Almost Famous Breezes for Matt Winn

Chuck and Maribeth Sandford’s Almost Famous, who defeated older horses by 7 ¾ lengths in an allowance race last time out, breezed a half-mile in :48.80 at Churchill Downs Sunday morning in preparation for Saturday’s $100,000-added Matt Winn (GIII).

Trained by Pat Byrne, Almost Famous was breezed by regular jockey Calvin Borel, who will ride the 3-year-old son of Unbridled’s Song under the lights this Saturday.

When asked how the colt’s work went this morning, Byrne responded, “Just stretching his legs; we’re all set for Saturday evening and are looking forward to it.”

When asked what type of trip Almost Famous would need to win the Matt Winn, Byrne responded, “I think there’s probably going to be some speed in there but I’ve said all along that I don’t think this horse needs to have the early lead. Calvin knows this horse so well. He was on him for his breeze this morning and seemed happy with it. It’s all systems go.”

As of Sunday morning, the Churchill Downs racing office had five other colts listed as ‘probable’ for the 1 1/16-mile Matt Winn include Donegal Racing’s Iroquois (GIII) winner Cleburne; Conquest Stables LLC’s Holy Bull (GII) runner-up Conquest Titan; Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) winner Tapiture; Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith’s The Admiral and Mary Ann Charlston’s Ulbanator.