second consecutive dazzling performance sprinting five furlongs on the grass.

    On May 31, St. Joe broke in the air and spotted the field a lot of ground in his sprint debut. Under Julien Leparoux, St. Joe circled the field and drew away to win by a length in :56.84. On Sunday, St. Joe stalked the pace, took command leaving the backstretch and coasted home in :56.83.

    “His first win was really good for him,” Miller said. “Sunday, that was more the way that he runs.”

    St. Joe was on the Kentucky Derby trail early last year until a ninth-place finish in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (Grade II) ended the run.

    “When you have a 3-year-old with speed, you have to take a shot to see how far they can carry that speed,” Miller said. “He’s a gelding now, more mature and has really settled down.”

    A winner on closing day, April 24, at Keeneland going seven furlongs on the Polytrack for a $40,000 claiming tag, St. Joe could return to stakes company soon.

    “We are looking at the Arlington Sprint heavily,” Miller said of the $200,000- guaranteed race at 5 ½ furlongs on July 11. “It depends on how he comes back from Sunday.”

AT LAST, THOMAS ENJOYS SOME GOOD FORTUNE AT CHURCHILL DOWNS – Trainer Gary Thomas still winces every time a video of the 1986 Kentucky Derby shows up.

You remember that race, don’t you? Ferdinand darts through a narrow opening under Bill Shoemaker to give Charlie Whittingham his first Kentucky Derby victory.

The horse Ferdinand beats to the hole is Rampage, trained by Thomas. Stuck behind horses in the stretch, Rampage finally gets clear late to be a fast-closing fourth.

“Every year around the Derby, they show that race and I can’t watch it. It makes me sick,” Thomas said.

However, Dame Fortune finally smiled on Thomas beneath the Twin Spires on Sunday when Thomas won the qualifier for the 2010 National Handicapping Championship on Jan. 29-30 in Las Vegas. Total prize money available in the tournament is $1 million with the winner getting $500,000.

“It is the first time I played in one of those,” Thomas said. “A friend talked me into playing and the first time I played I qualified (for the final round).”

The horse that put Thomas over the top was Knockout Bertie when she won the ninth race and returned a $14 payoff.

“I was third going into the last race, maybe $3 or $4 behind the leader,” said Thomas, who may head to Oklahoma’s Remington Park after the meet closes on Sunday.

Thomas sends his stable to Oaklawn Park for the winter. The 2010 meet will open on Jan. 15, but the barn will have to do without Thomas the third weekend of the meet.

EQUINE HYDROTHERAPY SPA OPEN FOR BUSINESS – What’s new on the backstretch at Churchill Downs? Take a walk down to the Gate 10 side of Barn 45 and in front of Barn 48 and feast your eyes on the Equine Coldwater Hydrotherapy Spa.

    “We are open from 5-11 a.m. and in the afternoon by appointment,” said John Christensen of Honor Roll Racing who installed the appartus. “This is our second one. We have one at Trackside and we will be taking that one to Turf Paradise in the winter.”

    When the “Spa” opened Tuesday morning, trainer D. Wayne Lukas was the first customer with five horses scheduled for treatment.

    “It is a 520-gallon tank with three filters and the water temperature is 34 degrees,” Christensen said. “There are more than 250 pounds of a combination of sea salt and Epsom salt used to go with massage and oxygen. Generally each treatment lasts about 15 minutes.”

    A variety of packages are available according to Christensen.

    “We have a 20-treatment package for $500, which is $25 a treatment,” Christensen said. “Depending on what the trainer needs for a horse, we can do packages of four or six treatments, whatever they require.”

MILESTONE WATCH -- William Connelly, who has 999 career victories, failed to reach the 1,000 mark Wednesday night when Brilliant Bid finished second, beaten a half-length in the fifth race at Indiana Downs. Connelly’s next chance comes Friday when he sends out Knownforstone in the 11th race at Churchill Downs. On Saturday, Connelly will saddle Seaside Princess in the first race at Churchill Downs.

