Churchill Downs
Multiple Grade I-winning sprinter Spiced Perfection (Smiling Tiger) has been privately purchased and transferred from trainer Peter Miller to Mark Casse and will target the GIII Winning Colors S. at Churchill Downs May 31, Casse told the Churchill notes team. "She was privately purchased by Haruya Yoshida over the winter and she's been a great addition to our barn," Casse said. "I think we're going to be on target for the Winning Colors and get her 5-year-old campaign going at Churchill." Spiced Perfection recorded a bullet half-mile move in :47...
A live bugler played a first-race call to post that echoed and reverberated in front of a cavernously empty grandstand, and track announcer Travis Stone preceded his season-opening call with the declaration that "Better late than never, they're in the gate at Churchill Downs." But once the horses were off and running for Saturday's 11-race card, a sense of business-as-usual settled in--at least as defined by the new normalcy terms of spectator-free, pandemic-era racing in America. "It was surreal. I watched the first race of the season from the infield...
Champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) returned a winner after 18 months on the sidelines. Hammered down to 1-2 favoritism at the oval where she registered her two greatest triumphs, the chestnut was away in good order from the two-hole and was perched in a close-up fourth off the fence as Fashion Faux Pas (Flatter and Talk Veuve to Me (Violence) dueled through early splits of :22.87 and :46.33. Talk to Veuve to Me took control entering the far turn, but Monomoy Girl came roaring up behind her and was in front...
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 10th-CD, $84K, Alw, 5 1/2fT, 5:44 p.m. ET Breeze Easy's unbeaten Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah) leads a stakes-quality field of sophomores while making his first start of 2020. The $525,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grad and $825,000 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream buyback debuted a convincing stakes winner at Colonial Aug. 31 before adding Belmont's GIII Futurity S. Oct. 6 and running to favoritism in the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint Nov. 1. Second that day was Chimney Rock (Artie Schiller), who came back to romp in the...
Major Fed (Ghostzapper), second in the GII Risen Star S. and fourth after a slow start in the GII Louisiana Derby, completed his last major workout on Saturday morning at Churchill Downs with a half-mile move in :51.40 (16/16) prior to taking aim at next Saturday's GIII Matt Winn S. Meanwhile, 72 miles east of Churchill Downs, unbeaten GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity winner Maxfield (Street Sense) worked a swift half-mile in :47.20 (3/22) at Keeneland. The Matt Winn is worth 50-20-10-5 points to the top four finishers on the Road...
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 4th-CD, $85K, Alw/Opt. Clm ($80K), 3yo/up, f/m, 1m, 2:32 p.m. ET Wildly popular champion MONOMOY GIRL (Tapizar) headlines a stacked opening day card at Churchill as she makes her long-awaited return in the day's fourth race. Unseen since locking up her 3-year-old filly title with a score in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff over this track in 2018, the chestnut has overcome a variety of issues and comes back with a snappy worktab in tow for trainer Brad Cox. Showing a half-dozen breezes at...
Live racing from Churchill Downs will be broadcast throughout the 2020 Spring Meet on FOX Sports' 'America's Day at the Races' on FS1 and FS2. The program, produced by the New York Racing Association (NYRA) in conjunction with FOX, will present a total of 11 hours of live coverage on opening weekend. Racing can be found on FS2 Saturday, May 16 from 1-2:30 p.m. and again from 6-6:30 p.m. and on FS1 from 2:30-6 p.m. Sunday's programming on FS2 will take place between 1 and 2 p.m. and from 6-6:30...
Churchill Downs will honor the high school class of 2020 from schools all across the city by lighting up the track's iconic Twin Spires. A schedule of colors has been established from Saturday, May 16 (opening day) through Friday, May 22, to honor the area's graduating seniors. "Through the years, lighting the Twin Spires has been our unique way of celebrating a special achievement or showing that we care," said Kevin Flanery, President of Churchill Downs Racetrack. "Through the COVID-19 pandemic, we've been able to join our fellow Kentuckians in...
The Churchill Downs main track was opened for training Wednesday morning for the first time since last fall, with horses such as the Greg Foley-trained Major Fed (Ghostzapper) and others conditioned by Steve Asmussen, Phil Bauer, Buff Bradley, Bret Calhoun, Mark Casse, Brad Cox, Neil Howard, Michelle Lovell and Dallas Stewart all stepping onto the surface just after 5:30 a.m. (video) "It's a relief to be home," said Lovell, who shipped her horses from the Fair Grounds to Ashbrook Farm in Lexington and made the trip across Interstate 64 each...
Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) isn't the only comebacking Breeders' Cup winner set to return at the highly anticipated upcoming Churchill Downs spring meet. 'TDN Rising Star' Sharing (Speightstown), a last out 13-1 upset victress of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita Nov. 1, is being aimed at the $100,000 Tepin S. going a mile on the lawn beneath the Twin Spires May 23. The Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Stable colorbearer, a $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling graduate, has been gearing up at trainer Graham Motion's Fair Hill...
Ever since Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) surged past the Churchill Downs finish line to take the 2018 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, fans have eagerly awaited her return. It's been a long road over the past year and a half, but the now 5-year-old Eclipse champion is slated to make her 2020 debut beneath the Twin Spires Sat., May 16. The five-time Grade I winner will be the star of Churchill Downs' opening day, facing six other fillies and mares in a one-mile $80,000 allowance optional claimer. Her competition includes dual stakes...
Few felt the jarring absence of the GI Kentucky Derby, or indeed any racing at all, on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs more acutely than a Louisville native. Add to that being a horseman who relies on the track's customary spring/summer meet to make your living, throw in having a Derby hopeful in your barn to boot, and one can understand why longtime Churchill-based trainer Greg Foley was so excited to be back home this week, with racing set to resume Saturday beneath the Twin Spires. "It's...