Brian Hernandez Jr.

SUPER ESPRESSO LOOKS TO END RACING CAREER WITH FALLS CITY VICTORY – Celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s Super Espresso will look to end her racing career in style on Thursday when she makes her final start in the 96^th running of the $175,000-added Falls City Handicap (Grade II) for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on the main track at Churchill Downs.

“This will be her last race,” said Michael McCarthy, assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher. “We’re looking to get her some more black type before she enters her second career (as a broodmare).”

Super Espresso, a $1.1 million Keeneland September Yearling purchase, will face nine rivals in the Falls City, the featured event on the Thanksgiving Day racing program.

She captured the DuPont Distaff (GIII) at Pimlico in May and then competed in five consecutive Grade I events. She hit the board in her first two starts at the highest level, running third to Awesome Maria in the Ogden Phipps Handicap (GI) and second to Ask the Moon in the Ruffian Handicap (GI).

The 4-year-old daughter of Medaglia D’Oro then finished fifth to Ask the Moon in the Personal Ensign, 10^th to Aruna in the Spinster (GI) over the synthetic Polytrack surface at Keeneland and enters the Falls City off a seventh-place finish to Royal Delta in the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (GI) at Churchill Downs.

The Ladies’ Classic was a bit of a reach,” McCarthy said. “This is a logical spot for her. She’s getting a bit of a class break and her numbers are as good as or better than everyone else in the field.”

In preparation for the Falls City, Super Espresso breezed a sharp four furlongs over the fast main track in company with Giant Sensation in :47.80, the third fastest of 47 at the distance. The duo recorded fractions of :12.20, :24.20, :35.80 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.60 and six furlongs in 1:14.20.

“She had a nice work over the track a few days ago and she’ll enter the race with good energy and a good attitude,” McCarthy said.

Super Espresso has a career record of 4-2-4 from 17 starts and earnings of $270,788. She will break from post eight in the field of ten under Javier Castellano.

The Falls City is the featured event on Thursday’s 12-race holiday program.  It will go as race 11 with a post time of 4:24 p.m. EST.

CHAMBERLAIN BRIDGE GETS CLASS BREAK, BETTER DRAW ON THURSDSAY – Carl R. Moore Management LLC’s Chamberlain Bridge, winner of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (GII) at Churchill Downs, returns to his favorite track on Thursday in an attempt to snap a five-race losing streak.

The 7-year-old War Chant gelding is entered in Thursday’s sixth race, an allowance optional-claiming event at five furlongs on the Matt Winn Turf Course.

Chamberlain Bridge attempted to defend his title in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in his most recent start, but fell well short of that goal.  He broke from the outside post in a field of 14 on the Churchill Downs grass and finished eighth to the victorious Regally Ready.

"Hopefully that race is just a throw out,” said Dennis “Peaches” Geier, assistant to trainer Bret Calhoun. “He was coming into the Turf Sprint really well and his two works before the race (:59 on a wet-fast main track at Churchill Downs on Oct. 19 and :50.60 on a firm Matt Winn Turf Course on Oct. 29) were probably two of the best works of the entire Breeders’ Cup. He really had no chance whatsoever breaking from the 14-hole. It’s a tough gig out there.”

Chamberlain Bridge, who was made the 7-5 morning-line favorite by Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia, will break from post two in Thursday’s race under Brian Hernandez Jr. It will be the first time since October of 2009 that Chamberlain Bridge has been ridden by a jockey other than Jamie Theriot.

Jamie is already in New Orleans (for the Fair Grounds meet), so we got Brian to ride,” Geier said. “Brian has definitely been hot this meet and I hope he (Chamberlain Bridge) runs well for him.”

Hernandez has experience aboard Charmberlain Bridge.  He rode the veteran turf sprint star to a  5 ½-length claiming victory at Keeneland in October of 2007.  And Hernandez has been on a roll during the Fall Meet and entered Wednesday’s racing with 11 wins from 55 mounts at the meet.  That’s good for third in the jockey standings behind Julien Leparoux and Corey Lanerie.

Thursday’s race is also notable for Chamberlain Bridget in that it will be his first outing in more than three years in which he has dropped out of the ranks of stakes horses to face allowance foes.

“It’s a break, but it’s not going to be an easy race,” Geier said. “There are several horses in there that are running really well. I think they’ll be enough speed in there for him to run at, though, and if he’s anything like he was last year then he should win.”

Future plans for Chamberlain Bridge, whose 17 career wins include four victories over the Matt Winn Turf Course, have not been decided.  But he is expected to race as an 8-year-old.