BARN TALK – James Spence’s El Caballo, who figured to be a major player in Saturday’s Firecracker Handicap, was injured during a five-furlong turf work on Tuesday morning. “He has the start of a condylar (fracture) and is out for the year,” trainer Ralph Nicks said.

WORK TAB – Dubai Majesty, winner of the Winning Colors (GIII), worked a half-mile on a fast main track in :49.40, eighth fastest of 24 at the distance. Stablemate Chamberlain Bridge, winner of the Aegon Turf Sprint (GIII), worked a half-mile on firm turf in :53.20.

Silverton Hill’s St Joe took command leaving the backstretch and cruised to a 3 ½-length victory over Garifine in Sunday’s $51,780 feature race at Churchill Downs.

Ridden by Julien Leparoux, St. Joe quickly moved past Eaton’s Gift approaching the far turn and was not pressured the rest of the way in completing the five furlongs on a firm Matt Winn Turf Course in :56.83.

The victory, the second straight at the five-furlong distance on the grass, was the sixth in18 starts for St. Joe. Trained by Darrin Miller, St. Joe is a 4-year-old Florida-bred son of Trippi and earned $28,800 for the victory to boost his career earnings to $191,692.

Favored in the field of six, St. Joe returned $4.20, $2.80 and $2.40. Garifine, ridden by Corey Lanerie, paid $5.80 and $4.40 with Eaton’s Gift, ridden by Miguel Mena, finishing three-quarters of a length back in third and paying $3.40 to show.

Racing resumes Thursday, July 2 with the third “Downs After Dark” program beginning at 6 p.m.(EDT) with 11 races on the card.

Silverton Hill, LLC’s St Joe, who spotted the field several lengths after breaking last in a five-furlong turf sprint, rocketed past five rivals in the final eighth of a mile to win Sunday’s featured $43,875 Long Suit Purse at Churchill Downs for 3-year-olds and up by a length over Lord Robyn.

            Ridden by Julien Leparoux, St. Joe had only one horse beat at the top of the stretch as he swung seven-wide for clear sailing. At the sixteenth pole, Lord Robyn had opened a daylight advantage only to be rapidly overtaken by St. Joe, who covered the five furlongs on a firm Matt Winn Turf Course in :56.84.

            Trained by Darrin Miller, St. Joe returned payoffs of $11.40, $5 and $4.20. Lord Robyn, ridden by Jesus Castanon, returned $4.20 and $2.80 in finishing a half-length in front of No Fault, who paid $5 to show under Robby Albarado in the field of eight.

The victory, the fifth in 17 starts for the 4-year-old Florida-bred son of Trippi, was worth $27,060 and increased St. Joe’s earnings to $162,892.

          Racing resumes Thursday with a nine-race card that begins with a 12:45 p.m. EDT post time.

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Hopes for the Allen Paulson Living Trust’s Stratostar were once fairly high, but the 8-year-old gelding has now settled into a groove that any owner and trainer would be thrilled with.

The Ken McPeek-trained son of Pulpit opened the Churchill Downs Spring Meet with a rousing two-length victory in a starter allowance race over yielding turf on May 11. That win over a strong field at that class level marked the sixth consecutive trip to the winner’s circle for Stratostar. The win string, all in starter allowance races, began with his first race of the year at Gulfstream Park and includes four wins on turf, one on traditional dirt and another on Polytrack at Keeneland.

Stratostar has helped McPeek to a strong start through the first 13 days of the 52-day Spring Meet at Churchill Downs. The veteran’s victory is one of eight on the meet for McPeek, who was tied with Steve Asmussen for second on the race for leading trainer and trailed leader Tom Amoss by a single victory.

Owner Michael Paulson sent Stratostar to McPeek in the summer of 2006, but it took him a while to find his current groove. McPeek said patience and work at his Magdalena Farm, which is located near Lexington and has a training track on its grounds, helped put Paulson’s veteran back in the right frame of mind.

“He came in and he’d had some success, but he was off-form pretty good,” McPeek said. “He seemed like he’d lost his confidence. He just didn’t seem like a horse that was interested in training. But he’s pretty confident now.”

