Hal Wiggins

NO PLANS YET FOR EINSTEIN AFTER CLARK – Trainer Helen Pitts-Blasi reported that Stronach Stable’s Einstein (Brz) came out of Friday’s third-place effort behind 3-year-olds Blame and Misremembered in the Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (Grade II) in good order.

“He’s real good this morning. He ran great yesterday,” Pitts-Blasi said of Einstein, who overcame an outside post in the field of 14 3-year-olds and up to fall only two necks short of grabbing his third graded stakes victory of the year.

The 7-year-old son of 1985 Kentucky Derby winner Spend a Buck added $41,914 to his bankroll Friday to boost his career earnings to $2,945,238 and improved his 2009 record to 2-1-3 in eight races.

Whether the Clark was Einstein’s farewell, Pitts-Blasi could not say.

“I haven’t talked with Mr. (Frank) Stronach,” Pitts-Blasi said. “I have no clue what they are going to do with him.”
    The strong Clark showing could bolster Einstein’s chances for an Eclipse Award in the wide-open division of champion older male.

“It is a tough question,” Pitts-Blasi said. “He certainly deserves to be in the running, because other than the Breeders’ Cup he showed up whenever he ran.”

Einstein won the Santa Anita Handicap (GI) on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface and took the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI) for a second consecutive year on grass at Churchill Downs.  Pitts-Blasi’s veteran star was also second by a neck on synthetic Polytrack in the Pacific Classic (GI) at Del Mar and also ran third in his other two traditional dirt races, the Donn Handicap (GI) at Gulfstream Park and the Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) at Churchill Downs.

KARELIAN’S RIVER CITY RUN REMAINS A MYSTERY – Any chance that Green Lantern Stable’s Karelian would become a repeat winner of Friday’s River City Handicap (GIII) went out the window on the backstretch when the 7-year-old gelding headed toward the outside rail under Rajiv Maragh.

Even though Maragh got Karelian straightened out and back in contention, the best Karelian could do was finish eighth in the field of 10 as the 8-5 favorite.  The loss by Karelian was the first for the 7-year-old Bertrando gelding in four races on Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn Turf Course.

“I don’t know why he did it,” said Jack Bohannan, assistant to trainer Rusty Arnold. “He seems OK this morning. There is nothing wrong with him physically and the equipment was fine. We went over him after the race and again this morning and he’s fine.

“He had done it in the morning before a couple of times in the three or four years Rusty has had him, but he never had done it in a race. It was very odd. I never have seen anything like it. I thought he had pulled up and then here he comes again.”

Bohannan said that Karelian, owned by Green Lantern Stables, would probably be turned out for a while and then join the barn in Florida.

Arnold’s other River City entrant, Ashbrook Farm’s Wicked Style, finished fourth behind 56-1 longshot Rahystrada.

“We were a little disappointed in him,” Bohannan said. “He had trained so well, but he just didn’t finish.”    
    
WIGGINS CLOSES CAREER IN GRAND STYLE – “What a way to finish,” trainer Hal Wiggins said Saturday morning.

No kidding.

With his final starter as a trainer, Wiggins watched as Robert V. Hovelson’s High Spirit closed from far back to win Friday’s 10th race by a nose and pay $55.60 to win under Terry Thompson.

“I didn’t bet a dollar on him,” Wiggins said. “I had a hundred dollar bill in my pocket and I was planning to break it and bet $5 across on him, but I got to talking with a lot of people and never did it.”

What made the win all the more unreal for the 34-year training veteran were the circumstances surrounding the race.

“If it hadn’t been the end of the meet, we probably wouldn’t have run,” Wiggins said. “I had to change riders because Calvin (Borel) was riding for his brother in the race. He was shortening up (from a mile to seven furlongs) and jumping up in class. He was a legit 26-1 shot.

“When I put the saddle on him, I started to think about it being the last one a bit and I spent a little extra time in the stall.”

More than 12 lengths back after a half-mile, Thompson swung High Spirit wide at the head of the lane and began to mow down the field. At the eighth pole, racing in the middle of track, High Spirit was still four lengths off the lead and still managed to win.

“After I took the saddle off, Calvin was waiting for me by the scale and he gave me a big hug,” Wiggins said. “He had won a race for me on Lady Durlyn on Thursday. We go a long way back together. I found an old picture the other day from 1983 at Delta Downs with the two of us the first year he rode.”

So Friday capped a Hollywood ending for Wiggins, almost.

“If Hollywood had written the script, I would still have Rachel,” said Wiggins, who turns 67 on Monday.

Rachel, of course, is Rachel Alexandra, the brilliant 3-year-old filly who Wiggins saddled for owner-breeder Dolphus Morrison and partner Mike Lauffer for a record-smashing 20 ¼-length victory in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) this spring.

Wiggins said that Friday’s victory and Rachel Alexandra’s Oaks triumph would rank high in the top five moments in his career. The day Rachel Alexandra was sold would be at the opposite end of the spectrum.

“It was a low point, no question,” Wiggins said of the morning Rachel Alexandra left his barn for the short journey to new trainer Steve Asmussen’s barn in early May. “But I don’t blame the owner for selling. To hit a home run like that with the size of operation that I have, that doesn’t come around often.

“I sure didn’t foresee a year like this. I thought we would have traveled around the country with her and eventually maybe tried the males once.”

Wiggins, who will stay at Churchill Downs until Tuesday to oversee a couple of works before turning the barn over to his son Lon, retires with a total of 872 victories in a career that began in 1976 and produced its first winner at Evangeline Downs on July 2, 1977. His horses earned a total of $20,218,625 in purses.

“It’s been a great ride and I’ve met a lot of great people,” said Wiggins, who will join his wife Renee in Houston. “I am still going to go to sales and still be involved in it. I love the game so much, I don’t want to quit cold turkey.”

BARN TALK – The day after Amerman Racing Stable’s Demarcation ran eighth in the Clark Handicap instead of going for a repeat bid in the River City Handicap, trainer Paul McGee was asked if he had any regrets about the choice of race. After a long pause, McGee said, “Yeah. A 50-1 shot wins … you just never know.” McGee ran David Holloway’s Dubious Miss in the Clark and he finished sixth. “Both of them are good this morning and they will go to the Fair Grounds for the winter.” …

Also headed to New Orleans was West Point Thoroughbreds’ Clark favorite Macho Again, the winner of the Stephen Foster Handicap who finished ninth. Trainer Dallas Stewart left for the Fair Grounds early Saturday with Macho Again scheduled to follow later in the day. …

Calvin Borel was blanked on nine mounts Friday and remains four victories behind Julien Leparoux (27-23) in the race for leading rider. Borel has 12 mounts on today’s card that Leparoux will not ride because he is in Japan. Shaun Bridgmohan is third in the standings with 17 victories, but his meet is over as he is riding Kodiak Kowboy for trainer Steve Asmussen in the Cigar Mile (GI) at Aqueduct today.…

Dale Romans picked up his 14th winner of the meet Friday to narrow the gap on Asmussen to three in the race for leading trainer. Romans has 10 horses entered today; Asmussen seven. …

Ken and Sarah Ramsey have wrapped up their record 16th leading owner title. The Ramseys have had nine winners this meet and have an unsurmountable advantage over Brereton Jones and the Heiligbrodt Racing Stable, which have five victories each. The title was the fourth consecutive for the Ramseys, who own eight Spring and eight Fall titles, both seasonal records.

