The action was bustling Saturday morning at Churchill Downs with several accomplished horses recording workouts for upcoming stakes appearances, most notably Gold Square's multiple Grade 1 winner Cyberknife, who cruised five furlongs in 1:01.20 with jockey Florent Geroux aboard.
The 3-year-old son of Gun Runner is possible to run in the $1 million betPARX Pennsylvania Derby (GI) on Sept. 24 at Parx, according to trainer Brad Cox.
Following his disappointing 18th-place finish this spring in the Kentucky Derby (GI), Cyberknife went on to win both the Matt Winn (G3) June 12 at Churchill Downs and the TVG.com Haskell (G1), the latter in track record time July 23 at Monmouth Park. He was subsequently second to Epicenter in the Travers (G1) Aug. 27 at Saratoga.
Along with Cyberknife, other stakes-caliber horses on the work tab Saturday morning included Best Actor (five furlongs, 1:01.80), Fulsome (five furlongs, 1:00.80), Juju's Map (five furlongs, 1:01), King Fury (five furlongs, 1:00.40), Mo Strike (four furlongs, :50), Rattle N Roll (five furlongs, 1:00.40), Santin (five furlongs, 1:01.40), Tawny Port (five furlongs, 1:01.20), and Twilight Blue (five furlongs, 1:02.40).
Many of the top horses based at Churchill Downs will train in Louisville prior to competing in the Breeders' Cup World Championships to be held about 75 miles east at Keeneland on Nov. 4-5. When the Breeders' Cup was last hosted at Keeneland in 2020, there were 39 contenders who were based at Churchill Downs.
The final two weeks of the September Meet will feature six stakes events which many horses will use as their final prep before the Breeders' Cup.
Among the stakes that will be featured are the $500,000 Lukas Classic (G2), a prep toward the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (GI), and the $300,000 Ack Ack (G3), a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” race for the $1 million Dirt Mile (G1).
Nominations to both the Lukas Classic and Ack Ack closed Saturday and will be released in the coming days.
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