Stratostar is obviously a huge force in starter allowance races, with his success coming at claiming levels ranging from $12,500 to $20,000. But McPeek said luck has also been a factor. He was eligible for the $16,000 starter allowance race he won on the Churchill Downs turf, which included horses that had run for a claiming price of $16,000 or less in 2007 and 2008, because he was unable to get Stratostar into a race on the last day of 2006.

“I entered him in a $10,000 claiming race at Turfway on Dec. 31, 2006, but the race didn’t fill,” McPeek recalled. “I brought him back the next day for $12,500 and it filled on Jan. 1, which made him eligible. That’s how he’s managed to win six races in a row, because he was eligible by one day.”

As Stratostar continues his run, McPeek has no plans to adjust a winning formula.

“He’s at the point where he’s just measuring horses the last quarter of a mile,” McPeek said. “Michael and I have talked about changing and running the horse in something else, but right now we’re just going to take it day-by-day.”

Stratostar’s streak has lifted his career record to 12-7-5 in 46 races and boosted his earnings to $301,534.

ST. JOE BACK TO ONE-TURN IN SATURDAY’S MATT WINN – After a brief detour onto the Triple Crown trail, Silverton Hill LLC’s St. Joe has convinced trainer Darrin Miller that the colt’s future lies in races at one-turn distances.

That path begins in Saturday’s seventh running of the $100,000-added Matt Winn Stakes for 3-year-olds at six furlongs. St. Joe will have jockey Tracy Hebert in the saddle as he faces a strong field of six rivals that include Swale (GIII) winner Eaton’s Gift and recent Churchill Downs allowance winner Ling Ling Qi.

Miller will be looking for a return to the form St. Joe displayed in a swift seven-furlong allowance victory over Polytrack at Keeneland on April 13. That race, which followed a pair of disappointing runs early in the year at Gulfstream Park, was so strong that it convinced Miller and the colt’s owners to give him one more try at two-turns in the 1 1/16-mile Coolmore Lexington (GII) at Keeneland on April 19. But St. Joe faded sharply after tracking the early pace and beat only two horses in the field of 11.

“You come back and you run huge like that after two pretty bad performances, and you think we’ll give it (the Coolmore Lexington) a shot,” Miller said. “So we did – and clearly we don’t need to do that again.”

Miller remains puzzled over the poor runs by St. Joe in Florida, which included a loss to Matt Winn rival Eaton’s Gift in the Swale in which the colt finished last and was beaten by 43 ¼ lengths. He followed that with a dismal effort in a one-mile allowance race in which St. Joe finished ninth of 10 horses and lost by 21 lengths.

“He was going into the Swale as good as he’s ever trained,” Miller said. “So that really threw me. It was his first race back off of throat surgery, but he put two bad performances in down there. I’m really not one to blame anything on a racetrack, but maybe – I don’t know. He just didn’t run well there.”

St. Joe’s only previous race at Churchill Downs was a good third-place finish behind Court Vision and Halo Najib in the Iroquois (GIII) at the Louisville track’s one-turn mile. His only concern, given the strength his Iroquois effort and the recent Keeneland win at seven furlongs, is that the Matt Winn’s six furlongs could be too short for St. Joe’s best effort.

“He can run them off their feet going seven, or probably 6 ½ furlongs,” Miller said. “I have some reservations about it – it may be a little short for him.”

St. Joe will bring a career record of 2-1-1 in eight races and earnings of $82,321 into the Matt Winn.

ASMUSSEN’S SPRING MEET RUN FUELED BY JUVENILES – Trainer Steve Asmussen, coming off a sweep of the training titles in the 2007 Spring and Fall Meets at Churchill Downs, has made a quick move in recent days to place himself among the leaders in the battle for 2008 Spring Meet training honors.

Asmussen pulled into a second-place tie with Ken McPeek for second place in the race for “leading trainer” when Winchell Thoroughbreds Retap won the 4th race, a five-furlong maiden event for 2-year-olds. Asmussen and McPeek were one win back of leader Tom Amoss heading into Thursday’s racing.

