Tom McCarthy

VERSATILE VETERAN GENERAL QUARTERS FIRES ‘BULLET’ WORK, SET FOR FRIDAY RETURN – Owner-trainer Tom McCarthy’s General Quarters, a dual Grade I winner on turf and synthetic courses,  prepared for a return to racing on Friday with a fast four-furlong work on the main track Sunday morning at Churchill Downs. 

            The gray son of Sky Mesa worked the half-mile over a fast surface in :47.80, which was the fastest of 55 works at the distance on Sunday.  Later in the morning, McCarthy dropped General Quarters’ name in the entry box for a seven-furlong allowance race on dirt on Friday, June 10 that will be his first race since a seventh-place finish behind Debussy in last year’s Arlington Million (GI) at Arlington Park.

            General Quarters worked in fractional times of :12.40 and :24.40 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.80, which compared favorably with the fastest works of the day at that distance.

            “He went very nicely,” McCarthy said. “It was a very good work.”

            General Quarters has a career record of 4-7-2 in 21 races that includes victories in the Toyota Blue Grass (GI) over the synthetic Polytrack course at Keeneland and the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI) at Churchill Downs.  He ran third to eventual Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) winner and Eclipse Award winner Blame in last year’s Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) and finished 10^th to Mine That Bird in the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI).

            General Quarters will have a challenging task in his return to racing as his six rivals in Friday’s ninth race include a trio of stakes winners.  Those horses are Morton Fink’s Wise Dan, ninth to First Dude in the Alysheba (GIII) and winner of last fall’s Phoenix (GIII) at Keeneland; Maggi Moss’ Native Ruler, a multiple stakes winner with 15 career victories and earnings of $593,696; and Mimicry Partnership’s Grand Traverse, a stakes winner and career earner of $345,664.

            Jockey Jamie Theriot, who has never ridden General Quarters, has the mount on Friday.

VETERAN POOL PLAY SIZZLES IN WORK, SET FOR DIRT DEBUT IN STEPHEN FOSTER – William S. Farish Jr.’s Pool Play, third to Musketier on turf in Keeneland’s Elkhorn (GIII) last time out, worked a “bullet” five furlongs on the main track at Churchill Downs on Sunday as trainer Mark Casse prepares the Canada-based veteran for an improbable debut on dirt in the $500,000-added Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) on Saturday, June 18. 

            The 6-year-old son of Silver Deputy completed the distance under exercise rider Melanie Giddings in :59.80.  The work over the fast track was easily the fastest of 24 at the distance and further encouraged Casse’s plans to move Pool Play, who is out of a Cox’s Ridge mare, to the dirt for the Grade I test at Churchill Downs after 27 races on synethetic and turf courses.

            “He’s never ran on the dirt, but he has a dirt pedigree,” Casse said by telephone from his base at Woodbine.  “With him it’s all about the distance, and that’s why we went to grass.  He’s never won a race on the grass, but he likes to go at least a mile and an eight or a mile and quarter.”

            It has not been lost on Casse that the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) will be run over the dirt at the Louisville track on Saturday, Nov. 5

            “He’s trained just unbelievable over the dirt at Churchill.  We figured we might as well find out now because it could decide our plans for the fall.”

            Pool Play has run well in three starts, all on turf, this year.  Along with his race in the Eklhorn, he was a close fourth to Rahy’s Attorney in the Pan American (GIII) and Prince Will I Am in the Mac Diarmida (GII), both at Gulfstream Park.  His most recent victories came over the synthetic Polytrack surface at Woodbine, where he closed out 2010 with an allowance victory at 1 1/16 miles and the $150,000 Valedictory at 1 ¾ miles.  Both wins came at the expense of runner-up Eye of the Leopard, winner of the 2009 Queen’s Plate.

            The well-traveled veteran also finished a close second to Hold Me Back in last year’s Dominion Day (GIII) at Woodbine and won the 2009 Durham Cup (GIII) over the same synthetic course.  He has a career record of 5-6-5 in 27 races and has earned $582,429 in four years of racing.

            Casse, a three-time winner of Canada’s Sovereign Award who earned the Churchill Downs’ 1988 Spring Meet training crown during the early years of his career, is among those who believes that Churchill Downs’ main track is kinder than most dirt ovals to horses that have an affinity for turf and synthetic surfaces.  He notes the dominant Kentucky Derby victories by Animal Kingdom this year and the ill-fated Barbaro as examples.

            In Pool Play, Casse believes he has a horse that believes fits Churchill Downs’ main track very well.  A string of solid works here since Pool Play’s arrival has strengthened that opinion and made the Stephen Foster the veteran’s prime summer objective – and a fascinating handicapping question for fans when that big race comes along.

            “We had the Brooklyn at Belmont we could go to, they wanted us to go the Manhattan (GI on the Belmont Park turf), but, to me, now is the time to find out if he can run on dirt.” Casse said.  “If he can, they run a pretty big race there this fall and the mile and a quarter won’t be a problem for him.”

DICKEY CONSIDERS FOSTER BID FOR FLAT OUT – After watching veteran trainer Charles “Scooter” Dickey’s work with Preston Stables LLC’s talented but tender-footed Flat Out, few in Kentucky racing could ever doubt that Dickey is a very patient man.

            But patience could be more of a virtue in Thoroughbred racing than most any other endeavor, and that trait appears ready to be rewarded with the fragile 5-year-old son of Flatter.  After long periods on the sidelines with troublesome quarter cracks, Flat Out finished a strong runner-up in the $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap (GIII) on May 30. 

            Flat Out was sandwiched between Grade I winners in the victorious Awesome Gem and third-place finisher Game On Dude.  Dickey was so encouraged by the effort that he is considering a bid by Flat Out in the $500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap over his home track on June 18.

            “He just ran last Monday and right now he seems to have come out fine from the race,” Dickey said.  “So we’ll just watch it and see if that’s where we want to run back.”

            Flat Out launched his start-and-stop career with a bang when he notched his first career win in his second start at Oaklawn Park and briefly entered the Kentucky Derby picture with a stretch-running, 3 ½-length victory in the $50,000 Smarty Jones in his next outing.  A fourth-place finish to Old Fashioned in the Southwest (GIII) and a sixth-place run behind Papa Clem in the Arkansas Derby (GII) left his connections with concerns about whether he would have sufficient graded stakes earnings to compete in the Derby.  But he was still candidate for the Run for the Roses when a fractured shoulder sent Flat Out to the sidelines for an extended stay. 

            It would be a year and a half before Flat Out returned to racing with an allowance victory at Fair Grounds on Dec. 5, 2010.  But that would be his last start until last week’s big comeback effort after a layoff of nearly six months in the Lone Star Park Handicap.

            Flat Out’s shoulder healed long ago.  The problem since then has been Flat Out’s feet.

            “It’s mostly quarter cracks,” Dickey said.  “When we were waiting to go to the Derby, he had that crack in shoulder, and since then it’s just been quarter cracks.”

            The race at Lone Star improved Flat Out’s career record to 3-1-0 in seven races with earnings of $174,100.  Now Dickey will watch him over the next few days and assess Flat Out’s chances for the possible debut in Grade I stakes competition in the Foster.

            “He’s got such a big heart,” Dickey said.  “He’s just such a good horse to be around and to work with, but when you can’t go, you can’t go,” Dickey said.  “Hopefully he’ll stay with us now for a while and we can run him a few more times.”

CHECK THE LABEL ASSIGNED HIGH WEIGHT FOR MINT JULEP – Lael Stable’s Check the Label, winner of the Garden City (GI) over yielding turf last fall at Belmont Park, has been assigned the high weight of 122 pounds by racing secretary Ben Huffman for the 35^th running of the $100,000-added Early Times Mint Julep (GIII) for fillies and mares to be run at 1 1/16 miles over the Matt Winn Turf Course on Saturday, June 11.

            Check the Label, who is trained by Graham Motion, winning trainer of this year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI), sports a record of 6-3-1 from 15 starts, including an allowance win beneath the Twin Spires in November 2009 and a second-place finish in the Caressing Handicap at Churchill Downs later in that month. After crossing the line first in three straight graded stakes turf contests, Check The Label captured the biggest win of her career in the Garden City.

            Check the Label followed the Garden City with a sixth-place finish in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (GI) at Keeneland that ended her racing year.  She returned from a six-month break to finish runner-up to Embur’s Song in the Doubledogdare (GIII) over Polytrack in her most recent start on April 22. Check the Label is listed as a probable starter for the Mint Julep.                   

       The next high weights are Flaxman Holdings, Ltd.’s Aruna, who is also trained by Motion and won the most recent running of the Mrs. Revere (GII) at Churchill Downs before finishing second to Aviate-GB in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Presented by American Commercial Lines (GII) on the Kentucky Derby Day undercard in her most recent start, and Never Retreat, a multiple graded-stakes winner with $618,759 in career earnings. Aruna and Never Retreat are weighted at 120 pounds. 

            Weighted at 119 pounds and another probable starter in the race is Barbara Hunter’s Snow Top Mountain, a half-sister to Louisville Handicap (GIII) heroine Keertana and second to Check the Label in the Garden City.

            Also believed to be probable starters by Churchill Downs’ officials and their weights are Askbut I Won’ttell (117), Tapitsfly (116) and Ravi’s Song (114). No Explaining-IRE (118), Perfect Shirl (115) and Shameless (113) are possible starters.

Entries for the 35^th running of the Early Times Mint Julep will be taken on Wednesday, June 8.