CAPT. CANDYMAN CAN TO HAVE FINAL BREEDERS’ CUP WORK SUNDAY – Trainer Ian Wilkes said that Joseph Rauch and David Zell’s Capt. Candyman Can is scheduled for his final work before the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (Grade I) on Sunday and then ship to Santa Anita the next day.

Capt. Candyman Can, who won the first of his four graded-stakes victories in last fall’s Iroquois (GIII) here, has been training at the Skylight Training Center in Goshen over the Pro-Ride synthetic track, similar to what he will run on at Santa Anita.

“He has had two works since the Phoenix (GIII) and is doing well,” Wilkes said of the 3-year-old gelding who ran second to Fatal Bullet in the Phoenix on Oct. 9 at Keeneland. “He will probably work Sunday and then ship Monday.”

Wilkes’ other top 3-year-old in the barn, Warrior’s Reward, has been galloping at Churchill Downs after running fifth as the favorite in the Perryville (GIII) at Keeneland on Oct. 17. After the race, jockey Calvin Borel got off Warrior’s Reward in the first turn and the colt was unsaddled there.

“We are just keeping an eye on him; hopefully all it was just a bad step (in the race),” Wilkes said of Warrior’s Reward, who is owned by A. Stevens Miles Jr. “He is galloping now and I’m not sure (when he’ll run next).”

ROMANS EYES POCAHONTAS REPEAT WITH SASSY IMAGE – Trainer Dale Romans unleashed a true “Star of Tomorrow” in the 2008 Pocahontas when Sara Louise romped to victory by 3 ¾ lengths over Rachel Alexandra.

On Sunday, he hopes history repeats itself when he saddles Jerry Romans’ Sassy Image in the 41st running of the Grade III event for 2-year-old fillies.

“This time last year, Sara Louise was starting to move forward and I hope Sassy Image does the same,” Romans said.

Sassy Image has some big hoofprints to follow in. Sara Louise ran second behind Rachel Alexandra in last year’s Golden Rod (GII) and this year has won the Grade III Victory Ride at Saratoga and was second behind champion Indian Blessing in the Grade II Gallant Bloom at Belmont. Next Friday she will be competing in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (GI) at Santa Anita for Godolphin Racing and trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

Sara Louise came into last year’s Pocahontas off a maiden score. Sassy Image, a maiden winner here in June, finished eighth in her most recent start in the Darley Alcibiades (GI) at Keeneland on Oct. 9 after enduring a wide trip.

“She likes this track and she has been training well,” Romans said of Sassy Image, who worked a bullet half-mile of :47.80 in her first work back after the Alcibiades.

Romans will have one Breeders’ Cup starter in Frank Jones Jr.’s Tapitsfly, who is already at Santa Anita. A maiden winner at Saratoga, Tapitsfly won the P.G. Johnson on grass at Saratoga and is pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Robby Albarado has the mount.

Romans also reported that Mark Stanley’s Swift Temper remains on track for a run in the Nov. 26 Falls City Handicap (GII). Tenth as the favorite in the Juddmonte Spinster (GI) over Keeneland’s Polytrack surface, Swift Temper worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 on Sunday.

WIGGINS HOPING TO FINISH WITH A FLOURISH – Hal Wiggins hit the apex of his training career this spring when he saddled Rachel Alexandra to her resounding victory in the Kentucky Oaks (GI).

He hopes the final month on the backside gets off to a rousing start on Sunday when he sends out Brassy Boy in the 28th running of the Iroquois (GIII) for longtime client Millsap Stables.

Wiggins, who has 20 horses stabled here, is retiring at the end of the meet on Nov. 28, two days before his 67th birthday.

“It is starting to sink in a little bit,” Wiggins said. “It will probably hit me on the 28th when I get ready to turn another year older. I’m going to go to Houston. My wife, Renee, is already there.

“I am still going to go to sales and still be involved in it because I love the game so much. I don’t want to quit cold turkey.”

Brassy Boy won his first two starts during the spring meet and then ran third in the Bashford Manor (GIII).

“I gave him a month off after the Bashford Manor,” Wiggins said. “He came back at Louisiana Downs (on Oct. 3 in the Razorback Futurity) and ran OK. He was just second best that day.”

The horse that beat Brassy Boy that day, Comedero, also is considered a likely Iroquois starter.
    “I hope Brassy Boy likes a mile better than the other colt,” Wiggins said.

BARN TALK – Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan came out of her five-furlong breeze of Tuesday in good order according to Betsy Couch, assistant to trainer Bob Holthus. “She ate up everything last night and is in good form this morning,” Couch said. Winner of the Flower Bowl (GI) in her most recent start on Oct. 3, Pure Clan worked five-eighths in 1:01.40 on Tuesday, her second five-furlong work since the Flower Bowl in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) to be run Friday, Nov. 6 at Santa Anita. Pure Clan is scheduled to have a light breeze Sunday morning and ship to California on Monday.

Trainer Ken McPeek said that Anthony Bonomo Jr.’s Connie and Michael would ship to California on Saturday for a start in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI) on Nov. 6. Connie and Michael broke her maiden at first asking on Oct. 17 at Keeneland going seven furlongs by 7 ¾ lengths from the No. 12 post position. McPeek hoped to have another Keeneland maiden winner on the plane in Fist of Rage, but that colt was sixth on the preference list for the over-subscribed Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (GI) to be run Nov. 7.

West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again, winner of this year’s Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) here and runner-up to Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward (GI), is on track for a start in the Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII) on Nov. 27 according to trainer Dallas Stewart. A cough last week knocked Macho Again out of a possible start in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI).

G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and the Louise Ireland Humphrey Revocable Trust-2008’s One Caroline is scheduled to return to the races in the 24th running of the Chilukki (GII) on Nov. 7. Trained by Rusty Arnold, One Caroline is scheduled to work at Keeneland on Sunday and then ship to Churchill Downs midweek for her first start since running second to Miss Isella in the Louisville Distaff (GII) on May 1. One Caroline will be ridden in the Chilukki by Leandro Goncalves.

WORK TAB – Centaur Farms’ Yes It’s Valid, considered a possible starter for Sunday’s Pocahontas, worked a half-mile Wednesday morning over a “muddy” track in :50.20 for trainer Merrill Scherer.

The 135th Spring Meet at Churchill Downs came to a close Sunday afternoon with the lasting images of a longshot winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I), the coronation of racing royalty in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) and a dazzling start for racing under the stars with the debut of “Downs After Dark” night racing beneath the Twin Spires.

    It was a meet in which the winners of the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, Mine That Bird and Rachel Alexandra, became household names both inside and out of the racing world, and nights under the lights at Churchill Downs became the place both to be and be seen.

    Around midnight on April 21, trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr. – who never had started a Thoroughbred in a Grade I race – much less the biggest race of them all – pulled into Churchill Downs’ Gate 5 hauling behind his Ford F-450 Lariat a trailer containing a small gelding named Mine That Bird. Expectations for Mine That Bird in the Derby were not high after a fourth-place finish in the Sunland Park Derby.

    In the late afternoon of May 2, things changed in the blink of an eye in front of a crowd of 153,563, the seventh-largest crowd in Kentucky Derby history.

    Ridden by Calvin Borel, who had only picked up the mount the week before, Mime That Bird trailed 18 horses after three-quarters of a mile. Riding next to the rail as he had done in the 2007 Kentucky Derby with Street Sense, Borel and Mine That Bird began passing horses in a blur.

