D.Wayne Lukas

GRADE I WINNER DUBLIN MAKES RETURN IN ALLOWANCE ON SATURDAY – Robert Baker and William Mack’s Dublin will make his long awaited return to competition for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas in a 6 ½-furlong allowance race on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

It will be the first start for the 4-year-old son of Afleet Alex since finishing fifth in the 2010 edition of the Grade I Preakness to eventual 3-year-old champion Lookin At Lucky.

Dublin, winner of the Grade I Hopeful at Saratoga in 2009, was taken out of training following the second jewel of the Triple Crown to have a chip removed from his ankle, but Lukas said the colt is fully recovered from the injury.

“Dr. (Larry) Bramlage removed the chip from his ankle and also noticed another spot on his cannon bone,” Lukas said. “He (Dr. Bramlage) told us to give the horse as much time off as possible, so we gave him the rest of the year off.”

A $525,000 Keeneland September Yearling purchase, Dublin returned to the racetrack in January and began training at Oaklawn Park prior to coming to Churchill Downs at the beginning of the spring meet. The Kentucky-bred has been quite impressive in the mornings over the historic track and has recorded four “bullet” works since May 14, including a four-furlong breeze on May 28 in :46.80, which was the fastest of 69 workers at the distance that morning.

“He’s doing really well and has worked great over the track,” Lukas said.  “He’s also been leaving the gate really well. He used to have some trouble out of the gate, but that’s all gone now.”

Dublin, who was seventh in the 2010 Grade I Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands to WinStar Farm’s Super Saver, will be making his fourth start at Churchill Downs and is still searching for his first victory beneath the Twin Spires. Lukas hopes for success on Saturday and that Dublin will return to race at the Louisville track at least once more this fall.

“I don’t think he’s a 6 ½-furlong rocket by any means, but I do think this will give him something to build on and he’ll go on to something bigger,” Lukas said. “The ultimate goal is the (Breeders’ Cup) Dirt Mile in the fall. That’s where we would like to end up.

“This race isn’t a ‘make or break’ deal; it’s just something to get him started,” Lukas said.

Another starter from the 2010 Kentucky Derby is also in the field. Vinery Stables LLC and Mrs. Susan Roy’s Awesome Act, winner of the Grade III Gotham at Aqueduct in March of 2010, will look to right the ship after a disappointing fifth-place finish as the even-money favorite in a 1 1/16-mile allowance at Churchill Downs on June 12. A 4-year-old ridgling by Awesome Again, Awesome Act finished 19^th in the 136^th running of the Kentucky Derby and went to the sidelines with an injury after the race.

Also in the field is Mimicry Partnership’s Grand Traverse, a stakes winning earner of $361,499. An 8-year-old gelded son of Pioneering, Grand Traverse was most recently second beaten a nose in a $50,000 claiming event at five furlongs on a sloppy main track at Churchill Downs on May 15 for trainer Tim Glyshaw.

The allowance optional claiming event is scheduled to be run as Race 11 of 13 with a post time of 5:55 p.m. EDT. Neither Dublin nor Awesome Act are entered for a tag; however, Grand Traverse will have a claiming price of $62,500.

NICKS SENDING TWO TO FIRECRACKER, SEEKING FIRST CD STAKES WIN – Last Saturday veteran trainer Garry Simms recorded his first Churchill Downs stakes victory with Barry King’s Flashy Lassie in Churchill Downs’ Debutante (GIII). Now Ralph Nicks, another trainer based at the Louisville track, will attempt to follow Simms’ lead and collect his first stakes win beneath the Twin Spires in Monday’s 21^st running of the $175,000-added Firecracker Handicap (GII) Presented by GE.

The 44-year-old native of Avery, Texas will saddle El Caballo for James Spence and Joshua Reynolds for Dr. John Chandler. Both horses were assigned to carry 114 pounds in the one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up by Racing Secretary Ben Huffman.

El Caballo, a 7-year-old son of El Corredor, will enter the Firecracker off a 10^th place finish in the $500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap Presented by Abu Dhabi (GI) on June 11. It will be the first start on the turf for El Caballo since running sixth in the Grade II Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Memorial Handicap at Fair Grounds on March 27, 2010; however, Nicks does not expect the change of surface to be an issue.

"He can run on both surfaces and he’s always run well on the grass,” Nicks said.

The biggest victory of El Caballo’s career came on turf in the Grade III Colonel E. R. Bradley Handicap at Fair Grounds last January. His career record stands at 7-5-0 from 18 starts; including three wins from seven starts on the turf and two victories over the Matt Winn Turf Course.

Joshua Reynolds, a 4-year-old son of Royal Academy, will enter the Firecracker with a three-race win streak and most recently took a 1 1/16-mile allowance at Keeneland on April 13 at odds of 22-1.

“He keeps improving and he’s shown a lot of promise his whole life,” Nicks said. “It’s a big step, but it seems like the right time to make it. It’ll be a good measuring stick of where he needs to go from here.”

Joshua Reynolds has raced exclusively on turf and has a career record of 3-1-0 from seven starts with earnings of $81,185. His record includes one start over the Matt Winn Turf Course, which was his career debut and he finished fourth.

The field for the Firecracker Handicap in post position order from the rail out (with jockey, weight), includes: General Quarters (Jamie Theriot, 119), Omniscient (Manoel Cruz, 113), Mister Marti Gras (Shaun Bridgmohan, 115), El Caballo (Corey Lanerie, 114), Mystic (Jesus Castanon, 114), Joshua Reynolds (Brian Hernandez Jr., 114), Baryshnikov (Julien Leparoux, 117), Plutonium (James Lopez, 112), Strike Impact (Robby Albarado, 117), Wise Dan (Jon Court, 115) and Lubash (Kent Desormeaux, 115).

STRIKE IMPACT ‘NEVER LOOKED BETTER,’ READY FOR FIRECRACKER BID – Tom McCarthy’s General Quarters, who for most of his career has been part of a one-horse will not be the only horse representing the hopes of a small operation in Monday’s  Firecracker Handicap Presented by GE (GII).  Trainer and co-owner Pat Dupuy’s Strike Impact will also carry that distinction in Monday’s Grade II, $175,000 event, which is the featured 10^th Race on closing day of the 38-day Spring Meet.

General Quarters is one of two horses in the McCarthy stable; however, Strike Impact, a 7-year-old gelded son of Smart Strike, is the lone horse in the barn of the 53-year-old Dupuy, who began training in 1978. Co-owned with Dupuy by Chester Miller, Strike Impact will enter the Firecracker off back-to-back victories in allowance races over the Matt Winn Turf Course this spring.

“He’s had five weeks off, he’s training well and he’s never looked better than he does right now,” said Dupuy, who is the husband of Jennie Rees, turf writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Strike Impact will seek his first stakes victory in the Firecracker, as will Dupuy, who had his first stakes starter in last year’s Claiming Crown Jewel, where Strike Impact finished third. Earlier this year, Strike Impact made his graded stakes debut in the Grade III Shakertown at Keeneland and finished fifth to Melnyk Racing Stables Inc.’s Stratford Hill.

“After Robby (Albarado) rode him at Keeneland, he told me that he belonged with those horses,” Dupuy said. “I know it’s a big step up, but he has a lot of try in him and it’s going to take a good horse to beat him.”

Strike Impact has won 16 races during a career that began in October of 2006 and four of those wins have come over the Matt Winn Turf Course.