 

WORK TAB (Track: FAST) – Team Block and Rich Ege’s Askbut I Won’ttell worked five furlongs in 1:02.20 over a “fast” main track at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning for trainer Chris Block. The 5-year-old daughter of Horse Chestnut-SAF captured the Cardinal Handicap beneath the Twin Spires last fall and is probable for the Early Times Mint Julep (GIII) on Saturday. …

            Block also worked Dundalk 5 LLC’s Dundalk Dust, winner of the 2010 Falls City Handicap (GII) at Churchill Downs. The 4-year-old daughter of Military traveled five furlongs in 1:01.20.    

            Karl Watson, Mike Pegram and Paul Weitman’s Ventana, who captured the Maryland Sprint Handicap (GIII) on the Preakness Day undercard in his most recent start, worked four furlongs in :49.20 for trainer Bob Baffert.

            Seeking the Title, a 4-year-old daughter of Seeking the Gold, worked four furlongs in :48.20 for trainer Dallas Stewart. Seeking the Title won the 2010 Iowa Oaks (GIII) for owner Charles Fipke.

            Charles Cella’s stakes winner Uncle Brent, who last raced in the Peter Pan (GII) at Belmont Park, worked six furlongs in 1:13.60 for trainer Lynn Whiting. Uncle Brent was the only six furlong-worker Sunday.

THE WEEK AHEAD BENEATH THE TWIN SPIRES - Churchill Downs' upcoming week will be highlighted by the 35th running of the Grade III, $100,000-added Early Times Mint Julep Handicap for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on turf and a simulcast of the 143rd running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes from Belmont Park. Both will take place Saturday. Churchill Downs will offer advance Belmont Stakes wagering all day Friday, starting at 11:30 a.m.  ...

Belmont Park's 13-race Belmont Stakes program will begin at 11:35 a.m. EDT, and will feature $1 million guaranteed pools for an all graded stakes Pick 6 (Races 6-11 starting at 2:34 p.m.) and Pick 4 (Races 8-11 starting at 3:59 p.m.). The 1 1/2-mile Belmont -- the third and final leg of the Triple Crown -- is scheduled as Belmont Park's Race 11 at approximately 6:36 p.m. The simulcast of the race ontrack will follow Race 11 at Churchill Downs and will be prominently shown on television monitors throughout the facility, including the infield and paddock JumboTrons. ...        

            A unique wager offered Friday by the New York Racing Association is the Brooklyn/Belmont double that links Belmont Park's two 1 1/2-mile marathon stakes events: Friday's Grade II, $150,000 Brooklyn Handicap for older horses and Saturday's Belmont for 3-year-olds. ...

Friday is the final 2:45 p.m. twilight racing program of the meet before "Downs After Dark" night racing returns with a 6 p.m. first post for the final three Fridays on June 17, June 24 and July 1. Also, the music of Wax Fang will headline the finale performance of the new Paddock Concert Series. The concert will begin shortly after the final race around 8 p.m. General admission will be $3 until 7 p.m. and $10 thereafter. The first 850 people in attendance for the concert will be allowed access into the saddling paddock to watch the concert up close in a VIP viewing area free of charge. A $20 Budweiser Select Balcony reserved ticket (available for purchase online at churchilldowns.com/tickets) includes front-row access, a prime undercover balcony overlooking the paddock and stage, extended drink specials throughout the night and a special gift from Budweiser Select.

Friday Happy Hours presented by Budweiser Select will take place in the paddock area from 6-8:15 p.m., with $2 Budweiser products, frozen specialty drinks and hot dogs showcased. There will also be a live band to entertain paddock patrons between races from 5-8 p.m. ...

Foam fun and a 2:15 p.m. puppet show on Saturday and sponge paint on Sunday highlight the weekend's activities at Churchill Downs' Junior Jockey Club located near the Guest Services Booth inside Gate 10. The Junior Jockey Club for children age 3-10 is open every Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Churchill Downs' mascot Churchill Charlie will be on hand for photographs between 2-2:30 p.m. Coloring books, crayons, individual games and reading material are available as well. ...

Sunday is the last chance of the spring for locals to win a $1,500 first prize and a coveted VIP trip to the Horseplayer World Series at The Orleans Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The cost to enter the final "Who's the Champ?" Handicapping Contest is $25 (or 25,000 Twin Spires Club points) and it will take place in the Champions Club Lounge.

BARN TALK – Miguel Mena will be off all his mounts Sunday at Churchill Downs to rest following a fall at Prairie Meadows on Saturday. Mena is expected to be back in action Thursday with four mounts at Churchill Downs. …

            Trainer Ken McPeek’s two most recent stakes winners, Salty Strike and Noble’s Promise, came out of their races in good order. Salty Strike, who captured the Dogwood (GIII) for Craig B. Singer, will be pointed to the Test (GI) at Saratoga on Aug. 6. Chasing Dreams Racing 2008, LLC’s Noble’s Promise will be pointed to the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (GI) at Saratoga on Aug. 7. …

Dullahan, the 2-year-old half-brother to Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, will make his debut in Thursday’s fifth race at Churchill Downs for owner Donegal Racing and trainer Dale Romans. “He’ll be one to watch,” said Romans of the chestnut son of Even the Score.                             

            Jockey Robby Albarado is close to moving into third-place in career wins at Churchill Downs. Albarado, who has 921 victories beneath the Twin Spires, is just four wins behind Don Brumfield on the all-time list. Albarado has mounts in races six through nine Sunday. …

WHO’S HOT – The hottest jockeys over the last five racing days (May 28- June 4) are Corey Lanerie (8-for-35), Shaun Bridgmohan (7-for-35) and Robby Albarado (6-for-16). Steve Asmussen (4-for-12) is the hottest trainer over the same period. The hottest owners are Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc. (2-for-8) Lothenbach Stables, Inc. (2-for-4), Stoneway Farm (2-for-3) and Vinery Stables, LLC (2-for-2).

 

WEATHER – Sunday: partly sunny with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 91; Monday: mostly sunny, 91; Tuesday: mostly sunny and hot, 96; Wednesday: mostly sunny and hot, 94; Thursday: mostly sunny with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 92; Friday: partly sunny with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 90.

McCARTHY HOPES TO HAVE “TIGER” ON HIS HANDS IN 2011 – Tom McCarthy was looking ahead to a huge fall with his stable star General Quarters. Now, McCarthy has his sights set on 2011.

“I had him almost up to the Shadwell (Turf Mile) at Keeneland in early October and he hit a tendon one morning coming off the track,” McCarthy said. “He had two weeks off and then to be on the safe side, off another two weeks.”

That took care of any Breeders’ Cup plans for General Quarters, winner of the Turf Classic (GI) here this spring and third-place finisher behind eventual Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) winner Blame in the Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) in June.

He is at Fallbrook Farm (in Versailles) and I am thinking about going over to see him this afternoon,” McCarthy said. “I am vacillating about when to bring him back. I want to give him a nice vacation and hope he will be a tiger next year.”

A $20,000 claim two years ago, General Quarters has compiled a record of 21-4-7-2 for earnings of $1,165,260. In addition to his Turf Classic victory, General Quarters also won the 2009 Toyota Blue Grass (GI) over Polytrack at Keeneland that led to runs in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) and the Preakness (GI).

General Quarters came out of the Preakness with a small bone chip in his right front knee that kept him out of racing for more than seven months.

“He had a hard campaign this winter,” McCarthy said of the colt’s four starts at Fair Grounds prior to the Turf Classic. “Maybe I will treat him like they did Perfect Drift; off after the fall and bring him back in the spring. That seemed to benefit him immensely.”

Perfect Drift, third-place finisher in the 2002 Kentucky Derby, raced eight seasons and compiled a record of 50-11-14-7 for earnings of $4,714,212.

“He has treated me so well,” McCarthy said of General Quarters, “that I want him to come back at 100 percent.”

ARUNA LIVES UP TO BILLING IN UNBEATEN U.S. STINT – Trainer Graham Motion bases his stable operation out of the Fair Hill training center in Maryland, shuttling horses in and out to various destinations for races.

A lot of times, waiting at the tracks for the new arrivals is Heather Craig. One such horse that caught Craig’s attention this summer was Flaxman Holdings Ltd.’s Aruna, a 3-year-old filly who figures to be one of the favorites in Saturday’s 20th running of the $175,000-added Mrs. Revere (Grade II) for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16-miles on turf.

“She had been at Fair Hill awhile (since arriving in the U.S. from France) and I didn’t know what she had done there,” Craig said of Aruna, who was scheduled to arrive at Churchill Downs on Wednesday afternoon. “She came up to Saratoga which was a lot busier and I took her through the paddock and she didn’t turn a hair. She’s a really nice, very classy filly.”

A homebred daughter of two-time graded stakes winner Surya, Aruna debuted in the summer of 2009 running third at France’s Deauville to Zagora, the same Zagora who ran second in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (GI) at Keeneland last month. After a sixth-place finish behind Sarafina in the Prix Saint-Alary (GI) at Longchamp in May, Aruna came to the States where she won her debut at Saratoga in allowance company in September and then took the Pebbles Stakes at Belmont in October.

“They were really high on her when we got her,” said Craig, who has not ridden Aruna since early September at Saratoga. “She’s a lovely gallop.”

One filly that has returned to Fair Hill from the Motion barn is Shared Account, longshot winner of the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI).