“We’ll bring him to Fair Grounds with us, but I’m not sure what we’ll do with him,” Geier said. “There aren’t too many races down there for him, though. We didn’t go too hard on him this year, so he might stay in training, but he could also get some time off before next year. A lot will depend on Thursday’s race.”

FALL MEET LEADERS ENTERING FINAL WEEK – Through 16 days of the 21-day Fall Meet, jockey Julien Leparoux, and owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey had clear leads in their respective divisional races at Churchill Downs.  But trainers Steve Asmussen and Mike Maker were locked in a tight battle for “leading trainer” honors.  Below is a look at the leaders entering the final week of the Fall Meet:

Top Jockeys

1. Julien Leparoux (28-for-106, 26% win-percentage, $1,441,452 in earnings)

2. Corey Lanerie (20-for-103, 19%, $511,772)

3. Brian Hernandez Jr. (11-for-55, 20%, $285,115)

4. Jesus Castanon (9-for-55, 16%, $415,003)

5. Jon Court (8-for-51, 16%, $185,269)

Top Trainers

1. Steve Asmussen (11-for-49, 22%, $2,013,337)

1. Mike Maker (11-for-42, 26%, $1,374,178)

3. Dale Romans (8-for-43, 19%, $1,583,459)

4. Eddie Kenneally (6-for-25, 24%, $297,652)

4. Ken McPeek (6-for-30, 20%, $250,988)

4. Bill Mott (6-for-18, 33%, $4,027,702)

Top Owners

1. Ken and Sarah Ramsey (9-for-33, 27%, $735,718)

2. Billy, Donna and Justin Hays (5-for-20, 25%, $98,805)

3. Richard and Karen Papiese’s Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc. (3-for-10, 30%, $34,053)

4. 14 owners are tied for fourth with two wins each

BARN TALK – Veteran trainer Robert Holthus, a regular on racing circuits in Kentucky, Arkansas and the Midwest for nearly 60 years, died Tuesday morning in Louisville, Ky. at the age of 77. A local memorial service for Holthus has been scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 26 at 10:30 a.m. (EST) at Christ Chapel on the Churchill Downs backside. Holthus saddled 211 winners beneath the Twin Spires, including 11 stakes wins. …

For the second year in-a-row, jockey Corey Lanerie was named a finalist for Santa Anita's George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. The other finalists are Ramon Dominguez, Martin Pedroza, DeShawn Parker and Scott Stevens. The winner, to be determined by a nationwide vote of jockeys, will be announced in January. The Woolf Award has been presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950 and is regarded as one of the most prestigious honors in all of racing.  It recognizes those riders whose careers and personal character earn esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing. …

Leading-rider Julien Leparoux will travel to Hollywood Park on Friday to ride Team Block's Never Retreat in the Matriarch (GI). Leparoux enters Wednesday with a 28-20 lead in the jockey standings over Corey Lanerie. He will return to beneath the Twin Spires on Saturday and is named to ride in all 12 races on that day’s Stars of Tomorrow II program.  ...

Churchill Downs will host a “Stache Bash” on Saturday during the races to honor and celebrate all of the Mo Bros and Mo Sistas who participated in Movember. Churchill Downs will donate $1 per attendee who is sporting a mustache to the Movember Foundation with a minimum guaranteed pledge of $5,000 given through the Churchill Downs Foundation. The day’s festivities will include between-race live music by popular Cincinnati-based My Sister Sarah in the paddock area and Happy Hour drink specials from 3-5 p.m. …

Trainer Angel Montano Sr. recorded his 334^th victory at Churchill Downs with Autumn Eyes in Sunday’s sixth race. Montano ranks ninth in career victories at Churchill Downs and his next victory will pull him into a tie for eighth with Jack Van Berg. …

Jockey Jon Court is five wins away from the 400-win milestone at Churchill Downs. Court has mounts in eight races Wednesday, six races Thursday and nine races Friday.

Westrock Stables’ Decelerator prevailed by a neck over Wild Forest Cat to win Saturday’s 109th running of the $111,300 Debutante Stakes (Grade III) for 2-year-old fillies and give trainer Hall of Fame trainer  D. Wayne Lukas his record seventh victory in the race.

    Ridden by Julien Leparoux, Decelerator raced in fourth place in the run down the backstretch as Brown Eyed Baby led the field of nine through the first quarter-mile in :21.66 with Wild Forest Cat and Our Tekela Rose in closest pursuit. At the head of the stretch after a half-mile in :45.39, Wild Forest Cat under Brian Hernandez Jr. took control with Decelerator right on her flank.

