Mr. Misunderstood to defend his win in Churchill's River City
Flurry Racing Stables’ 12-time winner Mr. Misunderstood will defend his title in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 River City at Churchill Downs, where he leads a field of 10 older turf specialists in the 42nd running of the 1 1/8-mile grass race.
The River City, which received a $75,000 purse boost for the 2019 renewal, is carded as Race 10 with a post time of 5:36 p.m. ET.
Trained by Brad Cox, Mr. Misunderstood (25: 12-3-3—$813,879) is in search of his first victory of 2019 following near misses in the Kentucky Downs Tourist Mile Preview and Remington Green Stakes. The classy 5-year-old gelding, named after the hit Eric Church single and album by the same name, sports a stout 5: 4-0-1 record over the Churchill lawn. Four of his eight stakes wins have come under the Twin Spires, including the Jefferson Cup and Commonwealth Turf (G3) in 2017 and Wise Dan (G2) and River City in 2018.
Mr. Misunderstood will break from post position No. 4 on Saturday with regular pilot Florent Geroux scheduled to ride.
Among Mr. Misunderstood’s rivals in the River City is Amerman Racing's Admission Office (8: 3-3-1—$263,272), who is in search of his first stakes victory after a trio of black type placings. Trained by Brian Lynch, who won the River City in 2015 with Heart to Heart, Admission Office was the runner-up behind Catholic Boy in Pimlico’s Dixie Stakes (G2) and third-place finisher in the Wise Dan earlier this season at Churchill Downs. Most recently, the 4-year-old colt finished 11th in the Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland but was only defeated 3 ¼ lengths to Bowies Hero. One of the nation’s leading riders, Jose Ortiz, has the call on Admission Office from post 9.
Trainer Mike Maker entered three horses for Saturday’s River City: Paradise Farms City Corp’s recent Keeneland allowance winner Bemma's Boy; Three Diamonds Farm’s multiple stakes-placed Cullum Road; and Hooties Racing and Michael Hui’s stakes winner Space Mountain. Maker won the River City in 2017 with Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Shining Copper.
The complete River City field (with jockey and trainer):
1. Cullum Road (Tyler Gaffalione, Mike Maker)
2. Emmaus (IRE) (Channing Hill, Connor Murphy)
3. Blue Sky Kowboy (Sophie Doyle, Michele Boyce)
4. Mr. Misunderstood (Geroux, Cox)
5. My Bariley (Santo Sanjur, Anthony Granitz)
6. Space Mountain (Ricardo Santana Jr., Maker)
7. Bemma’s Boy (Julien Leparoux, Maker)
8. Get Western (Brian Hernandez Jr., Charlie LoPresti)
9. Admission Office (Ortiz, Lynch)
10. Lascaux (Joe Rocco Jr., Jose Fernandez).
All horses will carry 121 pounds.