“She came out of the race great and went back to Fair Hill the first of last week,” Craig said of the 4-year-old filly who is owned by Sagamore Farm. “She is going get a little holiday.”

BARN TALK – Julien Leparoux rode three winners on Sunday to boost his career total to 433 at Churchill Downs and into 13th place all time. Leparoux passed Keith Allen (431) and moved within a victory of Willie Martinez. No. 11 on the all-time list is Mike McDowell with 452 victories.

Thomas McCarthy’s General Quarters will be aiming for a slice of horse racing history, but rising stars Battle Plan and Blame will likely occupy the roles of favorites Saturday when 11 horses enter the starting gate for  the 29th running of the $600,000-added Stephen Foster Handicap (Grade I) at Churchill Downs.

The Stephen Foster, run at 1 1/8 miles on the main track, serves as the centerpiece of the 11-race Kentucky Derby Alumni Day program that also four others graded stakes. The day’s other major attraction is the $200,000-added Fleur De Lis (GII) for fillies and mares 3-year-olds and up, which has attracted reigning Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra as the favorite in a field of five.  First post time is 12:45 p.m. (all times EDT) with the Stephen Foster going as the day’s 10th race with a post time of 5:29 p.m.

Three previous Stephen Foster winners have gone on to win Horse of the Year honors in the year of their victory with the most recent being Curlin in 2008. Others were Saint Liam (2005) and Black Tie Affair (1991).

General Quarters, the 4-1 third choice in Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia’s morning line odds for the Stephen Foster, will be attempting to join Lava Man as the only horse to win Grade I races on dirt, grass and a synthetic surface. General Quarters, who won the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI) in his most recent start, won the Grade I Toyota Blue Grass Stakes in 2009 over Keeneland’s Polytrack surface.

General Quarters returns to the dirt Saturday, a surface he raced on during the Fair Grounds meet as he returned from seven months away from the races after having a small chip removed from his right front knee. The 4-year-old gray colt had four runner-up finishes in four starts in New Orleans with the last coming in the New Orleans Handicap (GII) on March 27 to Overbrook Farm’s Battle Plan, the 5-2 morning line favorite in the Stephen Foster.

Alex Solis will have the mount on General Quarters, who will share the starting high weight of 120 pounds with Arson Squad and Blame. General Quarters will break from post position six.

The 5-year-old Battle Plan, a regally bred son of Empire Maker out of champion Flanders, is unraced since winning the New Orleans Handicap.  The Todd Pletcher trainee picks up two pounds from his Fair Grounds triumph and will carry 119 pounds in the Stephen Foster. Javier Castellano will ride Battle Plan, who has won his past four starts. Battle Plan will break from post position two.

Blame, owned by Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm, enters the Stephen Foster on a three-race win streak and is the 3-1 second choice in Battaglia’s morning line.. Trained by Al Stall Jr., the 4-year-old Blame opened his 2010 campaign with a victory in the W.D. Schaefer Stakes (GIII) at Pimlico after closing 2009 with scores in the Clark Handicap (GII) at Churchill Downs and the Fayette (GII) at Keeneland.

Garrett Gomez, who was aboard Blame for the first time in the victory at Pimlico, has the riding assignment Saturday. Blame will break from post position 11.

Jay Em Ess Stable’s Arson Squad is the veteran of the group at age seven. One of three millionaires in the race – General Quarters and Macho Again are the others – Arson Squad has won his past two starts in the Alysheba (GIII) here on April 30 and the Skip Away (GIII) at Gulfstream Park on April 3.

A five-time graded stakes winner, Arson Squad is trained by Rick Dutrow and will be ridden by Paco Lopez. Arson Squad will break from post position five.

One other Stephen Foster starter comes into Saturday’s race off a graded stakes victory: Duke of Mischief, owned by Alex and Joann Lieblong, Marilyn McMaster and trainer David Fawkes. Duke of Mischief, who will carry 116 pounds and be ridden by Eibar Coa, won the Oaklawn Handicap (GII) on April 3 in his most recent start. Duke of Mischief will break from post position four.

Back to defend his title in the Stephen Foster is West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again, trained by Dallas Stewart. The 5-year-old gray will attempt to join Vodika Collins (1982-83) and Recoup The Cash (1994-95) as the only repeat winners of the race.  Macho Again, a well-beaten seventh to Arson Squad in the Alysheba in his only start of the year, is an 8-1 morning line risk as he defends his Foster title.

Macho Again will carry 116 pounds, break from post position nine and be ridden by Robby Albarado. Albarado, who has won the last three runnings of the Stephen Foster with Flashy Bull (2007), Curlin (’08) and Macho Again is attempting to become the first rider in Churchill Downs history to win the same Grade I race in four consecutive years. Pat Day won the Humana Distaff five consecutive years, but that was before the race attained Grade I status.

The field for the Stephen Foster (with jockey, weight and morning line odds), from the rail out, is as follows: A.U. Miner (Francisco Torres, 113 pounds, 30-1), Battle Plan (Castellano, 119, 5-2), Giant Oak (Shaun Bridgmohan, 115, 20-1), Duke of Mischief (Coa, 116, 6-1), Arson Squad (Lopez, 120, 8-1), General Quarters (Solis, 120, 4-1), Honest Man (Jose Lezcano, 115, 15-1), No Advantage (Calvin Borel, 117, 30-1), Macho Again (Albarado, 116, 8-1), Demarcation (Miguel Mena, 115, 30-1) and Blame (Gomez, 120, 3-1).

STEPHEN FOSTER BID POSSIBLE FOR GENERAL QUARTERS – Owner-trainer Tom McCarthy wanted to keep Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI) winner General Quarters on the grass after that big Derby Day victory, but there is a tempting target in three weeks that could put the 4-year-old Sky Mesa colt back on dirt.
“I am thinking about it,” McCarthy said of the $600,000 Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) to be run June 12. “I’d like to keep him on the grass, but there is nothing for him on the grass when we need to run.”

After the Turf Classic victory, the second Grade I triumph for General Quarters who took the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes last spring on Polytrack at Keeneland, McCarthy had mentioned the Arlington Handicap (GIII) to be run July 17 as his prep for the Grade I Arlington Million on Aug. 21.

The Stephen Foster is six weeks (from the Turf Classic),” McCarthy said. “The only other spot where he could run would be at Monmouth, but I don’t want to ship him when I can just walk out the door here.”

A Stephen Foster triumph would put General Quarters in exclusive company. Only Lava Man has won Grade I races on grass, dirt and a synthetic surface. General Quarters is two-thirds of the way there.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND STAKES FIELDS TAKING SHAPE – Atta Boy Roy did not take the money and run back west.

Winner of the Grade II Churchill Downs on May 1, Atta Boy Roy is one of four sprinters considered as “probable” by Churchill Downs racing officials for next Saturday’s 22nd running of the $100,000-added Aristides (GIII) at six furlongs on dirt..

Trained by Valorie Lund for R.E.V. Racing, Atta Boy Roy made his Churchill Downs debut a winning one by holding off Warrior’s Reward in the seven-furlong sprint on Derby Day.

Others considered likely to face Atta Boy Roy in the Aristides are Richard, Bertram and Elaine Klein’s Cash Refund, winner of five of six career starts; Courtlandt Farms’ Cassoulet; and, Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch’s Chief of Affairs, winner of the James Whitcomb Riley at Indiana Downs on May 12 in his most recent start.

Also slated for next Saturday is the 36th running of the $100,000-added Dogwood (GIII) for 3-year-old fillies going a mile on the main track.

Topping a list of seven probables is Starlight Partners’ Ailalea, who is coming off a fifth-place finish behind Blind Luck in the Kentucky Oaks (GI). Other probables are Patricia Blass’ Bell’s Shoes, Lansdon Robbins III and Samuel Delaney’s Fuzzy Britches, Desk Farms’ Helen Belen, Carl Pollard’s Tap Tap Tapping, Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s Vertical Vision and Martin Cherry’s Visavis.

Entries for the Aristides and Dogwood will be taken Wednesday.

Defending champion Dubai Majesty tops a list of six probable starters for the seventh running of the $100,000-added Winning Colors (GIII) to be run at six furlongs on the main track on Monday, May 31.
Owned by the Martin Racing Stable and Dan Morgan, Dubai Majesty has won two of five starts at Churchill Downs and in her career has a record of 4-5-0 in 11 races at the Winning Colors distance.
Other probables for entry in the race on Friday include Dawn and Ike Thrash’s Emmy Darling, Mrs. Ty Scheumann’s J A Warrior, Carl Pollard’s Minewander, Richland Hills and John Kuehl’s Secret Gypsy and Joseph Sutton’s Warbling.

HOLTHUS HOPEFUL THE OLD PURE CLAN RETURNS IN JULY – Two weeks ago, trainer Bob Holthus feared he had lost his stable star, Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan,  when the 5-year-old mare refused to train.
“We didn’t know what it was,” Holthus said of Pure Clan, who has not raced since finishing second in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) at Santa Anita.

Atrip to Rood & Riddle in Lexington discovered a bruised left front foot. Pure Clan is spending her days now at Lakin’s Versailles farm exercising on an Aqua-tred.

“We are trying to keep the weight off her foot,” Holthus said. “If we get her back in the barn by the first of July we have a chance to make the Flower Bowl.”

Pure Clan won the Flower Bowl (GI) last October at Belmont Park and five weeks later made her Breeders’ Cup run to cap a five-race season.

Holthus was hoping for a similar campaign this year, but said “it looks like we are down to two or three (races).