The two battled as a team through the lane, exchanging a few bumps, before Decelerator drew clear to complete the six furlongs on the fast main track in 1:11.28. Hernandez claimed foul against Decelerator, but the claim was disallowed.

The victory was worth $66,246 for the 2-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Dehere who was a $250,000 February purchase at Ocala. Decelerator, now 2-for-2, boosted her career earnings to $95,671.

    Lukas first won the Debutante with Burnished Bright in 1986 and his most recent triumph before Saturday’s victory by Decelerator came in 2004 with Classic Elegance.  

    Saturday’s victory by Decelerator was Lukas first graded stakes win since Firey Pursuit won the Grade II Louisville Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 4, 2007.  It was the 72nd stakes victory at Churchill Downs for the 73-year-old native of Antigo, Wis., just two victories behind all-time leader and fellow Hall of Famer Bill Mott.  Lukas’ stakes total includes four victories in the Kentucky Derby (GI) and four in the Kentucky Oaks.  

    Sent off as the favorite, Decelerator returned mutuels of $4.60, $3 and $2.40. Wild Forest Cat returned $3.80 and $3.20. Kinsolving rallied to finish third another 3 ¾ lengths back under Shaun Bridgmohan and paid $3.60 to show. Both the second and third-place finishers are trained by Steve Asmussen.  Completing the field in order were Tidal Pool, Phone Marybe, Send Rose Thecheck, Brown Eyed Baby, Henry’s Posse and Our Tekela Rose.

    Racing resumes Sunday with a 10-race program that begins with a 12:45 p.m. EDT first post time. There will be a $66,217 carryover to the Z-5 Super Hi-5 wager, and that pool will carry over to the sixth race at Calder on Sunday afternoon.

POST-RACE QUOTES – THE DEBUTANTE (GIII)

D. WAYNE LUKAS, trainer of DECELERATOR (winner)
    “You always get a little nervous when they throw the inquiry sign up like that. But I thought that the other horse (Wild Forest Cat) maybe came out as much as anything, but we don’t have the view that the other guys got.
    “She’s a gutsy filly. You know, she hadn’t run since May and I didn’t do a lot with her, as you could see by the works. If she was short, she’d be short; I wanted to save a little something for that little place in northern New York (Saratoga). We’ll come back in about 30 days and go in the Schuylerville (Saratoga’s Grade III, $100,000-added Schuylerville for 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs on Wednesday, July 29).
    “These people, the Fords (Joe and Scott Ford), have been wonderful, wonderful people to train for. They’re going to be in this thing for a long time; they both have a passion for it. I’m just lucky to have made the association. They’ve really been something else. We’ve got about 13 horses together. We better get another one because I don’t like sitting on that number! I don’t miss a trick, do I?”

JULIEN LEPAROUX, rider of DECELERATOR (winner)
“It feels great to win a stakes for Mr. Lukas, especially a baby race. When we swung for home I didn’t really want to go that wide, but I didn’t want to get stuck behind Corey Lanerie (Our Tekela Rose) so I took the chance and went around outside and she finished up great for me. She is a really good filly.”

JOCKEY BRIAN HERNANDEZ JR., rider of WILD FOREST CAT (runner-up)
“She ran hard.  But just late she was wanting to drift and drift, and both of ‘em were tired and they kind of came together and it cost us pretty good.  We were in front of her the whole way and the minute they kind of brushed each other mine kind of threw in the towel for good.  It was a tough race.
    “I think we’ve run second in every major stakes race of the meet.
    “I think we had a great chance today.  It just didn’t work out for us.”

SHAUN BRIDGMOHAN, rider of KINSOLVING (third)
“She ran pretty good.  She stumbled pretty bad leaving there and I had to reach up and let her gather herself up, but she made a nice little run in there.”

JON COURT, rider of TIDAL POOL (fourth)
“She broke just enough to be in a little trouble – you know, a 2-year-old.  She overcome quite a bit and she just rallied up.  She couldn’t save the ground I wanted to, but she rallied up for fourth, so you’ve got to give her a lot of credit.  She took a lot of dirt in the face and showed a very competitive finish.  I think with a little cleaner break she would have been a little more competitive on the front end, but a fourth-place finish is better than fifth.”

Castleton Lyons Farm’s Instrumentalist rallied from just off the pace to win Thursday’s featured $52,515 Lazer Show Purse for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at Churchill Downs.

