Tag: Racing

First Row Partners and Team Hanley's champion Goodnight Olive puts her seven-race win streak on the line Saturday at Churchill Downs when she takes on five rivals in the 37th running of the $750,000 Derby City Distaff (G1) for fillies and mares going seven furlongs on the main track.

The Derby City Distaff, the first of nine stakes races Saturday, will go as the fourth race with a 12:04 p.m. post time.

Trained by Chad Brown, Goodnight Olive closed her 2022 campaign with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), a victory that clinched the Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter. Goodnight Olive made her 2023 debut a winning one in the Madison (G1) on April 8 at Keeneland, also at seven furlongs. Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount and will break from post two.

The field for the Derby City Distaff, with riders from the rail out, is:

1. Hot and Sultry (Joel Rosario),
2. Goodnight Olive (Ortiz Jr.),
3. Wicked Halo (Tyler Gaffalione),
4. Travel Column (Gerardo Corrales),
5. Matareya (Flavien Prat),
6. My Destiny (Rey Gutierrez).

All starters will carry 123 pounds.

The post Champion Goodnight Olive Faces Five Rivals In Derby City Distaff appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Godolphin's Cody's Wish, winner of last fall's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), makes his 2023 debut Saturday when he tops a field of 11 entered for the 88th running of the Churchill Downs (G1) for 4-year-olds and up going seven furlongs on the main track.

The Churchill Downs will go as the day's 10th race with a 4:31 p.m. post time.

Trained by Bill Mott, Cody's Wish won his final four starts of 2022 with one of those victories coming in the Forego (G1). Junior Alvarado has the mount and will break from post seven.

Topping the list of challengers to Cody's Wish is 2022 Florida Derby (G1) winner White Abarrio. Owned by C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable and trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., White Abarrio comes into the Churchill Downs off his first sprint start since the fall of 2021, a 4 ½-length victory going seven furlongs on March 4 at Gulfstream Park. Paco Lopez has the mount and will break from post one.

Trainer Peter Miller has two entrants in the race: Altamira Racing Stable, Madaket Stables, Gary Barber and Tom Kagele's C Z Rocket and Gary Barber's Get Her Number.

A two-time runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), C Z Rocket returns to Churchill Downs for the first time since the summer of 2020. Eighth in the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) in March in his most recent start, C Z Rocket will break from post two and be ridden by Flavien Prat.

Get Her Number was third at Keeneland in last month's Commonwealth (G3). Joel Rosario has the mount and will break from post five.

The two horses that finished in front of Get Her Number in the Commonwealth, Nathan Hayden's Hear Mi Song and Dream Team One Racing Stable's Hoist the Gold, also return in the Churchill Downs.

The field for the Churchill Downs, with riders from the rail out, is:

1. White Abarrio (Lopez),
2. C Z Rocket (Prat),
3. Here Mi Song (Alex Achard),
4. Hoist the Gold (Luis Saez),
5. Get Her Number (Rosario),
6. Tejano Twist (Chris Landeros),
7. Cody's Wish (Alvarado),
8. Fortin Hill (Gerardo Corrales),
9. Sir Alfred James (Rafael Bejarano),
10. Endorsed (Tyler Gaffalione),
11. Steal Sunshine (Irad Ortiz Jr.).

All starters will carry 123 pounds.

The post Fan-Favorite Breeders’ Cup Winner Cody’s Wish Will Make 2023 Debut In Saturday’s Churchill Downs appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Godolphin's Santin will face nine rivals as he goes for a repeat victory in Churchill Downs' $1 million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic (G1) for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course on Saturday.

The 37th running of the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic will be the race preceding the Kentucky Derby with a 5:27 p.m. (all times Eastern) post time. First post on Derby Day is 10:30 a.m.

Trained by Brendan Walsh, Santin is unbeaten in two starts over the Matt Winn Turf Course with the other victory coming in the Arlington Million (G1) in August. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount Saturday and will break from post eight.

Among the rivals to Santin are NBS Stable's Spooky Channel and Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Up to the Mark.

Trained by Jason Barkley, Spooky Channel won the Muniz Memorial Classic (G2) at Fair Grounds in his most recent start. Joel Rosario has the mount and will break from post nine.

Up to the Mark, who finished a neck behind two-time Breeders' Cup winner Modern Games (IRE) in a third-place finish in the Maker's Mark Mile (G1) at Keeneland last month in his stakes debut for trainer Todd Pletcher, will break from post five and be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.

The field for the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic, with riders from the rail out, is:

1. Ocean Atlantique (Juan Hernandez),
2. Master Piece (CHI) (Christophe Lemaire),
3. Wolfie's Dynaghost (John Velazquez),
4. Steady On (Jose Ortiz),
5. Up to the Mark (Ortiz Jr.),
6. Earls Rock (IRE) (Luis Saez),
7. Hong Kong Harry (Flavien Prat),
8. Santin (Gaffalione),
9. Spooky Channel (Rosario),
10. Bye Bye Melvin (Manny Franco).

All starters will carry 123 pounds.

The post Undefeated On Churchill Turf, Santin Returns For Saturday’s Turf Classic appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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