    At the top of the stretch, Mine That Bird moved around Atomic Rain and darted back to the rail. At the eighth pole, Mine That Bird squeezed through a narrow opening between the rail and Join in the Dance and drew off a 6 ¾-length victory over Pioneerof the Nile. Mine That Bird covered the 1 ¼ miles in 2:02.66 over a track rated as “sloppy.”

    Sent off as the third-longest price in the field of 19, Mine That Bird paid $103.20 to win, the second-largest payoff in Kentucky Derby history. The 6 ¾-length margin of victory was the largest in the Derby since 1946 when Assault won by eight lengths.

    Despite the near-historic victory margin posted by Mine that Bird, it paled in comparison to what had transpired in the Kentucky Oaks the day before.

    L and M Partners’ (Dolphus Morrison and Michael Lauffer) Rachel Alexandra dazzled a crowd of 104,867 by winning the 135th running of the Kentucky Oaks by 20 ¼ lengths. Borel sat motionless on the filly’s back as she effortlessly expanded her advantage in completing the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.87 over a fast track.

    Borel became the first jockey since 1993 and seventh in history to sweep the Oaks and the Derby in the same year.

    The 135th running of the Kentucky Oaks marked the first year of a fundraising partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure©, the world’s largest breast cancer fundraising and outreach organization.  The crowd was encouraged to “Think Pink” and wear Komen’s signature color as 104,867 witnessed the race, which was televised for the first time on the cable network Bravo.  The 2009 Kentucky Oaks marked the 11th time in 12 years that attendance had topped the 100,000 mark.

    As part of that fundraising partnership, Churchill Downs presented Susan G. Komen for the Cure with a donation of $100,000 for breast cancer research, and another $30,000 was presented to “Horses and Hope,” a breast cancer outreach initiative launched by Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear that is focused on providing breast cancer education and screening to workers in Kentucky’s horse industry.  

   History of another kind was made during the Spring Meet on Friday, June 19, when Churchill Downs conducted its first night racing program. The 11-race program began with a first post of 6 p.m. (EDT) and attracted a crowd of 28,011. Two other “Downs After Dark” programs were offered with the June 26 card drawing 27,623 to Churchill Downs and the Thursday, July 2 program drawing 34,481 for a three-night total of 89,115 under the temporary lights at the historic home of the Kentucky Derby.

    In addition to Mine That Bird and Rachel Alexandra, other Grade I winners at the meet were Augustin Stable’s Informed Decision in the Humana Distaff, Midnight Cry Stable’s Einstein (BRZ) in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic and West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again in the Stephen Foster.

    Julien Leparoux, who won his third Spring Meet riding title with 62 victories, was aboard Informed Decision and Einstein and Robby Albarado won his third consecutive Stephen Foster when he rallied Macho Again from last to deny Einstein’s bid to become the first horse to win three consecutive Grade I races on different surfaces (dirt, turf and synthetic).

    Leparoux edged Borel by a single victory as the latter rode three winners on the meet’s final day but fell just short of catching the absent Leparoux.  It marked the second time in three years that Leparoux edged Borel by a single win for the Spring Meet title.

    Borel and Albarado reached riding milestones during the meet.

    On May 14, Borel became the fourth rider to reach 900 victories at Churchill Downs with his win aboard War Eagle Lady. On June 12, Borel got Churchill Downs victory No. 926 aboard Smoke Trail to move him past Don Brumfield into second place all time behind Pat Day’s record 2,482.

    Albarado became the sixth rider to reach 800 victories at Churchill Downs when he won aboard La Mousse (ARG) on April 30. A month later, his victory aboard Keertana was the 4,000th of his career making him the 57th North American-based rider to reach that plateau.

    Steve Asmussen won his sixth leading trainer title with 29 victories. Asmussen’s title was his third in the spring to go with 2004 and 2007. He also won fall titles in 2001, 2004 and 2007.  Mike Maker, the leading trainer of the 2008 Fall Meet finished second with 18 wins, one more than Greg Foley and two more than 2008 Spring Meet training champion Tom Amoss.

    Four trainers achieved their 300th career victories at Churchill Downs to boost the number to 12 at that plateau in track history.

    McGlamery Road gave Tom Amoss his 300th on May 14, Action Seeker accounted for No. 300 for Lynn Whiting on May 29, Citizen John on June 12 was Dave Vance’s 300th winner and Izzy Ali’s triumph on June 25 was No. 300 for Greg Foley.

    Ken and Sarah Ramsey won their record 15th leading owner title and fourth in a row as their stable posted 18 victories. The Ramseys have won eight spring titles and seven in the fall. 

   The Churchill Downs Fall Meet begins Sunday, Nov. 1 and runs through Saturday, Nov. 28.

A BIG THUMBS UP FOR NIGHT RACING AT CHURCHILL DOWNS – More than a few folks were moving a bit slower than usual on the Churchill Downs backstretch Friday morning after the third “Downs After Dark” night racing program attracted a crowd of 33,481.

    Trainer Jinks Fires wasn’t one of them as he was stepping lively after his Iftheshoefits won the 11th race that went off at 11:23 p.m. EDT. “A great night,” said the still-beaming Fires.

    His sentiment was echoed by many veteran Churchill Downs conditioners who would not be surprised to see more racing under the stars beneath the Twin Spires.

    “They got something that works,” Steve Penrod said. “No question lights will be permanent. As long as they make each night an event, it will work. Last night was a perfect evening with the weather and it was very impressive.”

    “I loved it,” said Buff Bradley, who came to the races even though he did not have a horse running on the 11-race card. “I didn’t think they’d have as many as they had the first two nights, but as long as it remains a novelty on Friday night I think it will do well … I can see people saying ‘I’ll meet you at Churchill Downs’ and it will be the thing to do.”

    The first “Downs After Dark” program on June 19 attracted 28,011 fans with another 27,623 turning out on June 26 for a three-night total of 89,115.

    “I went to all three of them and I thought they were great,” Hal Wiggins said. “It was a good move. It looked to me like there were a lot of people really enjoying themselves.

    “I don’t know what the per capita (wagering) was and it may have been down, but I think the handle was way up and you can’t gripe about that. My hat’s off to Churchill Downs for doing something different.

    “It used to be you could just open the gates and the people would come, but now there is a lot of competition. They had some problems the first night, but they rectified those things the second night.”

    Does Wiggins envision lights becoming part of the future here and being a big hit?

    “I would think so,” Wiggins said of the special programs, “as long as they don’t over-saturate it.”

TENSAS YUCATAN HOPES TO FIND ELUSIVE CHURCHILL DOWNS SUCCESS – James Spence’s Tensas Yucatan has been a terror in her home state of Louisiana, posting a record of 8-4-0 in 14 races.

That success has not translated to Churchill Downs, a fact trainer Ralph Nicks hopes to reverse on Sunday when he sends Tensas Yucatan postward in the 28th running of the $100,000-added Locust Grove Handicap (Grade III).

A 5-year-old daughter of Ide, Tensas Yucatan finished ninth on the main track in the 2007 La Troienne (Grade III) and came back that fall to finish 10th on the turf in the Mrs. Revere (Grade II).

“When she ran here in the spring as a 3-year-old, she got beat up pretty bad in that race,” Nicks said. “When we brought her back in the fall, she caught a course that was a little soft and she really does her best on firm turf.”