    Trained by Thomas Drury Jr. and ridden by Jon Court, Instrumentalist covered the five furlongs on the firm Matt Winn Turf Course in :56.86.

    A 3-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of  Bernstein, Instrumentalist surged past pacesetter Koka Kola Kitty in midstretch and held on to turn back Swans Nest by a half-length. Aronia finished another half-length back in third in the field of eight. The victory, the third in five starts for Instrumentalist, was worth $32,105 and increased her earnings to $71,045.

    Instrumentalist paid $10.80, $6 and $4.20. Swans Nest, ridden by Julien Leparoux, returned $7.80 and $5.60 with Aronia, ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., paying $4.80 to show.

    Earlier on the card, Greg Foley became the 12th trainer to record 300 victories at Churchill Downs when Izzy Ali won the fifth race. Foley, 51, saddled his first winner at Churchill Downs in 1981.

Racing resumes Friday with the second “Downs After Dark” program featuring 11 races with a first post time at 6 p.m. EDT. There is a six-day Pick 6 carryover of $33,608.78 going into tonight’s card that will encompass races six through 11.

THREE-WIN DAY BOLSTERS HERNANDEZ’S SPIRITS – It has been a frustrating meet so far for jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., but things started to turn around a bit on Saturday when he enjoyed his first three-day win of the meet.

    “You hope to have more days like yesterday,” said Hernandez, a 23-year-old native of Lafayette, La.

    Hernandez took the Saturday opener on Cat Island and followed with scores on Gather All in the second and Darboy in the fourth. The three wins gave him 14 for the meet to go with 27 runner-up finishes.

    “The 20-something seconds get old in a hurry,” he said. “You start trying to figure out what you are doing wrong, but a lot of the time your horse is just second best.”

    The one day that stands out for Hernandez as being symbolic of the meet was May 7. He won two races but also lost three photo finishes, two by a nose.

    “Every photo that day I lost,” Hernandez said. “It seemed like I got beat a nose every time.”

    When the meet ends in two weeks, instead of staying in Kentucky and riding at Ellis Park, Hernandez is planning on heading east.

    “I am going to go to Delaware Park,” Hernandez said. “I never have been there.”

SEVEN FILLIES CONSIDERED PROBABLE FOR SATURDAY’S DEBUTANTE – Westrock Stables’ Decelerator, Clifford Grum’s Brown Eyed Baby and Lewis Lakin and Diane and Roger Stanton’s Wild Forest Cat, all maiden winners this spring at Churchill Downs, are among seven 2-year-old fillies considered as “probable” starters in Saturday’s 109th running of the $100,000-added Debutante (Grade III).

Of the three, only Decelerator won at first asking, taking a five-furlong dash on a sloppy track on May 14. Decelerator is trained by D. Wayne Lukas, who has won the Debutante a record six times.

Other undefeated probables for the Debutante include GTS Racing’s Our Tekela Rose, a one-length winner going 4 ½ furlongs on the Polytrack at Arlington Park on May 24, Mary Bonham’s Phone Marybe, a 9 ½-length winner going 4 ½ furlongs at Calder on May 7, and Katierich Stables and Dan Beaton’s Henry’s Posse, a 7 ½-length winner going 4 ½ furlongs at Pimlico on May 2.

Also considered as probable for the race is Ross Yelverton’s Send Rose Thecheck, a 1 ½-length winner at 4 ½ furlongs in her second start at Evangeline Downs on May 22.

    Entries for the Debutante will be taken Wednesday.

MILESTONE WATCH – Greg Foley inched closer to the 300-win mark at Churchill Downs when Oh Charlie Boy rallied late to take Saturday’s fifth race for Foley’s 299th victory beneath the Twin Spires. Foley’s first bid to become the 12th trainer in track history to reach the 300-win mark fell short on Saturday when Cajun Prize finished fifth in the 10th. Foley, who saddled his first winner at Churchill Downs during the 1981 Spring Meet, has two horses entered on Sunday: Q Mac’s Phone in the sixth and Hickory Dee in the 10th.

    Churchill Downs-based trainer William Connelly, who has saddled 998 winners in his career, will try to reach 1,000-win milestone north of the Ohio River this week when he sends out four horses on Monday and Tuesday at Indiana Downs. Connelly has Just Memories in the second race and Hard Rock Man in the third race on Monday and It’s a Rap in the second and Megalos in the sixth on Tuesday.

