News

Ron Winchell, the co-owner of The Mint Gaming Hall at Kentucky Downs and who campaigns Louisiana Derby (G2) runner-up Midnight Bourbon, said he’s trying to keep his enthusiasm in check about their chances in Saturday’s 146th Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico. “I’ve got people calling me, ‘I really like your horse,’” he said, adding with a laugh, “It’s like, ‘No. Stop it! Stop it!’”
 

Winchell Thoroughbreds’ 3-year-old filly Finite, whose first career victory came last year at Kentucky Downs, resumed her winning ways by beating older fillies and mares to take Saturday’s 35th running of Churchill Downs’ $100,000 Chilukki (Grade 3) by 2 ½ lengths over Sanenus. It was her fifth stakes triumph.

Juddmonte Farms’ homebred Flavius surged to the lead at midstretch and held off a late charge from defending champion Snapper Sinclair by three-quarters of a length to win the 23rd running of the $645,700 Tourist Mile to cap the WinStar Farm opening-day program of the six-day RUNHAPPY Meet at Kentucky Downs.

Gary Barber’s 5-year-old mare Got Stormy, one of America’s premier turf milers of either sex, will try something at Kentucky Downs for the first time in a career that to date has spanned 23 starts, eight victories and $1.6 million in earnings. Trainer Mark Casse said that Got Stormy, seeking her first in in 2020, will run in the $500,000, Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint on Sept. 12 at 6 1/2 furlongs. It will be the first time she has sprinted. In fact, the only time Got Stormy has raced at shorter than a mile was her debut as 2-year-old in a 7 1/2-furlong race, which at Gulfstream Park is staged around two turns. This and more in today's Kentucky Downs media notes!

Saturday in the richest race of the opening day of the RUNHAPPY meet at Kentucky Downs, the $749,000 Tourist Mile, Snapper Sinclair rallied to catch pacesetting Real Story in the shadow of the wire to score by a half-length, pushing his local record to two-for-two. In 2017 during his 2-year-old season, he won the Fasig-Tipton Turf Showcase Juvenile Stakes with aplomb. Snapper Sinclair is not alone in being perfect at Kentucky Downs. So, too, is his owner, Bloom Racing, now four-for-four at the all-turf kidney-shaped oval in southern Kentucky.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo that’s less and not been a dead-heat,” Jeff Bloom, who heads the partnership that campaigns Snapper Sinclair, said of the narrow defeat in the Fair Grounds' Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes. “What was so tough is he was in front, in front, in front — missed it — in front, in front. It was like the only time the other horse got the head bob.

"Snapper was so impressive breaking his maiden at Saratoga, so to come to that race at Kentucky Downs and perform as well as he did with the added distance, and to dominate the way he did, solidified what we always felt: That this is a very talented horse" -- owner Jeff Bloom

Youngsters are in the spotlight Wednesday, and what’s arguably the day’s most compelling race, the $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Showcase Juvenile, has attracted a full field of 2-year-olds that bulges with potential.