Four of Tensas Yucatan’s eight victories have come on firm turf and she is 2-for-2 at the Locust Grove distance of a mile. She will be ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr. on Sunday and break from post position one, carrying 116 pounds.

MINE THAT BIRD RIDER SITUATION UNRESOLVED – Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine’s Mine That Bird remains without a confirmed rider for the West Virginia Derby (Grade II) on Aug. 1 at Mountaineer.

    “I am looking for a rider that will fit my horse best,” trainer Chip Woolley said Friday morning. Woolley started the search for a rider when he did not receive a commitment from Kentucky Derby winning rider Calvin Borel for the race at Mountaineer.

    Mine That Bird’s schedule after the West Virginia Derby is the Shadwell Travers (Grade I) at Saratoga on Aug. 29 and the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Grade I) at Santa Anita on Nov. 7 with the possibility of a race between the Travers and Breeders’ Cup.

    Mine That Bird galloped twice around Friday on the main track before the renovation break with exercise rider Rudy Gallegos up.

    “I know we are working Monday morning,” Woolley said. “I’m not sure who will work him.”    

BET OR NO BET SWEEPSTAKES REWARDS FIVE GAMBLING SOULS – One of the features of the three “Downs After Dark” programs was the “Bet or No Bet” sweepstakes in which five names would be drawn at random each night for the chance to win $100 cash or put a $1,000 win bet on a horse in a designated race.

    Three of the 15 took the cash, but five others cashed in big time when their horses won. In all, the five winners took home $15,600 with the biggest payday going to David Sherry of Louisville whose $1,000 bet turned into $7,900 when Candid Image won the seventh race on June 26.

    The other four big winners also were from Louisville. Billy Warrick won $2,400 on June 19 and on Thursday night, Michelle Clubb was the big winner with a $2,800 return. Amy Linton and Laura Burnam had to sweat out lengthy photos to claim $1,500 and $2,000 checks, respectively, in dead-heat victories.

BARN TALK – With three racing programs left in the Spring Meet, Julien Leparoux holds a 62-56 advantage over Calvin Borel in the race for leading rider. Friday’s twilight program will be the last for Leparoux, who has commitments out of town on Saturday and Sunday. Leparoux has seven mounts Friday and Borel has eight. Borel will be riding in New York on Saturday but returns for Sunday’s closing-day card in which he has 10 mounts … Churchill Downs announcer/commentator Mark Johnson will be Jill Byrne’s guest on Saturday, July 4 for the final “Get in the Game” handicapping seminar at noon (all times EDT) in the paddock.   Johnson, who was chosen to succeed the late Luke Kruytbosch following an international search by Churchill Downs, made history as the first announcer to call both the Kentucky Derby and Britain’s famed Epsom Derby, the race upon which the “Run for the Roses” was modeled.  In the event of poor weather, the popular “Get in the Game” handicapping seminar will be held in Silks on the second floor of the clubhouse.  

MILESTONE WATCH -- William Connelly, who has 999 career victories, goes for No. 1,000 late Friday when he sends out Knownforstone in the 11th race at Churchill Downs. Connelly’s last chance to reach the milestone at the current meet if he does not get it Friday will be Seaside Princess in Saturday’s first race.

Gold Mark Farm’s Backtalk, an impressive debut winner, and Millsap Stables’ homebred Brassy Boy, unbeaten in two career starts, head a field of nine 2-year-olds entered for  Friday’s 108th running of the Bashford Manor (Grade III) at Churchill Downs.

    The six-furlong test on the main track will be the 10th race on Friday’s 11-race card that opens with a 2:45 p.m. (all times EDT) first post time. Post time for the Bashford Manor is 7:24 p.m.

    A $250,000 purchase as a yearling, Backtalk rallied wide from off the pace to win at first asking by 2 ¾ lengths over nine rivals in a five-furlong race on June 11. Backtalk is from the second crop of foals by 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones and a half-brother to graded stakes winner Bsharpsonata.

    Tom Amoss, who trained 2002 Bashford Manor winner Lone Star Sky, trains Backtalk, who tuned up for the Bashford Manor with a half-mile work in :50 on Tuesday over a fast track. Miguel Mena will ride Backtalk and break from post position five.

    Brassy Boy broke his maiden for a $30,000 claiming tag going 4 ½ furlongs at Churchill Downs on May 29.  He then won a five-furlong allowance test on June 11 over a strong field that included Bashford Manor rivals Soundman and Flatter Than Me.

    Trained by Hal Wiggins, Brassy Boy is an Arkansas-bred by Storm and a Half out of the Dixie Brass mare Brass Doll. Brassy Boy, who worked three furlongs in :36.80 on Tuesday morning, is the fifth foal of Brass Doll and a full brother to stakes winners Brassie Prince and Doll and a Half.

    Corey Lanerie, who won the 2007 Bashford Manor aboard Kodiak Kowboy, has the call on Brassy Boy, who will break from post three under top weight of 120 pounds.

    Soundman, who has a record of 1-1-1 in three races, is one of two Bashford Manor contenders trained by D. Wayne Lukas, the Hall of Fame trainer who has won the Bashford Manor a record five times.  Lukas will also saddle Westrock Gold.

    Two other trainers with multiple Bashford Manor wins, Steve Asmussen and Todd Pletcher, will shoot for their third victories in the race. Asmussen sends out Grand Slam Andre and Pletcher will be represented by Mission Impazible.

    The field for the Bashford Manor, from the rail out, is as follows: Grand Slam Andre (Shaun Bridgmohan, 118 pounds), Westrock Gold (Julien Leparoux, 118), Brassy Boy (Corey Lanerie, 120), Mission Impazible (John Velazquez, 118), Backtalk (Miguel Mena, 118), Even Wilder (Jon Court, 116), Soundman (Jamie Theriot, 118), Vito Filitto (Calvin Borel, 116) and Flatter Than Me (Robby Albarado, 118).

THERIOT EAGER TO RETURN TO THE RACES ON MONDAY – Jockey Jamie Theriot will resume riding on Monday at Indiana Downs following the conclusion of a 30-day suspension stemming from a May 23 incident at Arlington Park.

    “The only time I have been idle longer is when I have been hurt,” said Theriot. “I have never been out this long for a suspension.”

    The 30-year-old Theriot is scheduled to ride three races on Monday night and six on Tuesday night at Indiana Downs and then ride the final four days of the Churchill Downs meet that closes Sunday, July 5.

    Saturday morning was a typical one for Theriot during his suspension.

    “I worked 11 horses this morning and I have been averaging between seven and 10 to 11 a day,” Theriot said. “Fitness-wise, I am ready.”

BASHFORD MANOR FIELD TAKING SHAPE – Six 2-year-old colts are considered as probable starters for Friday’s 108th running of the Bashford Manor Stakes (Grade III) at six furlongs on the main track.

    Of the six, three faced off in a five-furlong allowance race on June 11 won by the Millsap Stables’ unbeaten homebred Brassy Boy. Trained by Hal Wiggins, Brassy Boy won his debut outing in a $30,000 claiming race  4 ½ furlongs on May 29 before coming back to defeat the likes of probable Bashford Manor starters Soundman, who finished third, and Flatter Than Me, who ran fourth.

    Other probable starters include the undefeated Backtalk, a half-brother to graded stakes winner Bsharpsonata, who broke his maiden in his first start on June 11, Westrock Gold, a maiden winner on June 20, and Mission Impazible, a maiden winner at Keeneland who ran third in the Grade III Kentucky Juvenile on April 30 at Churchill Downs.

