Prospect Watch: 1st starters emerge for Gun Runner, Classic Empire

Kentucky Derby week is an exhausting time for racing fans and handicappers. With so many high-class stakes races to analyze at Churchill Downs, it can be difficult to keep up with stakes action at other tracks around the country, let alone maiden and allowance races.

But we would be remiss for failing to highlight a particularly intriguing maiden special weight taking place on Thursday at Churchill Downs. The five-furlong sprint for juveniles has drawn a promising field, including the first starters representing champions Gun Runner and Classic Empire.

Before we dive back into handicapping the Kentucky Derby and Oaks cards, let’s take an extended look at three of the most interesting runners in Thursday’s field:

Churchill Downs Race 3: Maiden Special Weight for 2yos (five furlongs, 1:45 p.m. ET)

#3 Gunite

Get ready, Gun Runner fans! The 2017 Horse of the Year is ready to begin the next chapter of his legacy. The first young “runner” to represent Gun Runner at stud is Gunite, who races for essentially the same team (trainer Steve Asmussen, jockey Florent Geroux, and owner Winchell Thoroughbreds) as the champ himself. Only Gun Runner’s co-owner Three Chimneys Farm is missing from the Gunite group.

Although Gun Runner didn’t reach his peak until the age of four, he did win his debut as a two-year-old at Churchill Downs. Gunite’s dam, Simple Surprise, was even more of an early-maturing juvenile, winning her debut during the spring at Churchill Downs before adding Saratoga’s Bolton Landing S. to her resume. Suffice to say, Gunite has the pedigree to win from an early age, and at Churchill Downs to boot.

But there are other reasons to like Gunite beyond his pedigree. Steve Asmussen went 5-for-7 debuting two-year-old males at Churchill Downs last spring, and Gunite fired off a bullet workout at Keeneland earlier this month, traveling a half mile from the starting gate in :47 1/5. Any way you slice it, Gunite appears poised to make Gun Runner proud.

#5 Twenty Four Mamba

Gun Runner is not the only champion picking up his first starter on Thursday. Classic Empire, the champion two-year-old male of 2016, is also returning to the headlines courtesy of his son Twenty Four Mamba.

Sold for $55,000 as a yearling, Twenty Four Mamba was produced by the unraced Harlan’s Holiday mare Oh Maybe Baby. Owned by Gary Barber and conditioned by Mark Casse, Twenty Four Mamba has been training steadily since the beginning of March, cranking out seven workouts without a miss. On April 15, he traveled a half mile from the Keeneland starting gate in :47 4/5, and he did exactly the same on April 22.

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who has won the last three meet titles at Churchill Downs, is named to ride Twenty Four Mamba. An encouraging debut should be in the offing.

#6 Tea Olive

On Wednesday at Churchill Downs, trainer Wesley Ward saddled the filly Averly Jane to beat male rivals in the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes. Ward will attempt the same feat on Thursday with Tea Olive, a chestnut filly favored at 2-1 on the morning line to defeat Gunite and Twenty Four Mamba.

A daughter of the multiple Grade 1-winning juvenile First Samurai, Tea Olive was produced by the stakes-placed Super Saver mare Conquest Superstep. Super Saver is best known for winning the Kentucky Derby, but he also matured early enough win the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) as a juvenile, so Tea Olive’s pedigree shouldn’t prevent her from shining as a spring two-year-old.

Tea Olive’s work tab isn’t quite as flashy as the ones compiled by Gunite and Twenty Four Mamba, but she’s nevertheless turned in several quick three-furlong breezes at Keeneland, which has been pretty typical for Ward’s juveniles this spring. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez (a 27% winner when teaming up with Ward) is named to ride, so don’t overlook Tea Olive in this competitive heat.

Enjoy the racing!