“He really loves this course,” Dupuy said. “He’s won four times out of six races and was second once to a really nice horse (Inca King).” Inca King is a graded-stakes winner with $829,646 in career earnings. His biggest win came in the Grade II Jefferson Cup at Churchill Downs in 2007.

Strike Impact has a career record of 16-5-8 from 54 starts and earnings of $465,860. He will break from post position nine in the field of 11 for the Firecracker.

BARN TALK – A Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge Qualifying Tournament will take place at Churchill Downs on Sunday, July 3. Registration will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Champions Club Lounge. The entry fee is $100 per entry and the tournament is limited to 400 entries with a limit of three per person. The winner will receive entry to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge ($10,000 value) at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4-5, 2011. Consolation prize money will be paid to the top eighth finishers.

Mike Tarp’s Tarpy’s Goal will not run in Saturday’s Bashford Manor in favor of the Grade II Futurity at Belmont Park on Sunday. “When you look at the two sets of past performances, it was really a no brainer to ship up there,” trainer Dale Romans said. …

The field for the 110^th running of the Bashford Manor from the rail out with jockey and weight includes Laurie’s Rocket (Brian Hernandez Jr., 116), Lil Cherokee (Miguel Mena, 120), Power World (Corey Lanerie, 118), Exfactor (Calvin Borel, 118), Chalybeate Springs (Jesus Castanon, 116), Bonaparte (Jon Court, 118), Sum of the Parts (Leandron Goncalves, 118), Hot Speed (Robby Albarado, 120), Tarpy’s Goal (Kent Desormeaux, 118), Green Mouse (Manoel Cruz, 118) and Friscan (Shaun Bridgmohan, 118). …

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

WHO’S HOT – The hottest jockey over the last five racing days (June 19-30) is Julien Leparoux (14-for-37). Eddie Kenneally (5-for-12) and Mike Maker (4-for-8) are the hottest trainers over the same period. Windmill Manor Farm (2-for-3), Kenneth L. and Sarah K. Ramsey (2-for-5) and Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc. (2-for-10) are the hottest owners.

WEATHER – Friday: mostly sunny, 89. Saturday: mostly sunny and hot, 95. Sunday: partly sunny with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 92. Monday: partly sunny with a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 89. Tuesday: mostly sunny, 90. Wednesday: mostly sunny with a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 92. Thursday: partly sunny with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 89.

STEP ONE OF MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, CASSE AIMS FOR BREEDERS’ CUP CLASSIC WITH FOSTER WINNER POOL PLAY – Mark Casse’s decision to run William Farish Jr.’s Pool Play in Saturday’s 30^th running of the $500,000-added Stephen Foster Handicap Presented by Abu Dhabi (Grade I) was not a wild stab or a whim, as racing fans across the country discovered when the 6-year-old son of Silver Deputy stormed through the stretch to edge Mission Impazible by a neck at 36-1 odds.

A three-time winner of the Sovereign Award that annually honors Canada’s top trainer, Casse sent Pool Play to the Foster with a specific mission: to determine if the distance-loving horse, after 27 races on synthetic and turf courses, would fare on a dirt course.  If he ran as well over the Churchill Downs dirt as Casse hoped, step two would be a bid for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) at the Louisville track on Nov. 5.

Pool Play handled Saturday’s initial test with aplomb when he posted the third-largest upset in the three-decade history of the Stephen Foster.  On Sunday, Casse was working up a plan to get him to the next step.

“It’s nice when things work, when you have a plan and it works,” Casse said on the morning after his most important win at Churchill Downs.  “I understood him being that big a price.  Here’s a horse running against some of the best older horses and they all had proven form on the dirt.  Well, here we had a horse who had never ran on it, so could understand.”

Along with watching Pool Play blossom from an unknown factor to Breeders’ Cup Classic contender in the Foster, the Stephen Fsoter upset was special to Casse for personal reasons.  The Indianapolis native spent his early years as a trainer beneath the historic Twin Spires, and has a 1988 Spring Meet training title so show for it.

"It was a real proud moment for a lot of reasons,” Casse said. “One is when you do something that’s a little unorthodox, that’s always nice.  And Churchill is where I started.  Churchill is special and always has been.  To win a race like that at Churchill Downs means a lot.”

Casse believed that the Breeders’ Cup Classic’s 1 ¼-mile distance fits Pool Play perfectly, but the horse’s dirt prowess was a question mark.  If Pool Play would handle any dirt course, Casse felt it would be the one-mile main track at Churchill Downs. Casse believes the course is extraordinarily kind to horses that run well on turf and synthetic courses.  While Pool Play’s home base at Toronto’s Woodbine is a synthetic Polytrack surface, Casse sees difference in Woodbine’s manufactured footing and Mother Nature’s dirt at Churchill.

“I was out there (on the Churchill dirt) this morning watching horses train and you can see they get into the ground only about two inches, at most,” Casse said.  “If you walk across Churchill Downs and you walk across Woodbine’s racetrack, that’s how much they penetrate the surface.  It’s almost identical.”

It’s Casse’s opinion that the clay that is an important part of the make-up of Churchill Downs’ sandy loam surface is the key ingredient that makes the Louisville surface is comfortable to horses that do their best running on synthetic or turf courses, or possess pedigrees that point toward those surfaces.

Whatever the case, Casse’s plan worked well for Pool Play in the Stephen Foster.  Now he’s looking to formulate a plant over the coming weeks that will get his veteran back to Churchill Downs and ready to offer his best effort against an expected international field the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“We’ve been planning to go to Saratoga with a string, so what I think I’ll do is take him to Saratoga and see how he trains over the dirt,” Casse said.  “Just because you like the dirt at Churchill Downs doesn’t mean you’re going to like it at Saratoga.  We’ll train him there and if he trains all right we’ll think about the Whitney (GI on Aug. 6 at Saratoga).  Our number one goal will be the Breeders’ Cup.  How we get there is kind of secondary, really.  So everything we do from now on will be that kind of plan.  I wouldn’t even be shocked if he ran on the grass again.”

The $327,127 winner’s share of the Stephen Foster purse boosted Pool Play’s career earnings to $909,556 with a record of 6-6-5 from 28 starts.  His only other graded stakes win came in the 2009 Durham Cup (GIII) on Polytrack at Woodbine. In his previous start, Pool Play finished second on turf in the Grade II Elkhorn at Keeneland, where he was beaten by 1 ¼ lengths by Musketier-GER.

So Pool Play’s victory is clearly the high point of the career of his racing career to date, but all that could change on Nov. 5 when, if all has gone well, Casse’s horse gets a chance to shine again on the Churchill Downs dirt in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“What I’m trying to do is get there with a happy horse in the fall,” Casse said.  “He showed what we needed him to show yesterday, and that is that he belongs.  I’ve said all the along the mile and a quarter will be right up his alley.  So he may go to Toronto and run on the grass, he may run in the Whitney – I’m not sure yet.  Obviously you always like to win, but our number one goal is to be the best he can be on Breeders’ Cup Day.”

STEPHEN FOSTER DAY UNDERCARD WINNERS EXIT RACES IN GOOD ORDER – Stephen Foster Day Presented by Abu Dhabi was highlighted by the Grade I Stephen Foster, but also featured four other exciting graded stakes races, including the first Arabian horserace in the history of Churchill Downs. The winners of the three undercard stakes for Thoroughbreds all came out of their respective races in good order and their connections are looking forward to the rest of their 2011 campaigns.