“We’d like to make the Flower Bowl and then train up to the Breeders’ Cup (at Churchill Downs on Nov. 5-6). But you have to get to the first one first.”

Pure Clan, who has compiled a career mark of 8-4-3 in 16 races with earnings of $1,987,498, was turned out after the Breeders’ Cup last year.

“She was as good as she was all year after the Breeders’ Cup,” Holthus said. “Sometimes, I wish I had not taken her out of training.”

BARN TALK – Tom and Jack Conway’s Stately Victor, eighth in the Kentucky Derby, is scheduled to work Monday or Tuesday at Trackside Training Center as he continues preparations for the June 5 Belmont Stakes (GI). “He will leave for New York on the 27th and then have one work at Belmont,” trainer Mike Maker said of the winner of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) at Keeneland on April 10. …

Apprentice Freddie Lenclud posted his second three-win day of the meet on Friday. Lenclud, who also won three races on May 6, moved into a tie for seventh place in the rider standings with 10 victories this spring. Lenclud’s winners were Hands On ($4.40 in the 1st race), Excitable Boy ($9 in 2nd) and New Frontier ($5.20, 8th). …

Steve Bass, agent for sidelined jockey Julien Leparoux, is hopeful his rider can be back in action by the end of June. “He is resting and he is bored,” Bass said of Leparoux, who suffered a compression fracture in his vertebrae in a spill May 14 at Pimlico. “He goes back to the doctor next week and in four weeks he will get another MRI. Leparoux, second in the rider standings with 13 victories, had been named on six mounts Friday. Of the six, five won and the sixth ran second.

Mine That Bird, winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby (GI), galloped for the first time since returning to Churchill Downs on Thursday night. With Arielle Witkowski up, Mine That Bird was on the “muddy” track shortly after 6:30. “He is light on his feet,” new trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “He went a mile and five-eighths this morning and didn’t take a deep breath coming back.”

WORK TAB (Track: GOOD) – Churchill Downs (GII) winner Atta Boy Roy, prepping for next Saturday’s Aristides (GIII), blazed a half-mile in :46.60 after the renovation break. The move was the fastest of 31 at the distance. Also working a half-mile were defending Winning Colors (GIII) champion Dubai Majesty (:47.80, fourth- fastest) and La Canada (GII) winner Striking Dancer (:48.80) in preparation for the June 12 Fleur De Lis (GII). Custom for Carlos, winner of the Grade III Mr. Prospector and   Count Fleet Handicaps, drilled a bullet five-eighths in :59 after the break. Ben Ali (GIII) winner Dubious Miss covered five furlongs in :59.80, fourth-fastest of 16 at the distance.

HORSEMEN’S GOLF SCRAMBLE RETURNS ON JUNE 8 – The second annual Horsemen’s Golf Scramble will be held Tuesday, June 8 at the Glenmary Country Club in Fern Creek, Ky., to help raise funds for the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs. The cost of the golf outing is $100 per player with four players to a team. Players will be treated to an 11 a.m. lunch. The 18-hole tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. There will be contests for the longest drive, closest to the pin, and a hole-in-one in which someone could win a 2010 Toyota Corolla from Oxmoor Toyota. Registration is due Friday and entry forms can be found at the Backside Learning Center or by visiting www.derbymusuem.org/backsidelc.

PRIZE MONEY, TRIP TO HORSEPLAYER WORLD SERIES UP FOR GRABS IN SUNDAY’S ‘WHO’S THE CHAMP?’ HANDICAPPING CONTEST – Churchill Downs’ “Who’s the Champ?” Handicapping Contest continues every Sunday through June 13 with $4,000 in prize money and a coveted prize package to compete in the Horseplayer World Series each week.

The weekly first prize is $1,500 and a five-day, four-night trip to Las Vegas with round-trip airfare courtesy of American Airlines to compete in the Horseplayer World Series, which is scheduled for Feb. 16-19, 2011 at the Orleans Resort and Casino.

Ira Hopkins of Louisville was last week’s winner. 

The “Who’s the Champ?” Handicapping Contest is a game of skill that tests the player’s ability to handicap Thoroughbred racing. Each contestant will start the day with a $24 imaginary bankroll and may only wager exactly $2 to win and $2 to place on six designated races from Churchill Downs. 

The contest costs $30 per entry ($25 for Twin Spires Club members) and is limited to 400 entries with a limit of three entries per person. Registration is open Sundays between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in the Champions Club Lounge on the second floor of the clubhouse.

KENTUCKY DERBY WINNER SUPER SAVER RETURNS TO TRACK -- WinStar Farm’s Kentucky Derby (Grade I) winner Super Saver returned to the track Wednesday morning for a leisurely jog once around the mile oval under exercise rider Kevin Willey.

“He jogged like a Derby winner,” said Mike McCarthy, assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher, adding with a laugh, “and I’ve seen plenty of those horses here. I have been here. His energy, attitude and appetite are all good. He might gallop tomorrow. It depends on what Todd wants to do.”

Pletcher is slated to return to Louisville toward the end of the week and McCarthy said the trainer “would be here Saturday for sure.”

Pletcher’s other Preakness probable, Dogwood Stable’s Aikenite, galloped a mile and three-eighths after the morning renovation break under Willey.

Also returning to the track for the first time since the Kentucky Derby for the Pletcher barn was Twin Creeks Racing Stable’s Mission Impazible, who finished ninth.

Mission Impazible jogged a mile under Willey and will be pointed to the $125,000 Northern Dancer (GIII), according to McCarthy.  The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds will be run on the Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) undercard on June 12.

Donegal Racing’s Paddy O’Prado galloped a mile and half after the morning renovation break. Trainer Dale Romans plans to ship the third-place Kentucky Derby finisher to Pimlico next Wednesday and that Kent Desormeaux would retain the mount in the Preakness.

Romans also indicated Donald Dizney’s First Dude could join Paddy O’Prado in Baltimore.

“I may run him, too,” Romans said of First Dude. “I have reserved a spot on the plane for him and if he is doing good, I’d say it’s 90 percent we’d run if he can get in. I would have liked to have run him in the Derby.”

First Dude finished third in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) on April 10 in his most recent start and prior to that in his stakes debut finished a troubled fifth in the Florida Derby (GI). In his most recent work, First Dude worked five furlongs over a muddy track in 1:00.80 on April 26, the best of 26 at the distance that morning.

Other Kentucky Derby runners back on the track Wednesday for the first time since the Run for the Roses were the Nick Zito-trained Ice Box (second) and Jackson Bend (12th). The two colts jogged a mile each.
Slated to return to the track Thursday are the Bob Baffert-trained duo of Lookin At Lucky (sixth) and Conveyance (15th), plus the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Dublin (seventh).

McCARTHY RIDING HIGH AFTER GENERAL QUARTERS’ WOODFORD RESERVE TURF CLASSIC VICTORY – Owner-trainer Tom McCarthy, age 76, was spreading straw in the stall of General Quarters the other morning when a visitor asked if he felt like he was 66 in the wake of the colt’s victory in Saturday’s Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (GI).

“Try 36,” McCarthy said with a laugh.

And so it was that the horse that was the feel-good story of the 2009 Kentucky Derby trail, was a feel-good story again in 2010.

After exiting the Preakness with a ninth-place finish and a small chip in his right front knee, General Quarters went on the shelf for more than seven months. McCarthy never doubted that his star would make it back.

“He came through everything so well,” McCarthy said. “We got the chip out and turned him out and gave him time to heal.”

General Quarters returned to the races on Dec. 26, finishing second in a six-furlong sprint. Three more races in at two-turn distances in stakes races on dirt resulted in runner-up finishes before the 4-year-old’s breakthrough grass win on Derby Day.

“I’d like to keep him on the grass if possible,” McCarthy said. “He just seems to be better on grass. I will just wait and see. I haven’t really looked at anything yet, but I know there is a prep for the Arlington Million on July 17 (the Grade III, $200,000 Arlington Handicap at a mile and a quarter).”

The Turf Classic victory was the second Grade I score for General Quarters, who won the 2009 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on the all-weather Polytrack surface

SOLIS SETS DOWN ROOTS IN NEW KENTUCKY HOME – Alex Solis remembers the first time he came to Churchill Downs.

“I was just a baby,” Solis said with a laugh as he recalled the 1983 Kentucky Derby in which he finished 11th on Current Hope. “There are a lot of good memories here.”

A 19-year-old then, Solis, now 46, has moved to Kentucky from Southern California to rejuvenate his career. He picked up two winners during the closing week of the Keeneland meet last month and now he is working the backside with agent Brian Beach at Churchill Downs where his biggest win at the track was in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI) with Kona Gold.

Solis, who has bought a house in St. Matthews, has 4,775 career victories and is a finalist for the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame. Results of the voting will be announced May 28. He has recorded seven stakes victories at Churchill Downs.

Before that, the quest for 5,000 victories resumes Thursday when Solis is named on two mounts. When the Churchill Downs meet ends July 4, Solis will likely head to New York.

“We will probably go to Saratoga for the summer and then come back here in the fall for Keeneland and Churchill Downs and then the Fair Grounds of Florida for the winter,” Beach said.

A winter in Florida would be a homecoming of sorts for Solis.

“That is where I started out when I came to this country,” Solis said. “I rode down there for three years and was leading rider at all three tracks (Gulfstream Park, Calder and Hialeah) before going to Southern California in 1985.”