The success of the Asmussen stable last spring was fueled by its long roster of promising 2-year-olds, and that division has carried Asmussen to the top of the standings in the current meet. Six of his eight victories heading into Thursday’s racing had come in races for juveniles. The only other trainer in the meet with more than one juvenile win is Wesley Ward, who has saddled a pair of 2-year-old winners in four attempts.

Asmussen, whose power-packed stable at Churchill Downs includes reigning “Horse of the Year” Curlin and Louisiana Derby (GII) winner Pyro, is bidding for his third Churchill Downs training title and his sixth overall.

The sprawling Asmussen stable led the nation with 488 total victories in 2007. It was the fourth time that Asmussen had led U.S. trainers in wins.

BARN NOTES – Silverton Hill, LLC’s Dominican, who upset eventual Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense in the 2007 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) over Polytrack at Keeneland, is preparing to try something new in his career. Trainer Darren Miller said he plans to run the son of El Corredor on the turf at Churchill Downs in the next few days. Dominican finished 11th behind Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby and has now lost four consecutive races, but ran second behind Self Made Man over Polytrack in a Keeneland allowance race in his only start of 2008. Dominican breezed five furlongs over a “good” track in 1:03.60 on Thursday at Churchill Downs, and Miller said the 4-year-old is ready for his first attempt on the grass. “We need to try it and this looks like a real good time to do it,” said Miller. “I was pleased with his race at Keeneland. He came out of that race super – he looks fantastic and he’s training really well.” Miller said his other Kentucky Derby veteran from 2007, Silverton Hill’s fifth-place finisher Sedgefield, is “pretty much” retired from racing. “He’s just mentally out of the game,” said Miller…Wednesday’s victory by Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Retap in a maiden race for 2-year-olds marked the first U.S. victory for freshman sire Tapit, who won the Wood Memorial (GI) before he finished ninth behind Smarty Jones in the 2004 Kentucky Derby. Tapit’s first winner as a sire came in a race in Mexico…Richland Hills, LLC’s Cougar Cat, runner-up to Fabulous Strike in the 2007 Aristides (GIII) and second to Benny the Bull in the Iowa Sprint at Prairie Meadows, breezed five furlongs over a “good” surface in :59.80 on Thursday. The move was the fastest of 12 works at the distance. The Ronny Werner-trained Cougar Cat has not run since a sixth-place finish behind Junior College in the Bet On Sunshine overnight handicap in November at Churchill Downs.

IEAH Stables and Paul Pompa Jr.’s Big Brown had his presence announced on the track shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday with a loud clap of thunder.

Unfazed, Big Brown went about his morning activity, jogging one mile with Michelle Nevin up accompanied by a pony.

Heavy overnight rain had left the Churchill Downs racing surface “muddy” and trainer Rick Dutrow, as he had done two days last week, opted to jog the Kentucky Derby winner rather than gallop him.

With his Kentucky Derby victory eight days ago, Big Brown put Nevin in some elite company in being the regular morning exercise rider of a classic winner.

“I first got on him when he came to Florida in November,” Nevin said. “Rick was telling me ‘you’re gonna love this horse’ and the first time I took him to the track he went out there like an old pro and nothing bothered him. After I galloped him, I thought ‘this is a classy horse.’”

TRES BORRACHOS GALLOPS IN BLINKERS – Less than two hours after Big Brown jogged under cloudy skies and on a muddy track, bright sunshine and a harrowed track that was drying out because of high winds greeted Tres Borrachos.

The third-place finisher in the Arkansas Derby (GII) galloped 1 ½ miles under Andy Durnin and was outfitted in blinkers for the first time.

Trainer Beau Greely, who owns Tres Borrachos in partnership with John Greely IV and Phil Houchens, explained the experiment.

“In his races, horses would come up to him and he’d back up a little and then come again,” Greely said. “I want to see what Andy thinks about them, but it looks like he was relaxed galloping today. He may have them on when he works Tuesday and then we’ll make a decision (about whether the blinkers will stay on for the Preakness).”