Glen Hill Farm’s Banned captured the Grade III Jefferson Cup Presented by Abu Dhabi to complete the American Turf – Jefferson Cup double and improve his record to 4-0-1 from seven starts with earnings of $299,076. “He came out of the race good and we’re ready to rock and roll,” trainer Tom Proctor said. “We’re going to the Virginia Derby (Grade II at Colonial Downs on July 16).”

The two other graded stakes races for Thoroughbreds were won by horses from the Ken McPeek barn; giving the 48-year-old trainer wins in five consecutive graded stakes races he has entered at Churchill Downs. Peter Callahan’s Scotus notched McPeek’s first graded stakes winner of the afternoon in the Grade III Matt Winn Presented by Emirates Equestrian Federation. A 3-year-old son of Successful Appeal made a successful stakes debut in the Matt Winn and improved his record to 2-1-2 from five starts with earnings of $121,054.

“He (Scotus) is doing fine,” assistant trainer Philip Bauer said. “He ate all his feed and walked well this morning. We aren’t sure where we will go with him from here. There are a lot of different options and, at this time, no decision has been made.”

The other graded stakes winner for McPeek came with Catesby Clay’s Bizzy Caroline in the Grade III Regret Presented by Etihad Airways. The victory, which gave Bizzy Caroline, a 3-year-old daughter of Afleet Alex, her third win in a row and first stakes triumph, improved her record to 3-0-1 from six starts with earnings of $148,497.

“No decision has been made for Bizzy Caroline either,” Bauer said. “She came out of the race well. She shipped back to Keeneland with Sassy’s Dream and she’ll be trained there for her next start.”

Livin the Dream Racing 2009, LLC’s Sassy’s Dream, a 3-year-old daughter of Flower Alley, won the fourth race Saturday for McPeek under Alan Garcia.

MCPEEK’S CHURCHILL STAKES STREAK CONTINUES, BUT DONE FOR SPRING – While Stephen Foster Day Presented by Abu Dhabi was notable for the upset by 36-1 shot Pool Play in the day’s main event; the win by T M Fred Texas in the first race for Arabians in the 137-year history of Churchill Downs and another dazzling run by Glen Hill Farm’s rising 3-year-old turf star Banned, the big day cannot be discussed seriously without the mention of the continuation of trainer Ken McPeek’s remarkable stakes streak.

The Lexington native secured two stakes wins to extend his streak of graded stakes wins at the historic track to five.  Numbers four and five in the streak were wins by Peter J. Callahan’s Scotus in the Matt Winn (GIII) for 3-year-olds and Catesby W. Clay’s Bizzy Caroline in the Regret (GIII) for 3-year-old fillies on turf.

Previous winners in the streak were Noble’s Promise in the Aristides (GIII) for older horses at six furlongs, Salty Strike in the Dogwood (GIII) for 3-year-old fillies at a mile, and My Baby Baby in last week’s Early Times Mint Julep (GIII) for older fillies and mares on turf.

“I’m proud of it, but we’re not going to dwell on it,” McPeek by telephone from Lexington when asked about the streak on Sunday.  “We’re going to keep going.”

McPeek clearly appreciates the unusual string of good fortune in stakes competition and is quick to credit his team for its work in getting those horses into the winner’s circle in those races.   But McPeek also believes it was past time for his stable to enjoy a good run.

"The truth is that we were very due,” McPeek said.  “Over the last year or year and a half, we had a rash of seconds and thirds in so many nice races – Breeders’ Cup races and Derby preps.  It just seemed like every time we were second, third, second, third.  We were hitting, numbers wise, in our normal percentages in-the-money, but we weren’t winning.  We were just due, and they came in a flourish.”

After his latest win by Bizzy Caroline, McPeek’s Churchill Downs stakes run appears to have ended until the Oct. 30-Nov. 27 Fall Meet.  He has no candidates for the three races that close out the Spring Meet stakes schedule: the $100,000 Bashford Manor (GIII) for 2-year-olds, the $100,000 Debutante (GIII) for 2-year-old fillies and the $175,000 Firecracker (GII) for older horses at a mile on turf.

As special as a string of five consecutive stakes wins with horses hailing from five different divisions of competition is, McPeek takes and extra measure of satisfaction in the fact that all of those winners are pure products of his operation.

“What I’m most proud of is that we developed them all from scratch,” McPeek said. “They all started in our system as yearlings – every one of them.  That’s what I do.”

BARN TALK – Jockey Robby Albarado, who has 922 career wins at Churchill Downs, is just three victories away from tying Hall of Famer Don Brumfield for third all-time in wins beneath the Twin Spires. Albarado has six mounts Sunday (Races 4-7, 9-10). …

With two wins on Saturday’s Stephen Foster Day Presented by Abu Dhabi card and 11 wins in the last week, jockey Julien Leparoux, who has won seven riding titles beneath the Twin Spires, is quickly closing the gap between him and leading rider Corey Lanerie. Leparoux will enter Sunday’s 10-race program with 34 victories, three behind Lanerie. …

Nominations for the final two graded stakes races of the 39-day Spring Meet at Churchill Downs closed Saturday. The nominations for the Grade III, $100,000-added Bashford Manor to be run July 2 and the Grade II, $175,000-added Firecracker Handicap to be run July 4 will be announced Sunday. …

Sunday’s 10-race program will feature a Pick 6 carryover of $19,254 and a Super High 5 carryover of $13,407. The Pick 6 will begin with Race 5 at 2:51 p.m. EDT and the Super High 5 will take place on Race 10 at 5:25 p.m. …

WHO’S HOT – The hottest jockeys over the last five racing days (June 11-18) are Julien Leparoux (11-for-22) and Manny Cruz (9-for-34). Ken McPeek (4-for-9) and Tom Amoss (3-for-8) are the hottest trainers over the same period. No owner has won more than one race during the past week.

WORKTAB – Robert Baker and William Mack’s Dublin worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 on a fast main track at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning for trainer D. Wayne Lukas in preparation for his return to competition in the $76,600-added Kelly’s Landing overnight stakes on Friday’s “Downs After Dark” program.   Dublin, a 4-year-old son of Afleet Alex who won Saratoga’s Hopeful (GI) at two, has not raced since a fifth-place finish in the 2010 Preakness (GI).

Dublin drew the rail in a strong field of eight for the seven furlong race that also attracted Forego (GI) winner and defending Kelly’s Landing winner Here Comes Ben; Captain Cherokee, the runner-up in the Portero Grande (GII), San Carlos (GII) and Palos Verde GII) at Santa Anita; and Cool Bullet, runner-up to Churchill Downs (GII) winner Aikenite in Keeneland’s Commonwealth (GII).

WEATHER – Sunday: partly sunny with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 86. Monday: partly sunny and hot with a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 95. Tuesday: mostly sunny and hot with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 95. Wednesday: mostly cloudy with a 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 88. Thursday: partly sunny with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, 84. Friday: partly sunny, 83. Saturday: mostly sunny, 85.    

Mine That Bird, winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I), and Haynesfield, upset winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup (GI) last time out, tuned up for runs in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships with workouts on Sunday at Churchill Downs.

Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Serte Equine’s Mine That Bird breezed five furlongs in 1:01.20 for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.  The move by the 4-year-old Birdstone gelding was the sixth-fastest of 25 at the distance over a “fast” track.  Lukas is pointing Mine That Bird, who has failed to win eight races since his victory at odds of 50-1 in Kentucky Derby 135, toward a possible run in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (GI) on Saturday, Nov. 6.