Solis is not the only veteran Southern California jockey to relocate to Kentucky.

Corey Nakatani, 39, headed east early this year and rode at Oaklawn Park, where he finished as second-leading rider with 49 wins. Nakatani, who has purchased a house in Lake Forest, rode sparingly at Keeneland after the Oaklawn Park meet ended and now he is part of the Churchill Downs colony.

Nakatani has won 10 stakes beneath the Twin Spires, including Kentucky Oaks (GI) victories aboard Lite Light (1991) and Pike Place Dancer (1996) and in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI) in 1998 with Reraise and 2006 with Thor’s Echo.

Nakatani plans to go to Saratoga at the end of the current ment.

BARN TALK – Nominations close Saturday for the 73rd running of the $100,000 Louisville Handicap (GIII) to be run at 1 ½ miles over the Matt Winn Turf Course on May 22. Fred Bradley’s Brass Hat won the 2009 running of the race and is pointing to this year’s renewal. … There is a $947,641 Pick-Six carryover that will cover races five through 10 on Thursday’s card. First post time Thursday is 12:45 p.m. with scheduled post time for the start of the Pick 6 at 2:53 p.m. Also, in the 10th race, there is a $147,055 Super Hi-5 carryover in which patrons must select the first five finishers in the race in order.

WORK TAB (Track: FAST) – David Holloway’s Dubious Miss, winner of the Ben Ali (GIII) at Keeneland in his most recent start, worked five furlongs in 1:04.80 for trainer Paul McGee.

CONNIE AND MICHAEL WORKS FIVE FURLONGS FOR BREEDERS’ CUP START – With jockey Kent Desormeaux aboard, Anthony Bonomo Jr.’s Connie and Michael tuned up for her engagement in next Friday’s Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (Grade I) at Oak Tree at Santa Anita by working five furlongs in 1:01 over a “fast” track at Churchill Downs.

"She went out for a breeze with a capital B,” Desormeaux said after the work that occurred after the track re-opened after the morning renovation break. “She was just cruising out there and she galloped out strong.”

A daughter of Roman Ruler, Connie and Michael did not make her racing debut until Oct. 17 when she romped by 7 ¾ lengths after exiting the 12 hole in a seven-furlong Keeneland sprint. Connie and Michael is scheduled to fly to Santa Anita on Saturday to join the rest of trainer Ken McPeek’s Breeders’ Cup cast.

Other McPeek runners for the World Championships include Magdalena Racing’s House of Grace for the Juvenile Fillies Turf, Peter Callahan’s Beautician for the Juvenile Fillies, Melnyk Racing Stables’ Bridgetown for the Juvenile Turf and Chasing Dreams Racing 2008’s Noble’s Promise for the Grey Goose Juvenile.

Connie and Michael is one of nine Breeders’ Cup runners that Desormeaux is confirmed on as of today.

“I am going to be busy, and that’s how I like it,” said Desormeaux, a three-time Kentucky Derby-winning rider. “I’ll ride here Thursday and catch a plane after the card and get out there around 11 that night.”

Other World Championships mounts for Desormeaux, who has won three Breeders’ Cup races, according to his agent Mike Sellito are: Summer Bird (Classic), Mushka (Ladies’ Classic), Dynaforce (Filly & Mare Turf), Mr. Sidney (Dirt Mile), Gangbuster (Marathon), Piscitelli (Juvenile), Whatsthescript-IRE (Mile) and Interactif (Juvenile Turf).

LEPAROUX CONFIRMED ON NINE BREEDERS’ CUP MOUNTS – Of the four Churchill Downs-based riders other than Kent Desormeaux headed to next week’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships, Julien Leparoux figures to be the busiest.

According to agent Steve Bass, Leparoux is confirmed to ride in nine of the 14 races over the two days of the Championships that begin Friday.

Topping the list is defending Filly & Mare Turf (GI) winner and Eclipse Award filly and mare turf champion Forever Together. Other Leparoux mounts are Churchill Downs-based Einstein-BRZ (Classic), Informed Decision (Filly & Mare Sprint), She Be Wild (Juvenile Fillies), Rainbow View (Ladies’ Classic), Aspire (Juvenile), Becky’s Kitten (Juvenile Turf), Lisa’s Kitten (Juvenile Fillies Turf) and Silver Timber (Turf Sprint).

Also heading out to Southern California to compete in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships are Calvin Borel, Robby Albarado and Shaun Bridgmohan, who have a combined six confirmed mounts as of today.

Borel has one mount, Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in the Classic.

Albarado is confirmed on Tapitsfly in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Beautician in the Juvenile Fillies next Friday and on Court Vision on Saturday in the Mile.

Bridgmohan has two mounts for trainer Steve Asmussen: Jungle Tale in the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Kodiak Kowboy in the Sprint.

ACK ACK, CHILUKKI FIELDS TAKING SHAPE – Senior Vice President/Racing Donnie Richardson said that fields for next weekend’s two graded stakes, the Ack Ack (GIII) and the Chilukki (GII), both at a mile on the main track, are beginning to take shape.

The Ack Ack, scheduled to be run on Friday for 3-year-olds and up, closed with 30 nominations. Entries will be taken Tuesday and heading the list of probables for the $100,000-added Ack Ack is B. Wayne Hughes’ My Pal Charlie, trained by Al Stall Jr.

Winner of last year’s Super Derby (GII), My Pal Charlie is winless in eight starts in 2009. However, his best effort of the year came at Churchill Downs came on Derby day when he ran second in the Grade II Churchill Downs.

Also considered probable for the Ack Ack are Michael Cooper and Pamela Ziebarth’s Tizdejavu, a two-time graded-stakes winner on the grass at Churchill Downs, and Robert Yagos’ Spotsgone.

The $150,000-added Chilukki for fillies and mares is expected to mark the return to the races of One Caroline for trainer Rusty Arnold.

Owned by G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and the Louise Ireland Humphrey Revocable Trust 2008, One Caroline has not raced since finishing second to Miss Isella in the Grade II Louisville Distaff on May 1. It was One Caroline’s first loss after she opened her career with five consecutive victories. She was injured while preparing for the Fleur De Lis (GII) in June.

Also considered as “probable” to compete in the Chilukki, which will be run Saturday, Nov. 7, is Mark Stanley’s Swift Temper. Trained by Dale Romans, Swift Temper has won the Ruffian (GI), Delaware Handicap (GII) and the Sixty Sails (GIII) in 2009.

Other Chilukki probables include Westrock Stables’ Be Fair, Briland Farm’s Color Me Up and Michael Pressley, John Ferris, Mike Riley, Lee Robey and Barry Higgins’ Payton d’Oro. Listed as “possible” for the race are Richard, Bertram and Elaine Klein’s Whirlie Bertie and World Thoroughbred Racing’s Don’ttalktome

Entries for the Chilukki will be taken Wednesday.

WORK TAB – Tom McCarthy’s General Quarters worked three furlongs in :37.80, his second three-eighths breeze since returning for surgery to remove a chip in his right front knee. Winner of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) and 10th-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI), General Quarters was sidelined after a ninth-place finish in the Preakness (GI). … Martin Racing Stable and Dan Morgan’s Dubai Majesty, winner of the Buffalo Trace Franklin County at Keeneland in her most recent start on Oct. 16 and the Winning Colors (GIII) at Churchill Downs this spring, worked a half-mile in :49.80 for trainer Bret Calhoun.

2010 CHURCHILL DOWNS WALL CALENDAR GIVEAWAY ON OPENING DAY – The first 5,000 fans in attendance on Sunday, Nov. 1 – opening day of the 2009 Fall Meet – will receive a free 2010 Churchill Downs Wall Calendar, sponsored by Humana. The colorful calendar features major event listings and vivid and memorable images from the Kentucky Derby and around the historic racetrack.

Opening day of the anticipated 21-day stand doubles as “Stars of Tomorrow I” with 11 live races entirely devoted to rising 2-year-old stars who have aspirations of trail-blazing their way to next year’s Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks (GI). The featured events are the open Iroquois and the fillies’ Pocahontas, a pair of Grade III, $100,000-added events run at one mile on the main track.

The day will also will feature the debut a new free Sunday morning public workout program from 8-10 a.m. entitled “Daybreak at the Downs” and a special 2-year-old handicapping seminar and breakfast in the Paddock Pavilion from 9-11:30 a.m.

Admission gates will open at 11:30 a.m. and first post is 12:40 p.m. ET.

Churchill Downs 120th Fall Meet, featuring world-class horse racing, will continue for a four-week stand through Saturday, Nov. 28.

General admission is $3, but only $1 for senior citizens and members of the track’s free-to-join Twin Spires Club. Children 12 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Parking is free in the Longfield Avenue lot (Gates 10 & 12) and $3 in all other lots. Valet parking is $5.

For more information or to reserve seats, call (502) 636-4400 or visit www.ChurchillDowns.com.

SPECIAL 2-YEAR-OLD HANDICAPPING SEMINAR SET ON OPENING DAY FROM 9-11:30 A.M. – Churchill Downs will host its annual “Stars of Tomorrow” 2-Year-Old Handicapping Seminar on Sunday, Nov. 1 in the Paddock Pavilion from 9-11:30 a.m.

Churchill Downs racing analyst Jill Byrne will host this year’s seminar with jockey Jon Court, trainer Ian Wilkes and workout clocker John Nichols. The quartet will provide insight on how to improve handicapping skills for 2-year-old racing and in-depth analysis of the entire “Stars of Tomorrow I” racing program with a question and answer session.

