Churchill Downs: First Mission is early favorite in Clark

Ten accomplished horses, led by 3-1 morning-line favorite First Mission, are set to complete in Friday’s 149th running of the Grade 2, $600,000 Clark at Churchill Downs.

“The Clark is a solid race each year,” said trainer Brad Cox, who will attempt to win his second career Clark with First Mission. “He’s a horse we always thought highly of, and I’m thankful for Godolphin for allowing us to be patient to let him develop.”

The lightly raced First Mission has made only four career starts but sports a gutsy victory earlier this year in the Lexington Stakes (G3). The son of Street Sense was the early favorite for the Preakness but was scratched from the race because of an ankle injury. He returned six months later in a conditioned allowance event at Keeneland, where he overcame an extremely troubled trip to win by a neck over Commandperformance.

“I think he got a lot of seasoning mentally out of that allowance race,” Cox said. “You don’t see horses overcome that type of trouble and win, especially at Keeneland. I think he’s coming into this race a better horse, and we’re excited to see how he can progress.”

Fifty-seven 3-year-olds have won the Clark, but the last one to do it was Gun Runner in 2016.

Breaking to his inside is Straight Arrow who will test graded stakes company for the first time. Trained by Mike Dini, Straight Arrow exits an impressive victory last month in the Empire Classic at Aqueduct.

“He took a little longer to get to the races,” Dini said. “He didn’t really want to train at first. He was pretty aggressive. We ended up gelding him, and he’s started to get a lot better in the mornings. This will be a good test to see how good he really is, especially with how easily he won last time. He’s a half-brother to Disco Partner, who I was told was a little bit difficult to train like him. Right now, he’s been pretty good so we’re going to see how he fits.”

The 4-year-old Straight Arrow didn’t make his debut until June at Monmouth Park, where he finished fifth in a six-furlong maiden special weight. Since that race, the gray son of Arrogate sports four victories from six starts.

Florida-based Il Miracolo made his journey to Churchill Downs two weeks ago for trainer Antonio Sano. Il Miracolo finished a game second one month ago in the Fayette Stakes (G2) at Keeneland. After that race, the son of Gun Runner has worked twice beneath the Twin Spires, a six-furlong move in 1:13.80 on Nov. 11 and a five-furlong move in 1:01.40 on Saturday.

Friday’s Clark Stakes will run as race 11 with a post time of 5:48 p.m. EST.