Haynesfield, a winner of three of four races in 2010 and bound for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) for Turtle Bird Stable, covered five-eighths of a mile in 1:02.20.  The New York-bred son of Speightstown, who also won the Suburban (GII) at Belmont Park for trainer Steve Asmussen, finished well as Churchill Downs clockers recorded his final quarter-mile in :23.80.  The move by Haynesfield ranked as the 13th fastest of 25 works at the distance.

Other Breeders’ Cup contenders that turned in Sunday training moves at Churchill Downs included $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint (GI) hopes Secret Gypsy, owned by Richland Hills Stable and John Kuehl, and C R K Stable’s Switch.  The seven-furlong Filly and Mare Sprint will be run at Churchill Downs on Friday, Nov. 5.

The John Sadler-trained Switch sizzled in a “bullet” half-mile work in :47 that was the fastest of 40 moves at the distance.  Switch covered the distance in fractional times of :11:80, :23 and :34.80 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.60.  Switch was runner-up to unbeaten defending Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta in the recent Lady’s Secret (GI) and defeated Kentucky Oaks (GI) winner Blind Luck in the Hollywood Oaks (GII).

Trainer Ronny Werner’s Secret Gypsy breezed four furlongs in :47.80, which was the third-fastest move at the distance.  The winner of Saratoga’s Honorable Milss (GII) and the Endine (GIII) at Delaware Park covered her first quarter in :24.30 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.60.

Team Valor’s Pluck, who earned a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (GI) with a victory in the Summer Stakes (GIII) at Canada’s Woodbine, worked five furlongs in 1:02.20.

Saturday workers at Churchill Downs included Oak Leaf (GI) runner-up and Del Mar Debutante (GI) winner Tell A Kelly, who breezed four furlongs in :48.60 under jockey Calvin Borel.  Owned by and trained by Sadler, the daughter of Tapit is a contender for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI).

Other horses of note on the Sunday, Oct. 17 work tab included Hurricane Ike, winner of The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial (GIII), who breezed five furlongs in :59 – the fastest of 25 moves at the distance; WinStar Farm’s Rule, who breezed three furlongs in :37.20; Exhi, who breezed five furlongs in 1:0l; Dubious Miss, who breezed six furlongs in a “bullet” 1:14.80.

MINE THAT BIRD ZIPS IN WORKOUT, COULD RACE THIS WEEKEND – Mine That Bird, upset winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I), turned in a sharp five-furlong work on Monday at Churchill Downs in preparation for a possible return to racing at the historic track this weekend.

Jockey Calvin Borel was in the saddle as Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine’s 4-year-old Birdstone gelding zipped over a muddy track for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas in a “bullet”:59.80, the fastest work of 26 at the distance.

Churchill Downs clockers caught Mine That Bird in fractional times of :12.20, :24.20, :36.20 and :47.80 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.60.  The track had been listed as sloppy earlier in the morning following overnight rains, but was drying out by the time Mine That Bird stepped on the one-mile oval at around 8:30 a.m. (all times EDT), just after the mid-session break for track maintenance.

“I told Calvin we needed to let him do it with no prompting today, just let him do it on his own,” Lukas said.  “I told him I’d like to see him finish up and if he’d get it in a minute to 1:01, that would be about right.  Once I turned him loose and I rode over by the rail to see how deep it was, I thought ‘If he does that, he’s going to be really going good’.  And then he goes 59-and-four.”

“He’s just blossomed out,” said Borel.  “How good is he?  I don’t know – but we’re going to find out.  I think he’s a good horse.  I don’t care what anybody says – he wasn’t a fluke.”

“I couldn’t be happier,” Lukas said.  “Every step has been right down the line.  I like the way that he’s changing – mentally and physically.  That’s the big thing.  We know he can run if everything’s right.  Physically, he’s so much stronger – he might be 150 pounds heavier than he was last year.  And mentally, he’s really getting good.”

Mine That Bird has not raced since a ninth-place run behind unbeaten Zenyatta in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) over Santa Anita’s synthetic Pro-Ride surface, but Lukas is ready to see the winner of Derby 135 wear one of his signature white bridles for the first time.  The closest opportunities for a return to racing come this weekend at Churchill Downs: a 1 1/16 mile allowance race on the main track at Churchill Downs on Saturday, July 3 and the $175,000-added Firecracker Handicap (GII) at a mile on turf on Sunday, July 4 – the closing day of the 42-day Spring Meet.

“We’d like to start him here,” Lukas said.  “I used that Firecracker as a back-up.  I know he’s never been on the turf.  I really don’t want to ship him.  I have the ($250,000)  Salvatore Mile (GIII on dirt on July 3) at Monmouth, but I’d like to just leave him in his own stall and try him.  If he gets beat, this first one is a means to an end.

“We’ll wait and see how the next two days look.  I have no reason to believe he won’t bounce back from this work.  He does every one of them so easy.  He has amazing efficiency of motion.  I’ve had some pretty good horses that I thought could get over the ground.  I don’t know if any of them got over it lighter than he does.”

Mine That Bird has failed to win in five races since his 50-1 shocker in the Kentucky Derby.  He finished a length behind eventual Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness (GI) and finished third to eventual 2009 3-year-old champion Summer Bird after grabbing a clear lead in the homestretch in the Belmont Stakes (GI).  But he faltered in his final three starts of the year, finishing third in the West Virginia Derby (GII) at Mountaineer Park and sixth in the Goodwood (GI) at Santa Anita before his dull effort in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

His career record stands at 5-2-2 in 14 races with earnings of $2,196,581.

HORSE OF THE YEAR RACHEL ALEXANDRA CRUISES OVER WET FOOTING, PREPARES TO TRAVEL – Reigning Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra completed a solid body of work during the spring and early summer at Churchill Downs with an easy five-furlong workout over sloppy footing on Monday at Churchill Downs.

Rachel Alexandra covered the distance under jockey and regular work partner Shaun Bridgmohan in 1:03 in her final major training before she travels north on Wednesday to summer at New York’s Saratoga Race Course.

Owned by Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick, Rachel Alexandra worked over the wet track around 6:30 a.m. She covered the distance in fractional times of :12.80, :25.60, :38.40 and :50.60 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:17.

Trainer Steve Asmussen was pleased with the move and the said the sloppy track condition after overnight rains was no reason for concern as Rachel Alexandra stepped onto the one-mile main track for Monday’s training move.

“She handles it really well,” Asmussen said.  “She went good.  We’ve got travel plans this week and want everything to go smoothly.”

Asmussen had originally planned to ship Rachel Alexandra and most of his Churchill Downs division to Saratoga next week, but moved those plans up a week because of the heat wave that has settled over the Ohio Valley in recent weeks.

"It’s time,” said Asmussen.  “I’ll be very happy when she’s settled in there and we can get into our routine up there.”

Rachel Alexandra is coming off a 10 ½-length victory in the $200,000 Fleur de Lis (GII) at Churchill Downs on June 12, her first victory of 2010 following back-to-back upset losses in the New Orleans Ladies at Fair Grounds and the La Troienne (GII) at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks Day, April 30.  Her 12-4-0 record in 17 races includes earnings of $3,216,730.

WORK TAB (Track: SLOPPY before maintenance break, MUDDY after break) – Acoma, defending winner of the Locust Grove (GIII), breezed a half-mile in :49 over sloppy footing. … Macho Again, winner of the 2009 Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) breezed four furlongs on a muddy track in :51.60. … Kensei breezed five furlongs in 1:02 on a sloppy track. … Friesan Fire breezed six furlongs in 1:14.80.                                                  

Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine’s Mine That Bird, winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I), returned to the scene of the greatest accomplishment early Thursday evening when he arrived at Churchill Downs and took up residence in the barn of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who will now guide the Derby winner’s career.