One of the most attractive aspects of the seminar is a special trip to the saddling paddock for an up-close inspection of a 2-year-old and its confirmation, behavior and equipment.

The cost to attend is $25 and includes breakfast buffet, official program, Brisnet.com past performances, and a reserved seat in Skye Terrace 5. There also will be a raffle for door prizes, including a VIP day at the races, two rounds of golf at Belterra Casino Resort & Spa, signed framed photographs of past Kentucky Derby winners and a chance to watch a race from the Churchill Downs announcer’s booth with track commentator Mark Johnson.

Call (502) 636-4400 for reservations.

“WHO’S THE CHAMP?” HANDICAPPING TOURNAMENT RETURNS SUNDAYS & WEDNESDAYS – Churchill Downs’ popular “Who’s the Champ” Handicapping Tournament will return for the 2009 Fall Meet with contests every Sunday and Wednesday through Nov. 22.

Horse racing fans can pit their handicapping skills against the best Louisville has to offer for twice-weekly cash prizes and an invitation to the Sunday, Nov. 22 final. The top two finishers in the final will win coveted berths in the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association Handicapping Championship XI scheduled for Jan. 29-30 at Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas.

Prize money for each contest, which requires participants to place mythical $2 Win and Place wagers in Races 3-9, totals $4,000, including a $1,400 first prize.

The top 25 unique participants in each contest through Wednesday, Nov. 18 will be invited to the Nov. 22 final.

The participation fee for each contest is $30 and includes complimentary lunch. It’s discounted to $25 for Twin Spires Club members. Registration will take place in the Champions Club Lounge on the second floor of the clubhouse from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on contest days. Additional contest seating will be available in the Churchill Downs Lounge when necessary.

NEW “DAYBREAK AT THE DOWNS” FREE EVERY SUNDAY FROM 8-10 A.M. – “Daybreak at the Downs” – patterned after Kentucky Derby week’s well-attended “Dawn at the Downs” – will make its debut on opening day, Sunday, Nov. 1, and take place every Sunday from 8-10 a.m. throughout the 2009 Fall Meet.
Churchill Downs’ racing analyst Jill Byrne will host the program with select special guests and she’ll describe the on-track action and provide insightful commentary as hundreds of horses prepare for their upcoming races in morning workouts.

Daybreak at the Downs” is free to attend each Sunday. Complimentary coffee, donuts and milk will be served to attendees.

Interested patrons should park in the Longfield Lot and enter through Gate 10. The “Daybreak at the Downs” will be presented in Sections 116-117 of the clubhouse. Visitors are welcome to stay for a day at the races free of charge.

LUKAS SUPPLEMENTING HOPEFUL WINNER DUBLIN TO IROQUOIS – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has supplemented Robert Baker and William Mack’s Dublin into Sunday’s 28th running of the Iroquois (Grade III) at a mile on the main track.

Fifth in his most recent start in the Champagne (GI) at Belmont Park on Oct. 10, Dublin has turned in two five-furlong works at Churchill Downs since that race.
    “He has done very well since the Champagne,” said Lukas, who has given the riding assignment to Rajiv Maragh. “I did not consider the Breeders’ Cup with him, because I did not want to run him on the artificial (Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita).”

A $525,000 Keeneland September Sale purchase last year, Dublin debuted during the spring meet here running fourth behind two-time graded states winner Backtalk. Dublin returned two months later at Saratoga to break his maiden and then capture the Grade I Hopeful on Sept. 7.

“He’s my best 2-year-old and he may be one of the best in the country,” said Lukas, a four-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer. “Over the past few years, he ranks right with the best that I have had. I have been high on him since Day One. He has a good pedigree (Afleet Alex out of a Storm Bird mare) and lots of ability.”

TELLING WORKS AROUND THE DOGS FOR BREEDERS’ CUP TURF – Alex and JoAnn Lieblong’s Telling, upset winner of the Grade I Sword Dancer Invitational in August at Saratoga, worked a leisurely five furlongs in 1:08.20 around the “dogs” Thursday morning at Churchill Downs with Jesus Castanon up for trainer Steve Hobby.

“He usually averages 1:03 and change on the dirt, so 1:08 and 1 around the dogs on soft ground is probably about right for him,” Hobby said. “This is the first time I have worked him on the turf.”

Clockers rated the course as “firm” although there had been steady rain early the morning before.

“It is still pretty soft out there but nowhere near as soft as what he ran in the last time,” Hobby said referring to the Turf Classic Invitational (GI) on Oct. 3 at Belmont Park in which Telling finished third but was disqualified to fourth for interference in the stretch.

Telling arrived at Churchill Downs on Sunday from Hawthorne and will fly out to Santa Anita on Monday for a run in the Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Turf (GI) on Nov. 7. Javier Castellano, who has been aboard for Telling’s past two starts, will have the call.

The Santa Anita trip will be the first for Hobby, a 53-year-old Illinois native.

“I have never run in California,” Hobby said. “Heck, I never had run in New York before this summer.”

SHE’S OUR ANNIE ON COMEBACK TRAIL FOR FIRES – When Destiny Oaks’ She’s Our Annie won the Prima Donna in stakes record-equaling time in March at Oaklawn Park, the sky appeared to be the limit.

   “After that race, we detected the start of a slab fracture and caught it before it materialized,” trainer Jinks Fires said. “Her next out was going to be going a mile at Oaklawn (in the Instant Racing Stakes). We gave her 90 days off and she has come back really good.”

A homebred daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, She’s Our Annie has won three of four career starts. She has turned in five works locally, four bullets, with the most recent being a six-furlong move in 1:13.40 on Tuesday.

She’s Our Annie is nominated to the one-mile Chilukki to be run Nov. 7.

“She is probably going to run in an overnight stake, but we have nominated to the Chilukki,” Fires said. “We had high hopes for her this spring and we still do.”

BARN TALK – Calvin Borel, who this spring became the first jockey since 1993 to win the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby in the same year, has been invited to participate in a jockey challenge in Japan from Dec. 2-7 according to his agent Jerry Hissam. Borel, who won the Oaks on Rachel Alexandra and the Derby on Mine That Bird, finished the spring meet with 61 victories, second only to Julien Leparoux’s 62.

   Jackson Bend, who swept the Florida Stallion series at Calder, arrived in trainer Nick Zito’s barn at Churchill Downs early Thursday morning according to Tara Murty, Zito’s assistant. Robert La Penta purchased a controlling interest in the 2-year-old colt, who has won five consecutive races with the most recent being the In Reality Stakes on Oct. 17.

General Quarters, the pride and joy of owner-trainer Tom McCarthy, is back on the track following his recovery from surgery to have a chip removed from his right front knee. “He had his first work back last week (:38.80 on Oct. 22) and he may go tomorrow if it doesn’t rain and the track is OK,” McCarthy said Thursday morning as General Quarters galloped by.     Winner of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) this spring at Keeneland, General Quarters ran 10th in the Kentucky Derby and ninth in the Preakness before going on the shelf. McCarthy had hoped to have General Quarters ready for a possible run in the Nov. 27 Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare (GII), “but every time we get ready to do something, it rains,” McCarthy said. “If he doesn’t make a race here, I’ll point to something at the Fair Grounds this winter.”

2010 CHURCHILL DOWNS WALL CALENDAR GIVEAWAY ON OPENING DAY – The first 5,000 fans in attendance on Sunday, Nov. 1 – opening day of the 2009 Fall Meet – will receive a free 2010 Churchill Downs Wall Calendar, sponsored by Humana. The colorful calendar features major event listings and vivid and memorable images from the Kentucky Derby and around the historic racetrack.

Opening day of the anticipated 21-day stand doubles as “Stars of Tomorrow I” with 11 live races entirely devoted to rising 2-year-old stars who have aspirations of trail-blazing their way to next year’s Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks (GI). The featured events are the open Iroquois and the fillies’ Pocahontas, a pair of Grade III, $100,000-added events run at one mile on the main track.

The day also will feature the debut a new free Sunday morning public workout program from 8-10 a.m. entitled “Daybreak at the Downs” and a special 2-year-old handicapping seminar and breakfast in the Paddock Pavilion from 9-11:30 a.m.
Admission gates will open at 11:30 a.m. and first post is 12:40 p.m. ET.
Churchill Downs 120th Fall Meet, featuring world-class horse racing, will continue for a four-week stand through Saturday, Nov. 28.

General admission is $3, but only $1 for senior citizens and members of the track’s free-to-join Twin Spires Club. Children 12 and under are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. Parking is free in the Longfield Avenue lot (Gates 10 & 12) and $3 in all other lots. Valet parking is $5.

For more information or to reserve seats, please call (502) 636-4400 or visit www.ChurchillDowns.com.

SPECIAL 2-YEAR-OLD HANDICAPPING SEMINAR SET ON OPENING DAY FROM 9-11:30 A.M. – Churchill Downs will host its annual “Stars of Tomorrow” 2-Year-Old Handicapping Seminar on Sunday, Nov. 1 in the Paddock Pavilion from 9-11:30 a.m.

Churchill Downs racing analyst Jill Byrne will host this year’s seminar with jockey Jon Court, trainer Ian Wilkes and workout clocker John Nichols. The quartet will provide insight on how to improve handicapping skills for 2-year-old racing and in-depth analysis of the entire “Stars of Tomorrow I” racing program with a question and answer session.

