Former Navarro, Servis runners in 5 races to watch this week

The stakes schedule gets much busier this weekend with graded events at Churchill Downs and Santa Anita Park. Beforehand, select races across the country Thursday and Friday should set a number of horses up for added-money tries of their own. Here are five we'll be watching.

Thursday’s ninth race at Gulfstream Park (4:52 p.m. ET)

How will former runners from the Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis barns perform in the care of their new trainers? Admiral Lynch could begin telling us when the 4-year-old — who has gone through both Navarro and Servis’ care during his career — debuts for Mike Maker in this 6 1/2-furlong allowance event on the main track.

Admiral Lynch has hit the board in six straight starts after beginning his career with Navarro, going to Tim Kreiser and then landing most recently with Servis. Last time out, he was second on Feb. 22 in Gulfstream Park’s World of Trouble Turf Sprint (G3).

As with others in the care of indicted trainers, Admiral Lynch faced a stand down period of 60 days, then had to clear testing and work off the vet’s list. The Super Saver colt is a 3-1 morning line favorite in what should be a contentious feature, as just one of seven entrants are in for the optional $75,000 claiming tag.

Thursday’s ninth race at Churchill Downs (5:12 p.m. ET)

Casa Creed, last seen winning the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2) last summer at Saratoga, is set for his 4-year-old debut in this allowance optional claiming feature that figures to send multiple runners on to stakes company.

The Bill Mott trainee Casa Creed isn’t even the one to beat, according to the morning line, which slots in Chad Brown’s Front Run the Fed as the 8-5 favorite. The 4-year-old Fed Biz colt also won a stakes last summer at Saratoga, the Better Talk Now, and has been off since a runner-up effort in Belmont Park’s Oct. 26 English Channel.

With an overflow field of 10 set to go a mile on turf, the likes of Moon Colony, Clint Maroon and Mr Dumas are all recognizable former stakes winners as well. Should the race come off the turf, main track-only entrant Lone Sailor is always one to respect over a sloppy track.

Friday’s eighth race at Churchill Downs (4:40 p.m. ET)

Casual, a Curlin filly out of the Grade 1 winner Lady Tak, impressed on debut April 11 at Oaklawn Park when she split rivals for a half-length win going six furlongs. Trainer Steve Asmussen has her back in the entries here for a 7/8-mile event, this time against fellow winners.

It may be up to her to catch Nayibeth. Wesley Ward took this filly to Royal Ascot as a 2-year-old, then saddled her for a runner-up to start this season at Turfway Park.

Four Grands, who has the rail in this full field, is another to know. She brought high expectations into her second start, on April 10 at Gulfstream, but failed to fire off a March 8 debut win by 6 1/4 lengths over the same course.

Friday’s fifth race at Santa Anita Park (5:30 p.m. ET)

Stakes winner Hit the Road, who won the Zuma Beach last October going this same one-mile trip, the next month became trainer Dan Blacker’s first Breeders’ Cup starter. The result — last of 14 in the Juvenile Turf — came after the More Than Ready colt clipped heels.

Given plenty of time off, Hit the Road returns in this allowance optional claiming spot in which he’s the only 3-year-old facing older competition in a field of eight.

King of Speed is a recognizable stakes winner who drew just outside of Hit the Road in post No. 8, while Odysseus may have untaped potential from the inside as a 4-year-old who didn’t get started for trainer Richard Mandella until January. The Candy Ride colt is 2-for-2 and earned a big number at this distance back on March 8.

Friday’s eighth race at Santa Anita Park (7 p.m. ET)

Tizamagician had aims of continuing on the Kentucky Derby trail overseas in the UAE Derby (G2) until that race was canceled due to complications of the coronavirus pandemic. Back in California, the 3-year-old Tiznow colt, also trained by Mandella, is back in the entries.

Tizamagician will go a mile in his first start since the late bloomer, who broke his maiden at sixth asking, finished a close up fourth in the Feb. 1 Robert B. Lewis (G3) at Santa Anita.

There’s just one other sophomore in a field of 11 mostly older horses. Should Tizamagician prevail, he’d be right back on the Derby radar.