Like his journey to Kentucky Derby glory some 13 months earlier, Mine That Bird arrived at Lukas’ Barn 44 in a trailer that had traveled from co-owner Mark Allen’s Double Eagle Ranch near Roswell, NM, where the 4-year-old gelding has been training since March 15.  Mine That Bird was trained by Bennie “Chip” Woolley when he scored his 50-1 upset in Kentucky Derby 135, the second-largest upset in the history of America’s greatest race.  He went on to finish second to Kentucky Oaks (GI)-winning filly Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness and third to eventual 3-year-old champion Summer Bird in the Belmont Stakes (GI).

Allen accompanied Mine That Bird on the journey that included 10 hours on the road before an overnight stopover in Tulsa, OK, followed by 12 hours on the road on Thursday.  Despite the long journey, Mine That Bird appeared frisky and full of himself when he stepped out of the trailer and made his first rounds in the Lukas shedrow.

The Derby winner’s co-owner said the decision by him and partner Dr. Leonard Blach to move Mine That Bird from Woolley’s care to the Lukas barn was difficult.

"Chip is a close friend of mine, and he done us a heck of a job last year,” Allen said.  “But I have a stable of horses back there that I really need looked after, and Mr. Lukas and some other trainers threw their hat in the ring.  When a legend throws his hat in the ring, it’s hard to go against him.”

With the move, Mine That Bird is the latest winner of the famed “Run for the Roses” to settle into a Churchill Downs barn that has housed four Kentucky Derby winners that won the race while wearing Lukas’ signature white bridle.

“But I don’t think we can put his name on the sign though – we can’t take much credit,” said a smiling Lukas.  “But it is an opportunity, and I feel fortunate that they picked us to maybe bring him back to the prominence that he enjoyed here a year ago.”

Lukas was impressed with Mine That Bird’s physical appearance and the energy displayed by the 4-year-old gelding after spending most of two days on the road from New Mexico.  He arrived at the track just after 8 p.m. (EDT).

“He’s such a gutty little competitor,” said Lukas.  “Looking at him here taking his bath, I think he looks better than I’ve ever seen him.  The time off has really served him well.  He looks better to me right now, and talking to the people who’ve been around him, I think he’s doing better right now than he has.  So, I’ve got a little bit of an edge there.  I’m getting a nice horse with some good condition him – I’m very pleased with what I see.  For a horse that just got off a 12-hour van ride, that rascal looks pretty damned good.”

   Mine That Bird brings a career record of 5-2-2 in 14 races with earnings of $2,196,581 into Lukas’ barn.  Lukas said the newest member of his stable might be ready to run within 60 days or so, but added that he might be fitter than he appears having come from high altitude training in New Mexico.  He said the 2010 Derby winner could go out for a jog on Friday morning after the mid-morning break for track maintenance.

While Mine That Bird’s greatest career moment appeared at Churchill Downs last year on the first Saturday in May, Allen said he is hoping for another big day beneath the track’s historic Twin Spires when the Breeders’ Cup comes to Churchill Downs on Nov. 5-6 – highlighted by the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (GI) on Saturday, Nov. 6.

“That’s our goal – right there,” Allen said.  “We’re going to keep him here and not ship him around like we did last year.  That took a lot out of him, and a lot of that was my fault.  We’re going let Mr. Lukas do his magic on him, but that’s our goal: the Breeders’ Cup.”

Lukas said he would like to find an allowance race to get Mine That Bird started as he makes his return from a ninth-place finish behind the unbeaten mare Zenyatta in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.  But nothing is nailed down at this point.

“I haven’t talked with Mark or Dr. Blach about probably which races we’d want to target,” Lukas said.  “But I’m sure the Whitney’s going to jump right out there, and maybe the Suburban at Belmont could be another possibility.  Then they’ve got the Salvatore Mile over at Monmouth Park, which is another option.  So there are plenty of options.  The ultimate goal, of course, would be the Breeders’ Cup.  Whatever we do, we’ll work backwards from the Breeders’ Cup to make sure we look good here.”

BAFFERT DERBY DUO, DUBLIN RETURN TO THE TRACK – Kentucky Derby favorite Lookin At Lucky and stablemate Conveyance were back on the track Thursday morning for the first time since last Saturday’s “Run for the Roses” with both colts galloping 1 ½ miles after the renovation break under Peter Hutton.

`“He looks good,” trainer Bob Baffert said of Lookin At Lucky, who finished sixth as the tepid favorite in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands.  “He’s got a swagger to him. They both looked good.”

Throughout the week, Baffert had called Preakness participation for both colts a “50-50” proposition. That changed a tiny bit Thursday morning.

“He’s 51,” Baffert said of Lookin At Lucky, owned by Karl Watson, Mike Pegram and Paul Weitman. “This one (Conveyance, owned by Zabeel Racing International) is 50.”

Also returning to the track for the first time since Saturday’s Derby was Robert Baker and William Mack’s Dublin.  The son of Afleet Alex jogged a mile shortly after 6 o’clock under exercise rider Arielle Witkowski.

“He’s doing excellent; sharp as a tack,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “You’d never know he ran.”

Dublin, who ran seventh in the Kentucky Derby, is scheduled to van to Pimlico on Tuesday where he will attempt to give Lukas a sixth Preakness victory.

Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, owned by WinStar Farm, jogged a mile for the second consecutive day under exercise rider Kevin Willey.

Other Thursday morning activity for Churchill Downs-based Preakness hopefuls included Dogwood Stable’s Aikenite galloping 1 ¼ miles, Robert LaPenta and Jacks or Better Farm’s Jackson Bend galloping a mile and a quarter, Ike and Dawn Thrash’s The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial (GIII) winner Hurricane Ike jogging a mile and the Dale Romans-trained duo of Donegal Racing’s Paddy O’Prado and Donald Dizney’s First Dude galloping a mile and a half each.

PURE CLAN HEADED TO ROOD & RIDDLE – What was supposed to be a routine work day turned out to be anything but that when Lewis Lakin’s star turf mare Pure Clan demonstrated that she wanted no part of a scheduled five-furlong work under regular exercise rider Steve Schmelzel.

“She didn’t want to work,” trainer Bob Holthus said. “There is possibly something wrong with her left front foot and we are going to try to get her in today at Rood & Riddle (clinic in Lexington).”

Pure Clan has not raced since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) last November at Santa Anita.

“She bruised the bottom of her feet when she was turned out, just like last year,” Holthus said. “Physically, she has filled out a lot.”

Holthus was plotting a 2010 campaign similar to that of 2009 when Pure Clan began the year in the Early Times Mint Julep (GIII) at 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course and concluded with a Breeders’ Cup run.

“If she runs five times and as good as she did last year, I’ll be happy,” said Holthus, who counts Pure Clan among the best horses he has trained in the company with Proper Reality and Lawyer Ron.

In three seasons of racing, Pure Clan has compiled a record of 8-4-3 in 16 races with earnings of $1,987,498. Included in that record are Grade I victories in the American Oaks Invitational and Flower Bowl and three graded stakes triumphs at Churchill Downs.

RAVI’S SONG RETURNS WITH STYLISH VICTORY-- If one wants to draw a smile from trainer Carl Bowman, just mention Ravi’s Song.