One of the most attractive aspects of the seminar is a special trip to the saddling paddock for an up-close inspection of a 2-year-old and its confirmation, behavior and equipment.

The cost to attend is $25 and includes breakfast buffet, official program, Brisnet.com past performances, and a reserved seat in Skye Terrace 5. There also will be a raffle for door prizes, including a VIP day at the races, two rounds of golf at Belterra Casino Resort & Spa, signed framed photographs of past Kentucky Derby winners and a chance to watch a race from the Churchill Downs announcer’s booth with track commentator Mark Johnson.

Call (502) 636-4400 for reservations.

“WHO’S THE CHAMP?” HANDICAPPING TOURNAMENT RETURNS SUNDAYS & WEDNESDAYS – Churchill Downs’ popular “Who’s the Champ” Handicapping Tournament will return for the 2009 Fall Meet with contests every Sunday and Wednesday through Nov. 22.

Horse racing fans can pit their handicapping skills against the best Louisville has to offer for twice-weekly cash prizes and an invitation to the Sunday, Nov. 22 final. The top two finishers in the final will win coveted berths in the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association Handicapping Championship XI scheduled for Jan. 29-30 at Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas.

Prize money for each contest, which requires participants to place mythical $2 Win and Place wagers in Races 3-9, totals $4,000, including a $1,400 first prize.

The top 25 unique participants in each contest through Wednesday, Nov. 18 will be invited to the Nov. 22 final.

The participation fee for each contest is $30 and includes complimentary lunch. It’s discounted to $25 for Twin Spires Club members. Registration will take place in the Champions Club Lounge on the second floor of the clubhouse from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on contest days. Additional contest seating will be available in the Churchill Downs Lounge when necessary.

NEW “DAYBREAK AT THE DOWNS” FREE EVERY SUNDAY FROM 8-10 A.M. – “Daybreak at the Downs” – patterned after Kentucky Derby week’s well-attended “Dawn at the Downs” – will make its debut on opening day, Sunday, Nov. 1, and take place every Sunday from 8-10 a.m. throughout the 2009 Fall Meet.
Churchill Downs’ racing analyst Jill Byrne will host the program with select special guests and she’ll describe the on-track action and provide insightful commentary as hundreds of horses prepare for their upcoming races in morning workouts.

“Daybreak at the Downs” is free to attend each Sunday. Complimentary coffee, donuts and milk will be served to attendees.

Interested patrons should park in the Longfield Lot and enter through Gate 10. The “Daybreak at the Downs” will be presented in Sections 116-117 of the clubhouse. Visitors are welcome to stay for a day at the races free of charge.

Veteran Kentucky-based trainer John E Churchman Jr, who saddled Kentucky Derby starters Fighting Fantasy and Wilder Than Ever in 1990 and ’91, respectively, passed away Tuesday night after a lengthy illness. He was 74.

Born June 4, 1935 in Louisville, Churchman began training horses in the mid-1960s and won a few hundred races and a handful of stakes races over four decades in the horse racing industry.

Fighting Fantasy, who entered the 1990 Kentucky Derby following a seven-length romp in the Grade III Thomas D. Nash Memorial Handicap at Sportsman’s Park, and Wilder Than Ever, third in the Grade II Jim Beam at Turfway Park the following year, both finished 15th in their respective Kentucky Derby appearances.

Both horses were owned by Ray Cottrell Sr., who would later form a successful partnership with trainer Ken McPeek. Churchman was Cottrell’s first trainer when the car salesman entered horse racing as an owner in 1984.

Churchman’s lone stakes victory at Churchill Downs came in the 1982 Debutante with his homebred 2-year-old filly Ice Fantasy.

One of Churchman’s favorite stable stars was Bravoure, who won the 1988 Cradle Stakes at River Downs. He considered the 2-year-old “probably as good a horse as I’ve ever been around.”

Churchman operated a small stable in recent years and his last victory was recorded on Jan. 28, 2008 at Turfway Park with maiden winner Storm Sight.

This spring, Churchman invited trainer Tom McCarthy to stable Blue Grass Stakes winner General Quarters with his limited string in Barn 37 at Churchill Downs.

Churchman is survived by wife Joyce. They had three sons – Gary (a farrier at Churchill Downs), Larry and Johnny.

Funeral services are scheduled for noon on Friday, Aug. 21 at Nunnelley Funeral Home, which is located at 4327 Taylor Blvd. in Louisville. Visitation is scheduled from 1-8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20, and 9 a.m. to noon on Friday, Aug. 21. Interment will follow the funeral and take place at Louisville Memorial Gardens West Cementary at 4400 Dixie Highway with Chaplain Ken Boehm presiding.

KENTUCKY OAKS WINNER RACHEL ALEXANDRA WORKS FOR NEW BARN – Possible Preakness candidate Rachel Alexandra, a record-smashing 20 ¼-length winner of the Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) tuned up for a possible bid for Saturday’s $1 million Preakness Stakes (GI) with an easy four-furlong work on Sunday at Churchill Downs.
    The 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, working for the first time for new trainer Steve Asmussen, covered the half-mile distance over a “fast” track in :48.40.  Exercise rider Dominic Terry was in the saddle as Rachel Alexandra turned out fractional times of :12.40 and :24.40 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.  The move ranked 13th  among 81 works at the distance.
    “I thought it went beautiful,” Asmussen said.  “I’m surprised the racetrack dried out so well considering they cancelled (races) two days ago.
    “She’s a beautiful filly.  I think she’s doing extremely well.  Every sight of her has been impressive and I’m just very happy to get this light move in this morning under very good conditions.”
    Rachel Alexandra was transferred from the care of trainer Hal Wiggins to Asmussen when the filly was purchased for an undisclosed price early last week by Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Farm and Harold McCormick.   Jackson had indicated that the filly would be made a supplemental entry to the Preakness, the second jewel of the Triple Crown, if she continued to do well in her new barn.  But Asmussen said on Sunday that a decision on Rachel Alexandra’s Preakenss bid had yet to be made.  
    “That’s Mr. Jackson’s discretion – whatever timetable he wants to be on,” said Asmussen.  “We’re just very fortunate to have her in our care and we’ll just communicate what we think we’re seeing.”
    Asmussen won the Preakness in 2007 with eventual “Horse of the Year” and 3-year-old champion Curlin, who rallied to edge Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Street Sense in that race.  He declined to speculate where Rachel Alexandra fits among the males being toward Saturday’s race at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course.
    “I think it’s like all races – you only worry about what you can take care of,” he said.  “The filly has proven what a tremendous mare she is.  Mr. Wiggins has done a remarkable job with an amazing filly and we’re just very fortunate to be around her.”
    Rachel Alexandra’s win in the Kentucky Oaks was her fifth consecutive victory – all in stakes competition – and lifted her career earnings to $958,354.  Her career record stands at 7-2-0 in 10 races.

UNBEATEN HULL ZIPS FIVE FURLONGS IN PREAKNESS DRILL – Unbeaten Derby Trial (GIII) winner Hull tuned up for a possible run in the Preakness with a sharp five furlong work over a “fast” track on Sunday at Churchill Downs.
    Heiligbrodt Racing Stable, Team Valor International and Gary Barber’s 3-year-old son of 1994 “Horse of the Year” Holy Bull covered the distance in :59.40.  Jockey Miguel Mena was aboard for the “bullet” move that was the best of 35 at the distance.
    The Dale Romans-trained colt covered the distance in fractions of :23.20 and :35.20 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.80.
“He worked really good – I had him in :59-flat,” Romans said.  “It looked like he was doing it easy.”
    Romans said there’s no final decision at this point on whether Hull will run in Saturday’s second jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico.  He said the status of Kentucky Oaks winner Rachel Alexandra, who could be made a supplemental entry to the race, would be part of the discussion.
    “It makes it a tougher decision to go,” Romans said.  “We’re going to sit down and talk about it on Tuesday and see if we want to go up there and run against her.  Right now, I think we’re still gonna go, but we’ll see what happens.  She changes the dynamics of the whole race.”
    Hull figures to be prominent from the start if he runs in the Preakness, but Romans said Rachel Alexandra would figure to be close by at all points of the race.
    “She’s true speed that keeps on going,” he said.  “She’s real quality.  I don’t know it’s going to be for a filly to come back in two weeks – I think it’s harder for the fillies than it is for the colts.  But I’m sure if Steve (Asmussen) takes her over there, then she’s ready to go.”
    Romans had high hopes for Hull going into his stakes debut in the Derby Trial on April 25, which is run at Churchill Downs’ one-turn mile distance.   He was impressed by the colt’s effort in that four-length win and that’s why the 1 3/16-mile Preakness is being considered so strongly.
    “We knew he was good, but when you’re stepping up into stakes company for the first time there’s still some unknowns,” said Romans.  “But he proved he can run with anybody, because that was a solid field of horses.”

TERRAIN WORKS IN COMPANY FOR PREAKNESS  – Adele Dilschneider’s Terrain tuned up for a probable run in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes by working five furlongs in company with Map of the World in 1:02.60, 19th fastest of 35 at the distance.
With jockey Jamie Theriot up, Terrain broke off about two lengths behind Map of the World with Julien Leparoux up. Terrain drew even at the eighth pole and finished on even terms.
     “I had worked a few horses earlier in the morning and the track was fast. I didn’t want any lights out work,” trainer Al Stall Jr. said. “He is ready to run. He got dialed in today. I told Jamie just to sit behind him and when he chirped to him, he was right on him and they finished heads up. Jamie was happy with him.”
    Stall has not named a rider for Terrain for the Preakness.
    The work was the third for Terrain since his fourth-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (Grade I) on April 11. He had worked in :47.60 in company for a half-mile on April 24 at Keeneland and then turned in a :50.40 half while working solo on May 3, also at Keeneland.