RECAPTURETHEGLORY IMPROVING, MAY LEAVE MONDAY – Assistant trainer Lara Van Deren said that fifth-place Kentucky Derby finisher Recapturetheglory was doing much better Sunday morning, a day after running a 102-degree temperature.

“Yesterday was real tough,” Van Deren said. “He will probably leave tomorrow for Chicago and miss three or four days of training.”

Owned by trainer Louie Roussel III and Ronald Lamarque, Recapturetheglory was on track to leave Churchill Downs on Saturday night for Baltimore and a start in the Preakness before the fever hit.

ROUTINE MORNING FOR PREAKNESS HOPEFULS AT CHURCHILL – The three remaining Preakness hopefuls training at Churchill Downs had uneventful mornings Sunday.

Robert LaPenta’s Stevil galloped 1 ½ miles under Dylan Armstrong for trainer Nick Zito. Stevil is scheduled to work four furlongs Monday morning.

West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again walked the shedrow at Barn 35 after working a half-mile in :50.80 the day before. Trained by Dallas Stewart, Macho Again will be ridden in the Preakness by Julien Leparoux, who rode Macho Again to victory in the April 26 Derby Trial at Churchill Downs.

Macho Again will be attempting to give West Point a second major victory in as many weekends. On Saturday at Lone Star Park, El Gato Malo prevailed in the Lone Star Derby (GIII) for trainer Craig Dollase.

Also walking the shedrow was Jerry Carroll, Stan Kaplan, Ronald Plattner and Mark Guilfoyle’s Racecar Rhapsody. The Ken McPeek trainee had worked five furlongs in 1:01 on Saturday.

LING LING QI, SILVER EDITION & ST. JOE TO MATT WINN – Convincing opening week sprint winners Ling Ling Qi and Silver Edition as well as third-place Iroquois (GIII) finisher St. Joe are considered as definite starters for Saturday’s seventh running of the $100,000 Matt Winn Stakes for 3-year-olds going six furlongs on the main track.

Lansdon Robbins III’s Ling Ling Qi scored by 2 ¾ lengths as the 7-5 favorite on April 29 for trainer Ken McPeek. Silver Edition, owned by Thomas Van Meter II and Phillip Maloof, was a 4 ½-length winner as the 9-5 peoples’ choice on May 2 for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Silver Edition, runner-up in the Grade II Hutcheson in January at Gulfstream Park, worked a bullet half-mile in :47.60 over a sloppy track Sunday morning.

Silverton Hill Farm’s St. Joe is coming off a ninth-place finish in the Coolmore Lexington (GII) at Keeneland on April 19. St. Joe is trained by Darrin Miller.

Nominations for the Matt Winn closed May 7 with 18 nominations. Entries will be taken Wednesday.

BARN TALK – There was a new exercise rider Sunday morning in the barn of Dallas Stewart: Hall of Fame nominee Randy Romero. “I just got here from New Orleans,” said Romero, who retired from riding in 1999. “I’ve been working out and swimming and I’ve lost 10 pounds.”

Romero, who had a kidney removed in February and continues to battle chronic liver disease, scored what likely was his most memorable victory at Churchill Downs when he guided undefeated Personal Ensign to the 13th victory of her career in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff over 1988 Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors and 1988 Kentucky Oaks champ Goodbye Halo.

Romero, who also has worked as a jockey agent, has been involved in another project.

“I’ve been working on a script for a movie on my life,” said Romero, who was seriously burned in a hotbox accident at Oaklawn Park in 1983. “It’s called ‘Cat On A Horse.’ Look for it in about a year and a half.”

For someone who apparently has more than nine lives, the title is appropriate.

WORK TAB – Uptown Racing’s Boss Lafitte, winner of the Central Bank Transylvania Stakes (GIII) on April 12 at Keeneland, worked a half-mile on a track labeled “sloppy” in :50.20 for trainer Tom Amoss. Lawrence Carroll’s Old Man Buck, winner of last summer’s Miller Lite Cradle Stakes at River Downs, worked a half-mile in “muddy” conditions in :48.80 for trainer Ken McPeek. The work was the third fastest of 28 at the distance.

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