The smiles have been plentiful since last Friday when Ravi’s Song returned to the races after a 7 ½-month layoff because of an injury. Ridden by Francisco Torres, Ravi’s Song swept past seven rivals in the stretch to win a seven-furlong allowance test by 2 ¼ lengths in 1:22.85.

“She was pretty impressive, wasn’t she,” Bowman said. “She just has an incredible turn of foot and when she kicks it in, wow!”

The 4-year-old filly by Unbridled’s Song is a daughter of Lu Ravi, who was trained by Bowman. A five-time graded stakes winner and three-time runner-up in Grade I races, Lu Ravi compiled a record of 26-11-8-3 in five years of racing for earnings of $1,819,781.

Lu Ravi’s best running came in routes and Bowman expects the same from Ravi’s Song.

“She is much better going two turns,” Bowman said. “I would prefer to find a non-winners of three other than going a mile and a sixteenth and after that look at stakes. I don’t like grass and I don’t like synthetics, so she will stay on dirt.”

SELVA HEADS FIELD OF EIGHT FILLIES AND MARES FOR SATURDAY’S UNBRIDLED SIDNEY – Helen Alexander and Helen Groves’ Selva, winner of the 2009 Mardi Gras on turf at Fair Grounds and runner-up in her 2010 debut in the Bienville on grass, tops a field of eight fillies and mares entered for Saturday’s $62,000-added Unbridled Sidney at five furlongs on the Matt Winn Turf Course.

Trained by David Carroll, Selva will be ridden by Robby Albarado, who was aboard for the Mardi Gras triumph.

The field for the Unbridled Sidney, from the hedge out, is Ivory Empress (Julien Leparoux, 118 pounds), Knockout Bertie (Shaun Bridgmohan, 118), Tirbracken Lily (Leandro Goncalves, 112), Pina Colada (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), Selva (Robby Albarado, 118), Trusty Temper (Corey Nakatani, 118), Valentine Fever (Francisco Torres, 118) and Candy Cane (Garrett Gomez, 118).

WORK TAB (Track: FAST) – Miner’s Reserve, seventh in The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial for trainer Nick Zito, breezed four furlongs in :49.40 … (Turf: FIRM – dogs up) –  Veteran turf star Silverfoot breezed four furlongs on turf in :50.20.  Trainer Dallas Stewart’s three-time winner of the Louisville Handicap (GIII) is now 10 years old … Regret (GIII) winner and Mrs. Revere (GII) runner-up Keertana breezed three furlongs on turf in :36 for trainer Tom Proctor.

FLORIDA / BUDDY’S SAINT MAKES 2010 BOW IN FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH – An important weekend of preps for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I) offers opportunities to view intriguing contenders in several locations, but few of those 3-year-olds will attract more scrutiny than Buddy’s Saint.

The impressive winner of last fall’s Remsen (GII) at Aqueduct makes his 2010 debut against nine rivals in Saturday’s  $250,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (GII) over 1 1/8 miles at Florida’s Gulfstream Park.

Regular jockey Jose Lezcano will be in the saddle for trainer Bruce Levine.  The son of Saint Liam, who also won Aqueduct’s Nashua by 14 lengths, will break from post two.

Major rivals to the favorite include Jackson Bend, a Nick Zito-trained winner of five-of-seven races who finished second in the Holy Bull (GIII) last out at Gulfstream; the Todd Pletcher-trained duo of Eskendereya and Aikenite; and Lost Aptitude, a Kentucky-based colt trained by Dale Romans who makes his debut on dirt following a narrow loss on grass in the Tropical Park Derby (GIII).   Zito also trains Ice Box, who is coming off a recent allowance win at the Fountain of Youth distance at the Florida track.

Also on Saturday’s Gulfstream Park card is the $150,000 Hutcheson (GII) at seven furlongs.  The race matches brother-against-brother as trainer Rick Dutrow, who saddled Big Brown to win the 2008 Kentucky Derby, sends Saratoga Special (GII) and Belmont Futurity (GII) winner D’Funnybone and British import Radiohead out to face younger sibling Tony Dutrow’s A Little Warm, winner of the Spectacular Bid (GIII) at Gulfstream Park.

A strong Gulfstream allowance race on Sunday has attracted potential Kentucky Derby contenders that include the Zito-trained Fly Down, Pletcher’s Colizeo and Romans’ First Dude.

In Wednesday, Padua Stables’ Odysseus stamped himself as a 3-year-old to watch when he crushed a field in an allowance race at Tampa Bay Downs by 15 lengths.  The Tom Albertrani-trained son of Malibu Moon could run next in the Tampa Bay Derby (GIII),

On the same day, Lentenor – the little brother to 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro – finished second to the rail-skimming Doubles Partner in a 1 1/8-mile allowance race on the grass at Gulfstream Park.

"I thought he performed well,” said Lentenor’s trainer Michael Matz, who also trained Barbaro.  “He was a little immature and green down the stretch.  He just needs experience.”

SOUTH / LECOMTE WINNER RON THE GREEK TAKES ON TOUGH GROUP IN RISEN STAR – Ron the Greek, a stretch-running winner of the Lecomte (GIII) at New Orleans’ Fair Grounds, faces a group of invaders headed by highly regarded Florida shipper Drosselmeyer, the speedy Tempted to Tapit and stakes veteran Discreetly Mine in the 1 1/16 mile Risen Star (GII).

Jockey James Graham will be back aboard Ron the Greek, whose stiffest challenge could come from Drosselmeyer, a winner of back-to-back races at Churchill Downs and Gulfstream Park for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who is looking for his first Kentucky Derby victory.

Other major players include Stay Put, who brings a two-race winning streak into the Risen Star for Louisville, Ky.-based owners Richard, Elaine and Bert Klein and trainer Steve Margolis, and Hotep, a son of A.P. Indy owned by Canada’s famed Sam-Son Farm who scored a recent allowance victory for trainer Mark Frostad.  The latter is a brother to Eye of the Leopard, the winner of the 2009 Queen’s Plate, Canada’s equivalent to the Kentucky Derby.

DUBLIN GETS BETTER POST IN RE-DRAWN SOUTHWEST – The $250,000 Southwest Stakes (GIII) was postponed Monday because of icy conditions at Oaklawn Park, but all 10 horses originally entered in the one-mile race were back in the entry box when it was re-drawn on Thursday at the Hot Springs, Ark. track.

Dublin, trained by four-time Kentucky Derby winner D. Wayne Lukas, ended up in post three on Saturday after having drawn the outside post in the earlier version of the race.  Lukas’ colt won the Three Chimneys Hopeful (GI) at Saratoga and underwent throat surgery to correct a breathing problem after suffering back-to-back losses to end his 2-year-old season.

A trio of California invaders headed by the unbeaten Conveyance figure to be among Dublin’s chief rivals.  Conveyance won the San Rafael (GIII) over synthetic footing at Santa Anita and is perfect in three starts for three-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert.  He makes his debut on real dirt, as will Cardiff Giant and Domonation, the 2-3 San Rafael finishers.

Other major players include Smarty Jones winner Dryfly, who is trained by Lynn Whiting, who saddled Lil E. Tee to win the 1992 Kentucky Derby, and Kitty’s Turn, a flying third in the Smarty Jones after a poor start.

WEST / EL CAMINO REAL, TURF PARADISE DERBY ARE HEADLINERS – Trainer Todd Pletcher’s Connemara, an upset victim when he suffered his first career loss as the odds-on favorite in the California Derby, will attempt to make amends in Saturday’s $150,000 El Camino Real Derby at Northern California’s Golden Gate Fields.  Despite his runner-up finish in the earlier race, the son of Giant’s Causeway is the 2-1 favorite as he faces nine rivals under jockey Russell Baze.