    Entries will be taken Tuesday.
    
JOHN KELLY DOES JOHN KELLY WARREN PROUD – Trainer David Carroll closed out the second edition of “Downs After Dark” Friday night in grand style when he sent out John Kelly to a 2 ¼-length maiden score in the 11th race.

    So, the question Saturday morning was, “Who is John Kelly?”

    “He is named for Mr. Warren’s son, John Kelly Warren,” Carroll said, referring to the colt’s owner William K. Warren Jr.

    The 3-year-old son of Seattle Fitz was purchased at the 2008 Barretts March Sale for $600,000 and has been in Carroll’s barn since last year. However, John Kelly did not make his racing debut until last month.

    “He has just had some growing pains,” Carroll said. “But he does have talent and he’ll probably go to Saratoga.”

    In 2008, Carroll trained Denis of Cork for Warren with the colt finishing third in the Kentucky Derby (Grade I) and second in the Belmont Stakes (Grade I). Warren named the colt after Father Denis Casey, a priest from County Cork, Ireland.

    The Carroll barn will be trying to strike out of town next weekend when Helen Alexander’s Selva runs in the $300,000 Prioress (Grade I) for 3-year-old fillies at Belmont Park on Saturday.

    “She leaves Tuesday for Belmont Park,” Carroll said of Selva, a three-time stakes winner who has compiled a record of 6-4-2-0. Selva’s most recent race was the Beaumont (Grade II) at Keeneland on April 8 in which she finished second.

MISSION IMPAZIBLE PLETCHER’S HOPE FOR THIRD BASHFORD MANOR – The Spring Meet has been iceberg cold for the Todd Pletcher barn, but that does mean it is “Mission Impossible” for a strong finish after a 1-for-36 start.

Make that Mission Impazible.

Owned by Twin Creeks Racing Stable, Mission Impazible should be one of the favorites in Friday’s Bashford Manor Stakes for Pletcher, who won the race in 2003 with Limestone and in 2006 with Circular Quay.

A son of Unbridled’s Song, Mission Impazible turned in his final work for the Bashford Manor with a half-mile work in :47.80 over a fast track Saturday morning, the fourth best of 67 at the distance. Mission Impazible has not run since finishing third in the Kentucky Juvenile (Grade III) on April 30.

“He has been doing extremely well since his last race,” said Mike McCarthy, who runs Pletcher’s Churchill Downs string. “We did the same thing with Garden District last year and this race was the goal all along.”
Garden District ran second to males in the Kentucky Juvenile and came back eight weeks later to win the Debutante, defeating a group of fillies that included runner-up Rachel Alexandra, who is now among the frontrunners for “Horse of the Year” honors after her 20 ¼-length win in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) and her historic win over Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Mine That Bird and other males in the Preakness (GI).
One horse in the Pletcher barn on the comeback trail is Team Valor International’s King of the Roxy. A two-time Grade II stakes winner, King of the Roxy has not run since April 2008 and rejoined the barn last month.

“He is going to work Sunday,” McCarthy said of the 5-year-old who has had three works since coming back. “He is about a month away from running and he could possibly go to Saratoga.”
    
BARN TALK – Calvin Borel was blanked on the Friday night card and remained three wins (56-53) behind Julien Leparoux in the battle for leading rider of the Spring Meet.  Leparoux missed Friday’s “Downs After Dark” program to ride in stakes races at Prairie Meadows. Borel will be in New York on Saturday to ride Rachel Alexandra in the Mother Goose (Grade I) while Leparoux returns to Churchill Downs and has nine mounts on the 11-race card. Both riders will be here Sunday with Leparoux named on eight mounts and Borel seven.

Belmont Stakes (Grade I) winner Summer Bird will make a brief return to Churchill Downs on Thursday. Trainer Tim Ice is vanning Summer Bird from his home base at Louisiana Downs to Monmouth Park for the Aug. 2 Haskell Invitational (Grade I).

“We are going to stop over there for about 10 hours and then get back on the road that night,” said Ice, who expects to arrive at Churchill Downs around 10 o’clock Thursday morning and be housed in the Stakes Barn (Barn 17). “He had his first work since the Belmont this morning and he went nice and easy (five furlongs in 1:04.42). He’s a happy horse right now and we want to keep him that way.”

Summer Bird finished sixth to Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby, but turned the tables on that rival in the Belmont.

    Weights for the 19th running of the $150,000-added Firecracker Handicap (Grade II) will be released Saturday with the race scheduled to headline the Fourth of July holiday card.

    Weights for the 28th running of the $100,000-added Locust Grove Handicap (Grade III) for fillies and mares will be released Sunday. The Locust Grove serves as the feature on Sunday, July 5, closing day of the 45-day Spring Meet.

WORK TAB – Stephen Foster Handicap (Grade I) winner Macho Again worked a half-mile in :50.80 over a fast track. The fastest half-mile works of 67 came from the Eddie Kenneally duo of Keep the Peace and Custom for Carlos, who covered the distance in :47.20. Also working a half-mile was Flying Private, who covered the distance in :53.40 in his second work since finishing sixth in the Belmont Stakes.

OUR TEKELA ROSE FOLLOWS IN FAMILIAR FOOTSTEPS – A year ago, trainer Hal Wiggins introduced Kentucky Oaks (GI) and Preakness (GI) winner Rachel Alexandra to the racing public with a runner-up effort in the $100,000-added Debutante Stakes (Grade III).

    On Saturday, Wiggins and his son Lon will send out GTS Racing’s Our Tekela Rose in the 109th running of the $100,000-added Debutante at six furlongs on the main track. Corey Lanerie has the mount on Our Tekela Rose, who will break from post position four in the field of nine.

    Out of the first crop of millionaire sprinter Kela, Our Tekela Rose won at first asking on the Polytrack at Arlington Park on May 24 and soon after was shipped to Wiggins’ barn at Churchill Downs.

    “She has been here about three or four weeks and breezed twice,” Hal Wiggins said. “It is hard to tell if she will be better on the dirt. The first time she worked was not that swift (five furlongs in 1:03.20 on June 10) but she went nice on Sunday (:49.60 for a half-mile). She was a lot better the second time.”

    Our Tekela Rose was an $11,000 purchase last September at Keeneland and from there she went to Texas to learn her early lessons.

    “She was at the same farm in Texas as Rachel Alexandra, the Diamond D Ranch in Lone Oak,” Wiggins said. “Ed and Scooter Dodwell do a great job down there and they said she could run.”

    Should Our Tekela Rose prevail on Saturday, look for a crowded winner’s circle.

    “There are 27 or 28 people in the syndicate that own her and they are renting a bus to come down here from Chicago,” Wiggins said. “Some of them are driving down early for the Friday night racing. They were all at Keeneland when she was bought and then when she won first time out, there were maybe 60 people in the winner’s circle.”

GALLEGOS ADDS MINE THAT BIRD TO HIS MORNING RESUME – Exercise rider Rudy Gallegos joined some rare company this week when he began a pinch-hit role as the morning partner of Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Mine That Bird.

    Regular exercise rider Charlie Figueroa left Wednesday afternoon to return home to New Mexico for the first time since Mine That Bird left Sunland Park for Churchill Downs on April 20. Figueroa returns Monday afternoon and in the interim comes Gallegos, who served as the regular exercise rider for Rachel Alexandra when she was trained by Hal Wiggins.