BARN TALK – Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Mine That Bird jogged once around the wrong way early Sunday morning with Charlie Figueroa up and is slated to go back to work on Monday. “He will resume his two-mile gallops on Monday. He is ready to do something,” said trainer Chip Woolley, who gave Mine That Bird two weeks of light activity after his third-place finish in the June 6 Belmont Stakes (Grade I). Mine That Bird’s next start is scheduled to be the West Virginia Derby (Grade II) on Aug. 1.

Ryan Pacheco, a product of Chris McCarron’s North American Racing Academy in Lexington, Ky., made his riding debut Saturday afternoon, finishing sixth on Tiki Sweet (PER) in the sixth race. Pacheco is a native of Toronto and became the second Academy product to ride at Churchill Downs in the past two weeks. Ben Creed, from Taylorsville, Ky., made his Churchill Downs debut on June 11, finishing fourth on Galaxy Lady in that day’s first race. Creed also rode Saturday, finishing fifth on Dancer’s Secret in the opener. Creed, who has ridden at River Downs and Indiana Downs, has posted one victory in 11 mounts: Iron Id on June 16 at Indiana Downs.

    Larry Sterling Jr. posted his first stakes victory on Saturday since breaking his wrist last September at Kentucky Downs. Sterling won aboard Juliet’s Spirit for trainer Steve Asmussen in the Lady Charles Town Stakes at Charles Town, W.Va.

WORK TAB – With owner Lewis Lakin looking on, multi-graded stakes winner Pure Clan worked five furlongs after the renovation break over a fast track in 1:00.60. Second in the Early Times Mint Julep (Grade III) in her 2009 debut, Pure Clan is being pointed to the Modesty Handicap (Grade III) at Arlington Park on July 11. … B. Wayne Hughes’ My Pal Charlie worked a half-mile in :49.60 for trainer Al Stall Jr. in preparation for Saturday’s Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Breeders’ Cup Handicap (Grade II) in Iowa. … Team Valor International’s King of the Roxy, a two-time Grade II stakes winner who has not run since April 2008, worked a half-mile in :48, second fastest of 69 at the distance, in his third work since rejoining the Todd Pletcher barn in May.

Three-time graded stakes winner Capt Candyman Can looms as the betting favorite in Saturday’s 8th running of the $100,000-added Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs, but that proven veteran could face a major challenge from unbeaten newcomer Cash Refund.

    Owned by Joseph Rauch and David Zell, Capt. Candyman Can comes into the seven-furlong test for 3-year-olds off an impressive victory in the $200,000 Bay Shore (GIII) at New York’s Aqueduct.  But the intriguing Cash Refund, owned by the Louisville-based stable of Richard, Elaine and Bert Klein, has yet to be tested as while winning his two career starts by a combined margin of 13 ¾ lengths.

    Both of the likely favorites for the Matt Winn are geldings, so there’s a chance that the first meeting between the promising young sprinters could be the first chapter in a long rivalry.

    The Matt Winn attracted a field of only five horses, which could be attributed to the presence of the accomplishments of Capt. Candyman Can and the promise displayed by Cash Refund, but all five bring solid credentials into the race   It is scheduled as the 10th of 11 races on the Saturday’s Preakness Day program at Churchill Downs that begins with a first race post time of 12:45 p.m. (EDT).  

The race honors Col. Matt Winn, the legendary general manager and president of Churchill Downs who served at the track from 1902 to 1949.  Winn is credited with building the Kentucky Derby (GI) into an international sports icon and leading Churchill Downs to its status as one of America’s legendary sports shrines.  

Capt Candyman Can emerged as a star and a potential candidate for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands last fall when he scored an impressive victory in the Iroquois (GIII) and followed it with a third-place run in the Kentucky Jockey Club (GII), both at Churchill Downs.  The Ian Wilkes-trained son of Candy Ride started this season with victory in Gulfstream Park’s seven-furlong Hutcheson (GII), but dropped off the Derby Trail following a fourth-place run behind Quality Road in the one-mile Fountain of Youth (GII).  The April 4 Bay Shore marked both a return to a shorter distance and the gelding’s top form, and Wilkes plans to keep him running short for the foreseeable future.
“He’s hasn’t been beat a seven furlongs or shorter,” said Wilkes.  “He’s only lost at a mile or longer.”     

Javier Castellano, who rode Capt. Candyman Can for the first time in the Bay Shore, will travel to Churchill Downs to ride in the Matt Winn.  Capt. Candyman Can, a winner of four of his seven races with earnings of $344,145, will carry high weight of 123 pounds and concedes from four to six pounds to his rivals.