Ranger Heartley, who defeated Connemara in the earlier race, is the 5-2 second choice.

Arizona native Bob Baffert has shipped Indian Firewater to Turf Paradise in Phoenix for the $50,000 Turf Paradise Derby at 1 1/16 miles.  The son of Indian Charlie is coming off a runner-up finish to stablemate The Program in a Santa Anita allowance race.

DERBY 136 NOTES: South African-based 4-year-old Musir defeated Godolphin’s Kentucky Derby-nominated 3-year-old Frozen Power in the UAE 2000 Guineas on Thursday at Dubai’s Meydan Race Course … The Courier-Journal’s Jennie Rees reports that Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s William’s Kitten, a wagering interest in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, is off the Kentucky Derby Trail after suffering a minor ankle injury during a workout at Gulfstream Park.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Entries for the Debutante will be taken Wednesday.

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

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

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

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

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

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

FLYING PEGASUS BEGINS THE ROAD BACK FRIDAY NIGHT – The road with Flying Pegasus has been anything but smooth for trainer Ralph Nicks, but he’ll saddle the promising 3-year-old for a return to action following a three-month break when he competes in a seven-furlong allowance test on Friday night at Churchill Downs.

    “With 3-year-olds, you hope they bounce back quick,” Nicks said of Flying Pegasus, who came down with a lung infection after running sixth in the Louisiana Derby (Grade II) on March 14.

    Owned and bred by James Spence, Flying Pegasus won his first career start on July 2 by 2 ¼ lengths at Churchill Downs and followed that up with an allowance win as the 3-5 choice five weeks later at Delaware Park. His 2-year-old campaign ended after a runner-up finish to Charitable Man in the Futurity (Grade II) at Belmont Park in September when he exited the race with a bone chip in a hind ankle.

    Nicks brought Flying Pegasus back to the races in February with a runner-up finish to Friesan Fire in the Risen Star (Grade III), but Kentucky Derby (GI) hopes for the son of 2000 Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus ended in at the Louisiana Derby.

    “I don’t want to say ‘confidence builder’, but we hope to use this race to go on to the next race that is not a graded stake,” Nicks said. “There are a lot of races for 3-year-olds in August and September.”
    
GETTING READY FOR SOME NIGHT MOVES – So, what do you do if you are saddling a horse in the nightcap, scheduled for 11:11 p.m. (all times EDT), in the historic debut of Churchill Downs’ “Downs After Dark” night racing?

“I guess I’ll sleep on the couch (at the barn) that night,” trainer William “Buff” Bradley said with a laugh.
Con Lover is in Friday’s finale and will be Bradley’s only starter on the 11-race card that begins at 6 p.m.  A regular on the Kentucky circuit, Bradley is a veteran of night racing at Turfway Park.

“I would usually stay up there if we were in a late race,” Bradley said. “I never thought I would see lights here, and if it works, fine. We need to do whatever we can to boost racing.”

One of the effects of the night card for Bradley will be adjusting work schedules, including barn star Brass Hat, winner of the recent Louisville Handicap (Grade III) and earner of more than $1.8 million.

“I am going to work him Friday instead of Saturday, and that (the night card) is one of the reasons,” Bradley said. “I have a few that will work longer and harder and then will walk for two days, so we won’t have so many going to the track Saturday.”

TRACK RECORD HOLDER HOT DIXIE CHICK TOPS DEBUTANTE NOMINATIONS – Grace Stables’ Hot Dixie Chick, who established a Churchill Downs track record for five furlongs (:56.48) in her second career start on June 13, tops a list of 23 nominations for the 109th running of the $100,000-added Debutante (Grade III).

    The six furlong race for 2-year-old fillies is scheduled to be run on June 27.

    Hot Dixie Chick is one of five fillies nominated to the Debutante trained by Steve Asmussen, a four-time winner of the race. Included among the quintet are two Churchill Downs maiden winners: Lewis Lakin and Roger Stanton’s Wild Forest Cat, and Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s Fiesty Ex.

    D. Wayne Lukas, who owns the Debutante record as the trainer of six winners, has nominated four fillies including Westrock Stables’ Decelerator, who beat Hot Dixie Chick when they met on May 14. Decelerator worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.40 on a muddy track Tuesday morning.

    Silverbulletday, who will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame this summer, is the most recent Debutante winner to return the following spring and win the Kentucky Oaks. Silverbulletday achieved her double in 1998-99.

    Last year’s Debutante runner-up, Rachel Alexandra, won this year’s Kentucky Oaks and followed that with a win over the boys in the Preakness (GI).    

BARN TALK – Rapport, a $475,000 yearling purchase, will be the first runner from the Legends Racing Stable to make the races when she goes postward in Friday’s fifth race. Legends Racing Stable is a partnership between multiple Kentucky Derby-winning trainers D. Wayne Lukas, Nick Zito and Bob Baffert.  The three Hall of Fame trainers selected horses at public auction last year for owners who joined the Legends partnership and split those purchases between the three.  Rapport, a 2-year-old daughter of Songandaprayer, is one of 13 Legends horses stabled at Churchill Downs with Lukas. “They are a nice set of horses,” Lukas said. Legends, which purchased 38 horses at auction in 2008 for $15,285,000 plus one private acquisition, also has 13 horses each with Nick Zito and Bob Baffert.

Leading rider Julien Leparoux and Corey Lanerie will be at Colonial Downs on Saturday for the $500,000 Colonial Turf Cup (Grade II). Leparoux will be riding Lime Rickey and Lanerie is named on Final Count. Both riders have mounts in the $150,000 All Along (Grade III): Leparoux on Icon Project and Lanerie on Precious Princess.

Saturday, June 20 is 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 the main track to be run 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.

MILESTONE WATCH – Greg Foley, who has saddled 297 winners at Churchill Downs, has a chance Thursday to become the 12th trainer to achieve 300 victories beneath the Twin Spires. Foley is scheduled to send out Faithope in the second, Western Frontier in the fourth and Badger Barry in the seventh. Foley has no horses entered Friday, but two on Saturday: Oh Charlie Boy in the fifth and Cajun Prize in the 10th.

    Bill Connelly, who has saddled 998 winners in his career, has Buckeye Buddy entered in Thursday’s seventh race and Sweetasnails in Friday night’s 11th race.

WORK TAB – Aegon Turf Sprint (Grade III) winner Chamberlain Bridge worked a half-mile in :50 over a fast track, the 15th fastest of 31 at the distance. Tizdejavu, winner of the 2008 Jefferson Cup (Grade II), worked six furlongs in 1:16.20.

WIN BY ACTION SEEKER PUTS WHITING IN SELECT COMPANY – Veteran trainer Lynn Whiting was all smiles Saturday as he accepted congratulations for his 300th Churchill Downs win, a milestone achieved by JoAnn and Alex Lieblong’s Action Seeker in the eighth race.
    “I thought he had a chance once he got clear,” Whiting said of Action Seeker, who rallied to collar Duke of Pearl in deep stretch to win by a head.
    The victory made Whiting only the 10th trainer to post 300 career victories in 135 years of racing at Churchill Downs.
    “My first year here was 1979,” said Whiting, who began training in 1969. “I spent my first couple of years in Rhode Island at Lincoln and Narragansett and then the next eight winters in Maryland.”
    Whiting’s biggest Churchill Downs winner was W.C. “Cal” Partee’s Lil E. Tee, who captured the 1992 Kentucky Derby (Grade I) under Hall of Famer Pat Day. The trainer has a couple of other favorites to go with his Derby winner.
    “Big Pistol had the three fastest times here in the 1980s at six furlongs, 7 ½ furlongs and a mile and an eighth,” Whiting said of his sprint star who won five races at Churchill Downs, three of them stakes events. “At the Threshold (a two-time Churchill Downs winner) ran third in the 1984 Derby. All of those were owned by Mr. Partee.”
    