    This makes Gallegos the first exercise rider to be aboard different Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners since Joanne McNamara was the morning partner in 1995 for Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch and Preakness winner Timber Country for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

    Gallegos took Mine That Bird twice around Thursday morning on a fast track and covered 1 ½ miles on a sloppy track Friday morning.

    “He’s awesome, totally focused,” Gallegos said. “He switches leads easily and when he sees another horse ahead of him wants to go get him. Just looking at him, he looks small, but when you are on top of him, he really fills out and is wide. He is all muscle and very confident.”

    Gallegos was Rachel Alexandra’s morning rider for nearly a year, being with the filly when she won the Kentucky Oaks. Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness in her next start for new ownership and is scheduled to run Saturday in the Grade I Mother Goose at Belmont Park.

“When I first got on her last summer, I was telling everybody that she’ll win the Oaks, but then everybody talks like that,” he said. “But she went out and proved it.”

So, if the two Classic winners were sitting in an automobile dealer’s showroom, what models would they be?

    “Rachel would be a Lamborghini,” Gallegos said. “It would be like when you’d go to shift gears, everything would be so smooth, so precise. Mine That Bird would be a Ferrari, just pure class.”

    Trainer Chip Woolley has scheduled a half-mile work for Mine That Bird on Monday morning after the renovation break   Jockey Calvin Borel will be up in Mine That Bird in his first work since a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes (Grade I) on June 6. Mine That Bird’s next scheduled start is the $750,000 West Virginia Derby (Grade II) on Aug. 1 at Mountaineer.

CASH REFUND SIDELINED UNTIL FALL – Richard, Bertram and Elaine Klein’s Cash Refund, second in the Matt Winn Stakes on May 16, will be sidelined until the fall according to trainer Steve Margolis.

    “We took him up to Rood & Riddle in Lexington and there is a minor issue,” said Margolis, who was pointing Cash Refund to the $200,000 Jersey Shore (Grade III) at Monmouth Park on July 5.

    “He will be off in July and August and we will start him back the middle of September. He is on the farm now and we will try to make the fall meet here with him.”

    Cash Refund has won two of three career starts.

A LITTLE EARLY RAIN CAN’T PUT DAMPER ON “DOWNS AFTER DARK” – The rain came down in buckets overnight and, for a normal race day, things could have been dicey for Churchill Downs Track Superintendent Butch Lehr and his crew.

“We got between two and three inches of rain in some areas of town,” said Lehr of the storms that left parts of the barn area under water when training began at 6 a.m. (all times EDT).

“We had sealed the track last night to keep the moisture in. It was a blast furnace out there yesterday and we watered between every race. This morning there was a little washout, but we fixed it at 5 o’clock and opened for training on schedule.”

By mid-morning, the sun was out with a steady breeze blowing to help dry things out for the second “Downs After Dark” program that was scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

“We didn’t have a full crew this morning because of the late start,” Lehr said. “We are going to open the drains on the turf course and roll it. We have a lot of time to work on it.”

“GET IN THE GAME” HANDICAPPING SEMINAR TO FEATURE JON COURT – Popular rider Jon Court will be racing analyst Jill Byrne’s special guest during Saturday’s “Get in the Game” Handicapping Seminar.

    The half-hour session, free with general admission, will begin at noon in the paddock area and will feature informative and in-depth analysis of select races and other handicapping topics.

    Court, 48, has ridden 22 winners this meet, seventh best in the standings. Court returned to Churchill Downs this spring after riding the past five years in Southern California. Court has ridden 331 winners at Churchill Downs, which ranks 17th all-time under the Twin Spires. He will be riding Tidal Pool for trainer D. Wayne Lukas in Saturday’s $100,000-added Debutante Stakes (Grade III).

MILESTONE WATCH – Greg Foley became the 12th trainer in track history to saddle 300 winners at Churchill Downs when Izzy Ali won Thursday’s fifth race under Shaun Bridgmohan. Foley, 51, won his first race at Churchill Downs when he was 23 during the 1981 Spring Meet. Izzy Ali’s victory was the 15th of the meet for Foley, good for third in the trainer standings.

William Connelly, who has 999 career victories, failed in his bid to reach 1,000 when Hungry Tigress ran fourth in Thursday’s eighth race. Connelly’s next chance to reach 1,000 will come Saturday night when he sends out Bred to Win in the seventh race at Indiana Downs.

BARN TALK – Coach Billy G., named for former University of Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillispie, makes his racing debut in Friday night’s 11th race, a six-furlong, maiden special weight test. A son of Storm Cat, Coach Billy G. is owned by Donald Adam’s Courtlandt Farm. “Mr. Adam’s farm is in Bryan, Texas, and he is a friend of Gillispie’s from when Gillispie coached at Texas A&M,” trainer Jim Baker said.
 Calvin Borel rode two winners on Thursday’s card and narrowed his deficit to three (56-53) in his bid to overtake Julien Leparoux for the riding title. Borel is named on 10 mounts Friday night and can gain ground as Leparoux will be riding at Prairie Meadows in Iowa. The earnings from Borel’s Thursday mounts pushed his meet total to a record $3,501,524, surpassing Rafael Bejarano’s $3,460,332 total in 2006.

    With seven days remaining in the meet, Steve Asmussen holds a 23-16 lead over Mike Maker in the chase for leading trainer. Asmussen has won five Churchill Downs training titles, two spring (2004 and 2007) and three fall (2001, 2004 and 2007). Maker has won one training title, that coming last fall with a record 31 wins.

WORK TAB – Fred Bradley’s Brass Hat worked six furlongs over a sloppy track in 1:14.40 on Friday morning with jockey Calvin Borel up. “He worked good this morning,” trainer William “Buff” Bradley said. “My dad and I are going to talk again today and we’ll make a decision by Sunday on which race we’ll go to.” Winner of the May 23 Louisville Handicap (Grade III) last time out, Brass Hat  is being pointed to the $750,000 United Nations Handicap (Grade I) at 1 3/8 miles at Monmouth Park on July 4 or the $200,000 Arlington Handicap (Grade III) at 1 ¼ miles at Arlington Park on July 11.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

