War Dancer Starting Highweight in Louisville 'Cap
{{monthName}} {{day}}, {{year}} {{hour12}}:{{minuteTwoDigit}}{{dayPeriod}}
Photo:
Chris 'Dark Horse' Sorenson
Magdalena Racing and Diamond M Stables’ War Dancer,
winner of the 2013 Virginia
Derby (Grade II) and runner-up in last month’s Elkhorn (GII) at
Keeneland, is the 118-pound starting high weight in a field of eight
older horses that were entered for Saturday’s 77th running
of the $100,000-added Louisville Handicap (GIII) at Churchill Downs.
The
Louisville Handicap, a 1 ½-mile marathon over the Matt Winn Turf
Course, will be run as the final race on a 10-race program at
approximately 5:20
p.m. EDT. First post Saturday is 12:45 p.m. EDT.
Conditioned by two-time Louisville Handicap-winning trainer Kenny McPeek,
War Dancer has banked $475,443 from three wins, three seconds and a
third
in 12 starts. The 4-year-old War Front colt, who had the lead in the
$250,000 Elkhorn with an eighth of a mile to go only to be caught in the
final yards by Unitarian, will break from post position two under Alan Garcia.
Stella Perdomo’s Forte Dei Marmi-GB, who’ll break from the rail under Calvin Borel
and 117 pounds, has won more races and money than
any Louisville Handicap entrant. The 8-year-old gelding was a winner of
three consecutive graded stakes in Canada last summer for trainer Roger Attfield including the Grade I Northern Dancer, and boasts a career record of 35-10-1-5—$1,038,072 since his
debut in August 2008.
Team Block’s Chicago-based Suntracer, a three-time stakes winner conditioned by Chris Block, also will carry 117 pounds while breaking
from post six under four-time Louisville Handicap-winning jockey Robby Albarado.
The 6-year-old son of Kitten’s Joy seeks his first win since October
2012 when he took the $100,000 Robert F. Carey Memorial Handicap at
Hawthorne. Overall, the Illinois-bred’s
record is 31-6-6-3—$577,087.
Suntracer
and Forte Dei Marmi-GB were most recently fourth and seventh,
respectively, in the Elkhorn, which, like the Louisville Handicap, was
run over
1 ½ miles on grass.
The
Louisville Handicap field from the rail out (with jockeys and assigned
weight): Forte Dei Marmi-GB (Borel, 117 pounds); War Dancer (Garcia,
118);
Moro Tap (Rosie Napravnik, 114); Perfect Timber (Jesus Castanon, 114); Tattenham (Shaun Bridgmohan, 115); Suntracer (Albarado, 117); Formidable Heart (Ricardo Santana Jr., 114); and Star Channel (Corey Lanerie, 115). Formidable
Heart will race with blinkers for the first time.
Read More
Last week, I mentioned that as many as seven Eclipse races still have debate swirling around them. I...
The Grade 3 Jockey Club Oaks Invitational Stakes was inaugurated in 2019 as part of a new racing...
Mahoning Valley: It's not just for Mondays and Tuesdays! The Northeast Ohio oval plays host to racing Monday...
Trainer Dale Romans is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Mitch McConnell. In...
In the 11 days since the Breeders' Cup Distaff, some of the fillies and mares have gone through...