MINE THAT BIRD CONTINUES PREPARTIONS FOR BELMONT STAKES RUN – As Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine’s Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird headed to the track Saturday morning, he and jockey Calvin Borel crossed paths.
    Borel walked up to Mine That Bird, tousled his mane, gave him a couple of pats on the neck and planted a big smooch on the gelding’s forehead.
    Trainer Chip Woolley could only grin at the exchange between horse and rider who will be reunited on the Triple Crown trail next Saturday in the $1 million Belmont Stakes (GI) at New York’s Belmont Park.”
    “Calvin really likes him and the horse likes him too,” Woolley said as he watched Mine That Bird gallop twice around before the renovation break under exercise rider Charlie Figueroa.
    Borel rode Mine That Bird to victory in the Kentucky Derby, but was aboard Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness in which the filly beat Mine That Bird. On Friday, the connections of Rachel Alexandra announced that the filly would pass on the third jewel of the Triple Crown, thus freeing Borel to return to Mine That Bird.
    “It was a relief, but I never believed she would run,” Woolley said. “In my mind, I thought I had him (Borel) all along. I am glad to have it all ironed out.”
    Woolley was called by Rachel Alexandra’s majority owner Jess Jackson about the decision not to run.
    “It was good that he called me first so I was ready for the barrage (of questions),” Woolley said. “I called (owners) Mark (Allen) and Doc (Leonard Blach) and they were happy.”
    Mine That Bird will gallop again Sunday morning and then is scheduled to work five furlongs after the break Monday morning with Borel up. Tuesday would be a walk day and Mine That Bird would fly to New York on Wednesday. Woolley is leaving for New York on Tuesday.
    Rachel Alexandra backtracked to the frontside and then galloped about a mile and a half under exercise rider Dominic Terry. Rachel Alexandra is scheduled work for trainer Steve Asmussen early Monday morning.

KAELIN ENJOYING BEST SPRING MEET IN YEARS – Last fall, veteran trainer Forrest Kaelin could not buy a win at Churchill Downs. Six months later, Kaelin has six winners from 17 starters and is enjoying one of his best Spring Meets beneath the Twin Spires in years.
    “I have no idea for the big turnaround,” Kaelin said Saturday morning. “It was just one of those falls. (D. Wayne) Lukas, Frankie (Brothers) and (Bob) Holthus couldn’t win a race either. I told folks to wait until we go to Tampa and we won 15 there.”
    Kaelin, 74, began his career at the track as a rider in 1952 and has been a Churchill Downs training fixture since the 1960s.  He won the first two runnings of the Stephen Foster Handicap, long before it achieved its current Grade I status, with local favorite Vodika Collins in 1982 and ’83.
“You go through things like that,” Kaelin said of the winless fall. “I had one year at Ellis when I was riding and I only had two winners and 20-something seconds. It gets to you.”
Kaelin picked up his sixth victory of the spring Friday when Nick’s Girl won the fourth race.
    “She has some issues, but she’s got a big heart,” Kaelin said. “But she got claimed from me by (Wayne) Catalano.”
    Kaelin, who has 14 horses here, has 312 career wins at Churchill Downs, eighth most in track history. The six wins equal Kaelin’s total from 1989 when he was 6-for-48 and he is en route to having his best season here since he saddled 16 winners in the spring 1985 meet.
    “Things have just come around,” said Kaelin, who has been stabled in Barn 46 for 40 years. “Sometimes that old worm gets in a hole and eventually has to come up for air.”

ONE CAROLINE SIDELINED BY INJURY -- G. Watts Humphrey Jr.’s One Caroline, who suffered her first career loss in six starts when she ran second to Miss Isella in the Louisville Distaff (Grade II) on May 1, will not get a rematch with that rival in the June 13 Fleur De Lis (Grade II).
    “She suffered a slight injury yesterday and she will be out for 60 days,” trainer Rusty Arnold said. “It is not major and she will be back in the fall. If you had to ask me now, I’d say we’d look for Churchill Downs in the fall.”
One Caroline worked five furlongs in 1:01 on Friday at Keeneland and the injury was detected afterward.
“It is not career threatening, just a bump in the road,” Arnold said. “I feel sorry for Churchill, because we wanted to come back and meet (trainer) Ian Wilkes’ filly (Miss Isella) again. It looks like that is going to be a nice little rivalry.”

MILESTONE WATCH – Robby Albarado has eight mounts at Churchill Downs on Saturday as he continues his pursuit of 4,000 career victories. Albarado has 3,998 wins.
David Vance will go for Churchill Downs victory No. 300 in Saturday’s ninth race with Kiss Mine. Ten trainers have won 300 races at Churchill Downs, the most recent being Lynn Whiting, who achieved the feat on Friday.
Bill Connelly, who has 998 career victories, will saddle two horses Saturday night at Indiana Downs in his bid to reach 1,000. The two horses are Hard Rock Man in the seventh and Go Lydia Go in the eighth.

BARN TALK – Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has named Julien Leparoux  to ride Robert Baker and William Mack’s Flying Private in next Saturday’s Belmont Stakes. Lukas’ other Belmont prospect, the Marylou Whitney Stables’ Luv Gov, will be ridden by Miguel Mena. The horses will leave for Belmont Park at 2 a.m. (EDT) Sunday.
The Kentucky Derby-winning team of trainer Chip Woolley and jockey Calvin Borel will join New York-based trainer Gary Contessa in ringing the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning, June 4.
Nominations close Saturday for the five stakes that make up the June 13 Reunion Day card, highlighted by the $600,000-added Stephen Foster (Grade I) at 1 1/8 miles on the main track. Other stakes that day are the $200,000-added Fleur De Lis (Grade II) for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going 1 1/8 miles on the main track, the $150,000-added Jefferson Cup (Grade II) for 3-year-olds going 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course, the $100,000-added Northern Dancer (Grade III) for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16th miles on the main track and the $150,000-added Regret (Grade III) for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/8 miles on the turf.

WORK TAB – Three-time Churchill Downs stakes winner Pure Clan put in her final major prep for next Saturday’s Early Times Mint Julep (Grade III) by working five furlongs in 1:01.80 over a fast track after the renovation break under exercise rider Steve Schmelzel. The move was the second fastest of 25 at the distance.
    The Mint Julep will be Pure Clan’s first start since a loss to champion Forever Together in the Oct. 24 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GI) at Santa Anita.
    “I am eager to get her going again,” trainer Bob Holthus said. “She is the best filly I have had. I want to see how she comes out of this one. She is nominated to the Modesty (Grade III on July 11) and the Beverly D. (Grade I on Aug. 11) at Arlington Park.”
    Terrain, in his first work since finishing seventh in the Preakness, worked a half-mile in :47.60, the second fastest of 71 at the distance. Trainer Al Stall Jr. is pointing Terrain toward the Iowa Derby on June 26 at Prairie Meadows.
    Undefeated Hull worked a half-mile in :49.60 as his final tuneup for next Saturday’s Woody Stephens (Grade II) at Belmont Park.