WILL MINE THAT BIRD FLY HIGH IN THE BELMONT? OPINIONS VARY – The question of the day Friday morning on the Churchill Downs backstretch centered on Saturday’s Belmont Stakes (Grade I) and Mine That Bird’s quest for two-thirds of the Triple Crown.
    A sampling of trainers seemed to indicate that “Bird” would be the word, but there were some reservations from others. The sampling of the responses as to who wins the Belmont:
    Carl Nafzger, trainer of Kentucky Derby winners Unbridled and Street Sense: “The winner? The one that gets there first! It is a difficult race to handicap. People thought Alydar would catch Affirmed (with the added distance). I am pulling for the Bird, but speed in the Belmont is dangerous and Kiaran McLaughlin’s horse (Charitable Man) has it. Class, Mine That Bird’s got it. It is going to be interesting to watch.”
    David Carroll, trainer of 2008 Belmont runner-up Denis of Cork: “Charitable Man. I think he is going to lay off the pace. He is bred to get the trip and he is a fresh horse.”
    Hal Wiggins, trainer of Rachel Alexandra when she won the Kentucky Oaks (GI): “Mine That Bird.”
    Ken McPeek, trainer of 2002 Belmont Stakes winner Sarava: “Dunkirk.”
     Tom Amoss, a new member of the 300-win club at Churchill Downs: “Mine That Bird. He’s the best 3-year-old boy in the country.”
    Lynn Whiting, an even newer member of the 300-win club at Churchill Downs and conditioner of 1992 Kentucky Derby winner Lil E. Tee: “It will be an interesting race. The little horse (Mine That Bird) makes you respect him. The mile and a half is a different kind of race and not many want it.”
          Forrest Kaelin, eighth-leading trainer all time at Churchill Downs with 312 victories: “Mine That Bird. I don’t see anything in there that can close like him.”
Scooter Dickey, who was on the Kentucky Derby trail this spring with Flat Out: “The Bird! He’ll gallop.”
Steve Penrod, veteran Churchill Downs conditioner: “Mine That Bird’s a solid horse, but for an upset special look for something of (Nick) Zito’s. One of his horses (Brave Victory or Miner’s Escape) has a shot.”
    Greg Foley, who got Churchill Downs career victory No. 292 on Thursday: “I kind of like the little ol’ Bird. I hope he wins it.”
    Buff Bradley, trainer of millionaire and recent Louisville Handicap winner Brass Hat: “I think Charitable Man has a pretty good shot. His only bad race has been on Polytrack at Keeneland. But if you listen to Calvin (Borel), you think it is his horse (Mine That Bird).”

PERFECT ON TURF, TIZAQUEENA FACES HUGE TEST IN MINT JULEP – Darley Stable’s Tizaqueena stepped up admirably in her first foray into graded stakes company when she won the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (Grade II) on the Kentucky Derby  undercard on May 2.
 On Saturday, she will be asked to step up again when she faces such accomplished rivals as Pure Clan and Acoma in the 33rd running of the Early Times Mint Julep Handicap (Grade III) at a mile and a sixteenth on the Matt Winn Turf Course.
    Tizaqueena arrived at Churchill Downs on Thursday from Arlington Park, where she has had four works since her Derby Day triumph.
    “The Mint Julep was one of the races we looked at,” trainer Mike Stidham said of Tizaqueena. “We also looked at the Just a Game (Grade I at Belmont Park on Saturday), but that was a little tougher than what we wanted. But the Mint Julep is tough, too.”
    Tizaqueena, a 4-year-old daughter of two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) winner Tiznow out of the Mr. Prospector mare Issaqueena, broke her maiden at first asking on the main track at Fair Grounds last December. After two more dirt starts, Tizaqueena moved to the turf, where she is undefeated in three starts.
    “The condition she was eligible for was on the turf,” Stidham said of the move to the grass. “She has turf breeding on the female side of her family.”
    In the Distaff Turf Mile, Tizaqueena pressed the pace and then withstood a challenge from the more experienced Dawn After Dawn in deep stretch to win going away.
    “I am not surprised by her success,” Stidham said. “She had always shown she had ability. When they take that next step, you never know if they are going to take it, but she sure did when (Dawn After Dawn) got to her neck.”
    Brian Hernandez Jr. will ride Tizaqueena for the first time Saturday and break from post position seven. Tizaqueena will carry 119 pounds, three fewer than Pure Clan who has won four of six turf starts, and one fewer than Acoma, who is 2-for-2 on turf.

‘SECONDITIS’ GETTING A LITTLE OLD FOR MARGOLIS – The 2009 Spring Meet got off to a great start for trainer Steve Margolis with four winners from his first seven starters.
    Five weeks later, Margolis still has four wins … to go with 13 second-place finishes, more than any conditioner on the grounds.
    “My horses have been running very good, I couldn’t ask for any more,” said Margolis, who has 36 horses stabled here. “We have had some very tough beats.”
    Perhaps the toughest beat Margolis had came in a May 7 allowance race when Northern Belle was nipped by the smallest of noses by Oculuna right on the wire.
    “She is entered for the main track only Friday, but I think I am going to send to her to Philadelphia Park for a $200,000 stake (the Jostle) next Saturday,” Margolis said. “(Owner) Mr. (Martin) Cherry is from up there and it will give him a chance to be with his family and see the horse run, too.”
    Adding to the run of bad luck for Margolis for the disqualification of Lady Chace from second to third in the May 25 Winning Colors (Grade III) and Cash Refund had the misfortune of hooking up against Capt. Candyman Can in the May 16 Matt Winn to suffer his first defeat in three starts.
    Margolis is pointing Cash Refund to the $200,000 Jersey Shore (Grade III) at six furlongs at Monmouth Park on July 5.
    “I hope to start turning some of these seconds and around and finish with a real good meet,” said Margolis, who sends out Wild Bushrose in Friday’s opener.

AMOSS JOINS BYRNE FOR SATURDAY’S ‘GET IN THE GAME’ SEMINAR – Trainer and television racing analyst Tom Amoss will discuss the Belmont Stakes and more when he joins Churchill Downs’ Jill Byrne for her weekly “Get in the Game” handicapping seminar on Saturday, June 6.
    Amoss, a New Orleans native who is a two-time leading trainer at Churchill Downs, also serves as a racing analyst for TVG and will offer his perspective on Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird’s bid for the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
    Byrne’s recent guests in the seminar have included two-time Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel and Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr., trainer of Mine That Bird.
    
MILESTONE WATCH – Trainer David Vance has two shots Friday at getting his 300th victory at Churchill Downs. Vance sends out My Little Connor in the second race and Closetoaten in the ninth.

BARN TALK – Leroidugazon became the second offspring to 2005 champion turf male Leroidesanimaux to reach the races when he ran third to stablemate Grand Slam Andre in Thursday’s seventh race. Cathy and Bob Zollars own Leroidugazon, who is trained by Steve Asmussen. Elegant Beauty is the first Leroidesanimaux to race, having finished fourth and fifth in two Calder starts last month. …
    Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird is scheduled to return to Louisville at 9:30 a.m. Monday from Belmont Park. Coming on the same flight with Mine That Bird is Stephen Foster Handicap (Grade I) candidate Arson Squad.
    Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said that Asiatic Boy would ship to Churchill Downs on Wednesday or Thursday for the Stephen Foster, which will serve as the 6-year-old’s U.S. debut. A winner of 7 of 15 career starts, Asiatic Boy has earned more than $3 million in his career.
 
WORK TAB – West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again, prepping for next Saturday’s $600,000 Stephen Foster Handicap, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 over a fast track Friday morning. The move was the fastest of 18 at the distance.  Macho Again won the Derby Trial (GIII) and was runner-up to Big Brown in the Preakness (GI), and took this year’s New Orleans Handicap (GIII) at Fair Grounds.    