Although he is making his stakes debut, Cash Refund could be the most significant threat to Capt. Candyman Can.  The homebred son of Petionville romped to a 6 ½-length victory in his debut at Fair Grounds on Feb. 19, and then demolished a field of allowance foes by seven lengths at Churchill Downs on April 25.

Steve Margolis trains Cash Refund, who will be ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr.

If the favorites should falter, Frank Fletcher Racing Operations’ Dance Caller or Whispering Oaks Farms LLC’s Zigaree could be there to pick up the pieces.  

Dance Caller won the one-mile Northern Spur at Oaklawn Park in his most recent start for veteran trainer Robert Holthus.  Prior to that race the son of Concorde’s Tune ran a good fourth as the favorite behind Citizen and Kentucky Derby contender Flying Private in Oaklawn’s Mountain Valley, and finished second to Silver City in Oaklawn’s Dixieland.  Larry Sterling Jr. will ride Dance Caller.

Zigaree, a gelded son of Congaree trained by Steve Asmussen, won the Minstrel Stakes on turf at Louisiana Downs, but finished fourth in a return to the dirt in the Inaugural Stakes on April 10 at Evangeline Downs.  Shaun Bridgmohan will ride for Asmussen, who won the Matt Winn in 2003 with Posse and Razor two years later.

The remaining member of the Matt Winn field – Savoy Stables LLC’s Conchacer – also brings solid credentials into the race.  The Dale Bennett-trained son of Congaree has won two of three starts, all at Tampa Bay Downs, and comes into Saturday’s race off a 7 ½-length romp in a 6 ½-furlong allowance race.  Miguel Mena will ride.

The field for the Matt Winn, from the rail out with jockey (and assigned weight) includes: Zigaree, Bridgmohan (119); Dance Caller, Sterling (119); Cash Refund, Hernandez (117); Capt. Candyman Can, Castellano (123); and Conchacer, Mena (117).

(June 22, 2008) – Robert Hovelson’s Swingit made a last-to-first move on the far turn under Brian Hernandez Jr. to sweep past five rivals and cruise to a 1 ¾-length victory in Sunday’s $50,400 headliner at Churchill Downs for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

Trained by Hal Wiggins, Swingit scored her second victory over the Matt Winn Turf Course. Her initial victory over the course came in the 2007 Edgewood Stakes.

A 4-year-old daughter of 1998 Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop, Swingit covered the 1 1/16 miles on good turf in 1:45.76. The victory was her sixth in 17 career starts and boosted her lifetime earnings to $344,353.

Swingit returned payoffs of $6.60, $3.80 and $2.40. Nice Inheritance, ridden by Miguel Mena, returned $4.40 and $2.80 and favored Ballado’s Thunder finished third under Robby Albarado to pay $2.20 to show.

- 30 -

(June 6, 2008) – Popular Churchill Downs jockeys Miguel Mena and Brian Hernandez Jr. will be featured in the inaugural edition of “Jockey Talk” – a new program at the Louisville racetrack that will allow horse racing fans to mingle with their favorite race riders.

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

Mena, a 21-year-old native of Peru, began Friday as the third-leading rider at the meet with 33 victories. Louisiana-born Hernandez, 20, won an Eclipse Award in 2004 as North America’s champion apprentice and had nine wins at Churchill Downs’ Spring Meet.

The “Jockey Talk” debut kicks off one of the most anticipated racing dates of the year. Churchill Downs will open admission gates at 11:30 a.m. with the first of 10 live races scheduled for 1:15 p.m.

Kentucky Derby 134 and Preakness Stakes champ Big Brown will attempt to become the 12th horse to sweep horse racing’s Triple Crown in the $1 million Belmont Stakes immediately after the final race at approximately 6:25 p.m.

If Big Brown wins, all fans in attendance will receive a certificate good for a free, limited-edition commemorative Triple Crown print that would be given away on Sunday, June 22. If he doesn’t, fans will receive a coupon good for free general admission to Churchill Downs’ upcoming “Stephen Foster Super Saturday” program on Saturday, June 14, featuring reigning “Horse of the Year” Curlin.

Other Belmont Stakes Day festivities at Churchill Downs include live jazz music by Lexington-based Upshaw Briggs in the paddock area between 3-7 p.m., as well video replays of past Triple Crown sweep attempts and Triple Crown trivia between live races. Also, officially licensed Big Brown merchandise will be sold on-track throughout the day.

- 30 -