Weekend Winners Club

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Thursday, June 13 2019. Churchill Downs has yet another big race day this weekend as the major racing shifts back from Belmont on Saturday night with 5 graded stakes races including the formerly G1 Stephen Foster, which was downgraded to G2 status this year.
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The 11 race night card is scheduled to begin at 6pm ET, with the string of 5 graded stakes races beginning in race 5 at about 8pm with the Matt Winn G3 and ending with the Regret G3 at about 10:20pm. After that is stakes race for Arabians and a maiden race to close out that card.
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The MATT WINN G3 is for 3yo on dirt at 8.5f and consists mostly of stakes racers that didn’t make the Triple Crown cut this year. The ML favorite Mr. Money will be tough to beat if he runs like he did in winning the Pat Day Mile G3 here on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
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Signalman didn’t impress anyone with 9th in the Preakness, but has had lots of success in Kentucky. At Keeneland he was 3rd in the Bluegrass G2 in April, and last year he won the Kentucky Jockey Club G2 here 3 weeks after an impressive 3rd in the BC Juvenile, also at Churchill.
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Limonite has also had success in Kentucky, last out winning an OCM in the slop on the Kentucky Derby undercard. Last year he was 3rd in the KYJC after breaking maiden and skipping the BCJ. This late closer would like to see a fast pace develop up front but there isn’t an excess of speed on paper.
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Knicks Go bested Signalman for 2nd in the BC Juvenile but has had a rough go of it in 4 races since, losing the KYJC by 18 and had a dismal Gotham before finally rebounding for a solid 4th in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in April.
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Nolo Contesto is listed as the 2nd ML choice and has been solid in his 4 career races but his only win is a MSW and Santa Anita, where he also finished 4th in the Santa Anita Derby in April.
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There are 2 long shots. Proverb began his career at Indiana last year before shipping to Oaklawn so it will be his first Kentucky race. Armistice Day is a Canadian transfer who ran last out on Churchill turf and has yet to run in a dirt race with his other 3 being on the Woodbine polytrack.
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The WISE DAN G2 at 8.5 on the turf has a field full of 14 horses with 1 alterate, 3 and up with no clear cut favorite. The low morning lines are 5 and 6 and there is a lot of parity in this field. Thus it should be a very exciting race.
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The FLEUR DE LIS G2 has a surprisingly short field of 6 considering the winner gets an automatic entry into the BC Distaff in November. The 9f race for 3 and up females has 3 virtual co-favorites, all multiple graded stakes winners so that should be an exciting contest despite the short field.
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The STEPHEN FOSTER G2 is for horses 3 and up going 9f on the dirt, and is also a BC Challenge race with an automatic berth for the winner to the BC Classic in November at Santa Anita. Most are Kentucky or other southeast based stakes winners but others are from around the country.
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The ML favorite Gift Box is coming off an impressive west coast swing where he won 2 of 3 including the G1 Big Cap. He’s racing again on 3 weeks’ notice after placing 2nd in the G1 Gold Cup. 3 others at low ML odds are Yoshida, Seeking the Soul, and Tom’s D’etat.
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Tom’s D’etat could end up the favorite since he was 2nd in the Alysheba G2 on Kentucky Oaks day. Seeking the Soul was 3rd in the Alysheba after shipping back from Dubai where he finished 8th in the World Cup, where Yoshida finished 6th in his last start.
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The winner will probably come from this single digit odds group but most of these 12 are graded stakes winners. They don’t run the race on paper. This is the first year that it has not been a G1 since 2001. The track record was set by Belmont winner Victory Gallop in 1999.
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The REGRET G3 is for 3yo fillies going 9f on the turf, attracting a nice field of 11. Most of these young fillies have run in stakes races but not won one yet, so it could be an important notch in the saddle for the winner.
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That’s it for the graded stakes racing sat. Use the free Grid to make your picks and hit some great long shots, since it is the track and race day of the week. Overall it’s a great card with only 1 race worth less than $97k so there’s plenty of money to go around.
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