Alsvid Tops a Big Day at Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs’ Saturday card featured ten races, including the $100,000 Aristides Stakes (gr. III) and the $65,000 Opening Verse Stakes. Rain clouds came and went, occasionally releasing rain on the crowd gathered at Churchill Downs on the warm May afternoon. Nonetheless, it was a great day for live Thoroughbred action beneath the Twin Spires with a card that offered a variety of quality racing.

Several stakes horses entered the starting gate at Churchill throughout the afternoon, including 2014 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) runner-up Commanding Curve. The son of Master Command was 37-1 in last year’s Run for the Roses, but such was not the case in the second race on Churchill’s May 30 card – a mile and one-sixteenth allowance event with a purse of $52,000. Sent off as the 4-5 favorite, Commanding Curve did not disappointed, gamely winning the race by ¾ of a length over Raagheb in his first start since finishing ninth in last year’s Travers Stakes (gr. I).

Saturday’s sixth race – an allowance optional claiming on the turf with a purse of $54,000 – featured two graded stakes-placed runners, stablemates She’s Not Here and Elusive Fate. The former got the upper hand, leading from start to finish as she coasted over the grass to a 1 ½-length victory.

The Aristides Stakes (gr. III) marked the return of 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) winner and Eclipse Champion Sprinter Work All Week. Favored at 3-5, Work All Week performed well but fell short to the high expectations placed upon him, finishing second behind the second choice in the betting – Alsvid. Trained by Chris Hartman, Alsvid was coming off a victory in the Count Fleet Handicap (gr. III) at Oaklawn Park on April 9. With his Aristides triumph, the bay gelding collected his third consecutive win.

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Although not graded, the Opening Verse featured a field of graded quality. Two scratches – including that of 2011 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (gr. II) winner Regally Ready – reduced the field to eight, but that group included graded stakes winners Frac Daddy, Guys Reward, Departing, The Pizza Man, and Enterprising, as well as the graded stakes-placed runner Hip Four Sixtynine and the stakes-placed R. Great Adventure. The stretch run exemplified how deep the field was, as the horses were grouped close together until The Pizza Man drew away to a 2 ½-length victory. Frac Daddy and Departing rounded out the trifecta, respectively.