Churchill: Utah Beach, Sugoi lead turf feature next Saturday

Utah Beach, winner of the Grade 2 Elkorn Stakes, is set to face a field of nine turf marathoners entered in the 88th running of the Grade 3, $250,000 Louisville Stakes, the featured event on next Saturday’s nighttime program at Churchill Downs.

The Louisville, run at 1 1/2 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course, will go as Race 9 of 11 with a post time of 10:11 p.m. EDT. First post is 6 p.m. EDT.

Utah Beach is trained by Nacho Correas for Jeffrey Amling and Merribelle Stable. He was a gutsy winner in last month’s Elkorn at Keeneland, defeating 11 rivals at odds of 11-1. The 5-year-old gelded son of English Channel sports a solid record of 14: 4-5-1 with purse earnings of $536,265. He’ll be ridden in the Louisville by Vincent Cheminaud from post 6.

Chief among Utah Beach’s rivals is last year’s Louisville winner Sugoi. Owned by Paradise Farms and David Staudacher, Sugoi scored a front-running 1 1/4-length victory in last year’s race. Trained by Mike Maker, the former $50,000 claim went on to finish second in the Chorleywood Stakes before returning to the winner’s circle earlier this year in the John Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston. The veteran 8-year-old gelding will break from post 9 under Luan Machado.