GENERAL QUARTERS TO BREEZE ON MONDAY MORNING – With exercise rider Justin Court up, General Quarters galloped a mile and a half before the renovation break.
Owner/trainer Tom McCarthy plans to work the 10th-place Kentucky Derby finisher an easy half-mile Monday morning before the break with Court up.
“I just want to give him a little bit of a maintenance move,” McCarthy said. “I will breeze him a slow half, just something to take the edge off.”
General Quarters, winner of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (Grade I), is scheduled to leave early Tuesday morning by van to Pimlico for the Preakness.

BAFFERT GETS HIS DERBY … A WEEK LATE – “I got my Derby,” a smiling Bob Baffert said Sunday morning upon his return to Churchill Downs after a successful foray to Texas where Peachtree Stable’s Mythical Power won Saturday’s Lone Star Derby (Grade III) by 7 ½ lengths.
The Derby that eluded Baffert the week before was, of course, Kentucky Derby 135 in which his Pioneerof the Nile finished second to Mine That Bird.
With exercise rider George Alvarez up, Pioneerof the Nile galloped a mile and a half after the renovation break.
“It was great to gallop on a fast track,” Baffert said.
Pioneerof the Nile is scheduled to work Monday morning, most likely after the renovation break. Joe Steiner, who handled Pioneerof the Nile’s two pre-Derby works here, is flying in to Louisville on Sunday night and is slated to be aboard in the morning.

BOOKEND DERBY FINISHERS GALLOP EARLY SUNDAY -- Galloped Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and 19th-place finisher Flying Private both galloped before the renovation break Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.
Mine That Bird, owned by Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine, galloped a little more than two miles with exercise rider Charlie Figueroa up.
    “He’s doing super, as good as ever,” said Figueroa, who has been the regular morning exercise partner for Mine That Bird since arriving in Kentucky on April 21. “I know he hasn’t backed off. There is no regression at all.”
    Trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr. was pleased to see the first “fast” track in the morning since Wednesday.
    “I can’t believe how fast they can get it good here,” Woolley said of a track that went from “muddy” during the latter part of training hours Saturday to “fast” fewer than four hours later.
    Mine That Bird is scheduled to train here the next two mornings and leave for Pimlico around mid-morning on Tuesday.
    Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said that Flying Private, owned by Robert Baker and William Mack, would not train here Tuesday because of an early departure time by van for Pimlico.

BARN TALK – Stone Legacy, runner-up to Rachel Alexandra in the Kentucky Oaks, worked a half-mile in :49.20 after the renovation break. The move was the 27th fastest of 81. The D. Wayne Lukas trainee leaves Tuesday for Pimlico where she is scheduled to run in Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan (Grade II).
    Trainer Tom Amoss notched Churchill Downs career victory No. 299 in Saturday’s ninth race with a triumph by Double Espresso. Eight trainers have reached the 300-win plateau, led by Bill Mott’s 615. Amoss has three chances on Sunday’s card to join the club: Best Buddy in the second, I Know It’s True in the fourth and Mining for Silver in the eighth.

The “$64,000 question” for trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley is who will ride Kentucky Derby (Grade I) winner Mine That Bird in next Saturday’s Preakness (GI) at Pimlico.
    “Calvin Borel will be on the (entry) card,” Woolley said Saturday morning at Churchill Downs. “I do have a backup, but I am not ready to release it.”
    On Friday, Borel agreed to ride Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) winner Rachel Alexandra for the rest of the season and the filly is being considered as a possible supplemental entry into the Preakness, which would leave Woolley looking for a rider in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
    With a sloppy track greeting Mine That Bird for a third consecutive morning, Woolley altered the morning exercise program for the Derby winner from two trips around the track to a back-track to the paddock runway followed by a once-around gallop with exercise rider Charlie Figueroa up.
    “The track was a little chewed up yesterday, a little heavy,” Woolley said.
    Heavy rain Friday afternoon forced cancellation of the final five races on the 10-race card and left the track “off” Saturday morning.
    Woolley also said Saturday morning that if Mine That Bird ran well enough at Pimlico to merit a trip to the Belmont Stakes (Grade I) on June 6, he would bring the Birdstone gelding back to Churchill Downs.
    “That’s the plan, to come back here if he runs well,” Woolley said. “The horse likes it here and gets over the ground well.”
    Woolley said he would stay here with the horse and not make a quick trip back to his home base in New Mexico while Mine That Bird preps for the Belmont.

WORKS BY PREAKNESS CANDIDATES TERRAIN, HULL POSTPONED – Adele Dilschneider’s Terrain galloped a mile and a half before the renovation break under exercise rider Jimmy Valdez as trainer Al Stall Jr. opted to wait a day to work the fourth-place finisher in the Toyota Blue Grass (Grade I).
    “The track should be fine tomorrow at 8:30 and after a day of racing,” Stall said. “Either Jamie (Theriot) or Julien (Leparoux) will work him.”
    Stall has not confirmed a rider for the Preakness.
           Trainer Dale Romans moved a scheduled five-furlong work for Derby Trial (Grade III) winner Hull to Sunday morning because of track conditions.
    “He galloped today and will work tomorrow,” Romans said of the undefeated colt, who is owned by Heiligbrodt Racing Stable, Team Valor International and Gary Barber.  Jockey Miguel Mena is slated to be aboard for the work
    Romans said he would “decide probably by Tuesday” whether Hull goes to Baltimore or waits for the June 6 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park.

LUKAS NAMES GARCIA TO RIDE FLYING PRIVATE – With exercise rider Taylor Carty up, Robert Baker and William Mack’s Flying Private galloped in the first set that trainer D. Wayne Lukas brought to the track.
    Lukas confirmed that Alan Garcia would have the mount on Flying Private, who finished 19th in Kentucky Derby 135. It will mark Garcia’s second Preakness starter, having finished seventh on Mint Slewlep in 2007 behind Curlin.

GENERAL QUARTERS HAS EVENTFUL MORNING – It was an eventful return to the track on Saturday for Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) winner General Quarters. .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Just before completing his mile and a half morning exercise under Justin Court, a horse dropped a rider between and six- and five-furlong poles and ran loose toward the mile chute.
    “He (General Quarters) had to check a little bit when he came around the turn,” owner/trainer Tom McCarthy said. “You never know what they (loose horses) are going to do. If he had gone to the seven-eighths (pole), we’d have been in trouble.”
     McCarthy kept his colt in the barn on Friday because of track conditions.
    “It was still deep, muddy this morning,” McCarthy said. “He went well over it, but racing in it is a little different.”
    McCarthy plans to ship General Quarters by van to Pimlico on Tuesday.
    “I have never been there,” he said. “I am eager to get over there and see it.”

RACHEL ALEXANDRA, PIONEEROF THE NILE GALLOP; PAPA CLEM HEADS EAST  -- Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick’s Rachel Alexandra galloped once around a sloppy racetrack with exercise rider Dominic Terry up before 6:30 on Saturday morning for trainer Steve Asmussen.
    The Kentucky Oaks winner, who would have to be supplemented to next Saturday’s Preakness Stakes (Grade I), would be ridden by Calvin Borel if she starts.
    The Borel-Asmussen tandem would be seeking their first win together since July 6, 2007, when Borel rode Wundelia to victory at Churchill Downs.
    Rachel Alexandra is scheduled to work Sunday or Monday.
           A couple of hours after Rachel Alexandra was on the track, Zayat Stables’ Pioneerof the Nile galloped a mile and a half.
 “He couldn’t be doing any better,” exercise rider George Alvarez reported after the exercise over a track designated as “muddy” after the morning renovation break.
    Trainer Bob Baffert, who was saddling two starters in Saturday’s Lone Star Derby (Grade III) in Texas, is expected to return to Louisville on Saturday night.
    Pioneerof the Nile may work Monday and is scheduled to ship to Pimlico on Wednesday.
    Bo Hirsch’s Papa Clem completed the Churchill Downs phase of his Preakness training early Saturday morning by galloping a mile and a half under exercise rider Mundo Gonzalez.
    The Gary Stute trainee left Churchill Downs at 10:30 a.m. by van for Pimlico.

BARN TALK – Nominations close today for the May 23 Louisville Handicap and the May 25 Winning Colors, both Grade III events and $100,000-added. The Louisville Handicap is run at a mile and a half on the Matt Winn Turf Course and the Winning Colors is for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going six furlongs on the main track.
    Fred Bradley’s Grade I-winning veteran Brass Hat worked five furlongs over a “muddy” main track in :59.60 after the renovation break with Calvin Borel up.
    “I got him from the three-quarter pole in 1:13 and 1,” trainer William “Buff” Bradley said of the move that is in preparation for the $100,000-added Louisville Handicap (GIII) on May 23. “He’s ready.”
    The 8-year-old Brass Hat, earner of more than $1.8 million, finished third in his most recent start the Fifth Third Elkhorn (Grade II) on April 24 at Keeneland.
    Jockey Julien Leparoux entered Saturday’s card with 996 career victories. He had five mounts on the card.
    Leparoux, who rode his first winner on Aug. 18, 2005 at Saratoga, has won 53 graded stakes in his brief career and amassed earnings of $43,408,121.