Stostreet Stables and Harold McCormick’s Preakness Stakes (Grade I) and Kentucky Oaks (GI) winner Rachel Alexandra returned to trainer Steve Asmussen’s Barn 38 at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning following a flight from Baltimore.
Scott Blasi, Asmussen’s chief assistant, accompanied the 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro on the flight.  Blasi led her off the van at 10:20 a.m. (all times EDT) and back to barn, where she was walked and bedded down in Stall 24.
“She traveled great,” Blasi said. “She’ll be left alone the rest of the day; that’s what she wants. She’ll definitely walk for three days so the earliest she’d go back to the track would be Wednesday. We’ll just continue to evaluate her and keep our options open.
Rachel Alexandra, ridden again by Calvin Borel, defeated Kentucky Derby winner Mine that Bird by a length in the second jewel of racing’s Triple Crown.
“We’re very pleased with how she ate last night and her attitude is good and she’s physically in good shape. We’re just very fortunate to be in this position. She’s all class and all heart. All of the credit goes to her.”
The Preakness marked Rachel Alexandra’s first start for Asmussen, and the victory over males lifted her career record to 8-2-0 in 11 races with earnings of $1,618,354. The Preakness victory came just shy of a year after her career debut on May 22, 2008 at Churchill Downs, when he finished sixth in a field of nine 2-year-old fillies in the only poor effort of her career.  She has now won six consecutive races, a string that started in late November with a 4 ¾-length romp in the Golden Rod (GII).
Rachel Alexandra became the second Kentucky Oaks winner in three years to defeat males in a Triple Crown race in her next start.  Rags to Riches won the 2007 Oaks and returned to defeat the Asmussen-trained Preakness winner and eventual two-time “Horse of the Year” Curlin in the Belmont Stakes (GI).
Asmussen was due back in Louisville Sunday afternoon and was scheduled to saddle horses in Churchill Downs’ Races 8 and 10. Meanwhile, winning jockey Calvin Borel had six mounts, starting with Race 4.

WIGGINS WATCHES PREAKNESS AT CHURCHILL, BEAMS OVER RACHEL AND STAFF – She had been out of his barn for just over a week, so it was clearly a bittersweet experience for veteran trainer Hal Wiggins as he watched Rachel Alexandra, his horse of a lifetime, become the first filly in 84 years to win Saturday’s Preakness, the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
    Wiggins had just saddled Lucky Trio Stable’s Betty Bye to finish fourth in the 11th race at Churchill Downs – a race won by the Steve Asmussen-trained Girls Do Rule, which should have been the “Omen of the Day.”  Then Wiggins settled into the Horseman’s Service Center adjacent to the paddock to watch Rachel Alexandra’s bid for history.
    “When the gates opened, I was pulling for her,” Wiggins said.  “Down the backstretch I was expecting her to be behind a horse or two, but she just bounded out of there.  Where she was, I just thought she was in perfect position.
    “I’m just really, really proud of her and Calvin. Racing is real fortunate to have him out there like that.  There’s nothing phony about him – it’s all genuine.   People see that and they realize that, and I’m just tickled for him.  I’ll tell you, if anyone deserves it he does.”
    Wiggins was also impressed by Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, who closed strongly to lose by only a length to Rachel Alexandra.
    “I’ll tell you what, I was really proud of that Derby horse,” Wiggins said.  “Some of those guys were saying he might be a one-race wonder and that the wet track (on Derby Day) might have had something to do with it, but he showed he was legitimate.  He really did.”
    Rachel Alexandra’s new trainer, Steve Asmussen, has praised Wiggins’ work in the development of Rachel Alexandra, whose final race for Wiggins was her record-smashing 20 ¼-length victory in the Kentucky Oaks on May 1.  Asmussen did so again on NBC Sports’ national telecast of the Preakness on Saturday.
    “I appreciate that,” Wiggins said.  “It’s a tribute to the crew here at the barn.  I appreciate that, I really do.”

MATT WINN DUO WELL AFTER STIRRING FINISH – The respective camps of Capt. Candyman Can and Cash Refund reported that both horses were doing well on the morning after their stirring stretch duel in Saturday’s $106,900 Matt Winn Stakes.
    Joseph Rauch and David Zell’s Capt. Candyman Can rallied in the stretch to wear down Richard, Elaine and Bert Klein’s previously unbeaten Cash Refund to win the seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds by three-quarters of a length.  The winning time over a “fast” track was 1:09.75.
    Capt. Candyman Can, who was ridden by Javier Castellano, won his fourth stakes race – and third this year – for trainer Ian Wilkes.  Earlier wins came in the Hutcheson (GII) at Gulfstream Park and the Bay Shore (GIII) at Aqueduct, and Wilkes said his hard-fought win in the Matt Winn had earned the gelded son of Candy Ride a rest.    
    Saratoga’s $300,000 NetJets King’s Bishop (GI) at seven furlongs on Aug. 29 remains the top near-term objective for Capt. Candyman Can.  
    “I may just go to Saratoga with him, I may not run him beforehand,” Wilkes said.  “He runs so hard for me.  I think I’ve got to fill his tank a little.”
    Capt. Candyman Can remained unbeaten in races shorter than a mile and perfect in three starts at seven furlongs.  His career record improved to 5-0-1 in eight races with earnings of $410,423.
    Cash Refund lost for the first time in three career races, but impressed in his stakes debut as he battled for the lead throughout and was determined in the run through the stretch before he gave way late to the winner.  Trainer Steve Margolis said the Petionville gelding walked on Sunday and was “bright and alert” on the morning after the first real test of his young career.  
    Cash Refund had won his first two races by a combined 13 ¾-lengths.  The Klein homebred went off as the narrow favorite in the Matt Winn, mostly due to a dazzling allowance victory on the first day of the Spring Meet when he won by seven lengths and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 110.  The winner earned a Beyer Figure of 99 on Saturday.
    “It was a good effort,” said Margolis.  “He fought all the way to the end.  He was on the inside and it took him a little longer to put away the Holthus horse (Dance Caller, who faded to finish last of five), and when Ian’s horse came as a challenger, he didn’t just lay down.  That horse was already a proven three-time stakes winner, so I don’t think it was any disgrace at all to lose to him.”
    Margolis said Cash Refund would probably appear next in the $200,000 Jersey Shore (GIII), a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds at Monmouth Park on July 5.
    A victory in the Matt Winn by the promising gelding would have been a boost to the Kleins, but it would also have provided Margolis with an elusive milestone: his first stakes victory at Churchill Downs.
    “I had that horse Request for Parole and was second in a couple of stakes races with him, and Change Up was second and third,” Margolis said.  “So I’ve got to get that elusive first stakes win at Churchill.  Hopefully we can do that soon.”
    Margolis’ next bid for a local stakes win will come next week when he saddles Gold Square’s Lady Chace in the Winning Colors (GIII).  That six-furlong race for older fillies and mares will be the highlight of the Memorial Day racing program on May 25.

BARN TALK – James C. Spence’s homebred Flying Pegasus, idled by an infection since a sixth-place finish in the Louisiana Derby (GII), returned to serious training with an easy three-furlong breeze in :38 over a “fast” track on Sunday.  The Ralph Nicks-trained son of 2000 Kentucky Derby Fusaichi Pegasus finished second to Friesan Fire in the Risen Star (GIII) in his only other start this year and was a runner-up to Charitable Man in last year’s Belmont Futurity (GII). … Zayat Stables’ Z Fortune, 10th to Big Brown in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, breezed five furlongs on Sunday in 1:01.80 … Leading jockey Julien Leparoux returns Sunday after two days of Preakness Weekend riding at Pimlico with a diminished lead in the battle for leading rider of the Spring Meet.  Leparoux led the surging Miguel Mena 22-18 heading into Sunday’s racing.  … Two-time Preakness-winning trainer Steve Asmussen won two races on Saturday at Churchill Downs to open an 8-6 lead over Bill Mott, Greg Foley and Wesley Ward in the race for “Leading Trainer”.  … With no live racing on Wednesdays for the remainder of the Spring Meet, Churchill Downs will offer free general admission for ITW simulcast wagering on Wednesdays through the remainder of the Spring Meet.