Off a sharp win in an allowance race on April 13 at Keeneland, Top Gunner was nominated to step back into stakes company at various venues – and wouldn’t have been out of place. After all, he is a multiple stakes winner and graded stakes-placed for various barns, earning just shy of $800,000 in his career.
Ultimately, his connections decided to stick with the allowance-optional claiming condition, which trainer Brad Cox called “the right race for him right now.” But the gelding finds himself in a stakes-quality lineup anyway. His foes in Friday’s sixth race at Churchill Downs, a $148,000 sprint for older horses, include millionaire multiple stakes winner Tejano Twist and graded stakes winners Durante and Roll On Big Joe.
Top Gunner, an 8-year-old gelding, runs for the $175,000 tag – significantly more than the $62,500 owner Michael Dubb and Cox claimed him for at Saratoga last summer. In seven starts since, he has given them victories in the Parx Sprint and a pair of allowance races, finished second in the Fall Highweight, and finished third in the Grade 3 Tom Fool.
“He’s a horse that’s been very good to us since we claimed him last summer,” Cox said.
Most recently, Top Gunner also ran for a $175,000 tag when he bested a field that scratched down to just three – all quality horses – last month at Keeneland. Sitting third and back about two lengths at the quarter pole, Top Gunner was sharp through the lane to easily prevail by 2 1/2 lengths over Roll On Big Joe and stakes winner Otto the Conqueror, both of whom he faces again Friday.
“Short field last time, obviously,” Cox acknowledged. “A larger group, similar conditions [Friday], so it’d be nice if we could get that same effort out of him. I think he’ll be in good shape, but obviously more challengers this time.”
Those challengers include the veteran Tejano Twist, who has earned more than $1.6 million racing for trainer Chris Hartman. A Grade 3 winner at Oaklawn Park, he is a multiple stakes winner at Churchill Downs. Two weeks ago, he was seventh in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard in a deceptively decent effort. The top five finishers were separated by just more than a length in one of the more stacked fields of the weekend.
:: Get Preakness Betting Strategies for exclusive wagering insights, contender analysis, and more
Coal Battle has company
Lonnie Briley saddled his first Kentucky Derby horse two weeks ago when his Grade 2 winner Coal Battle finished 11th in the classic. But Coal Battle isn’t alone in Briley’s corner of Barn 42.
“If I have a horse that I can go somewhere with, I’ll go,” said Briley, who is based in his native Louisiana and also frequents Texas and Arkansas. “I brought four of them here that are pretty nice horses.”
So far, three of Briley’s four have started at this meet. A day before Coal Battle raced in the Derby, Dashin’ Diva was eighth in a maiden race. The barn broke through with True Passion’s win in a maiden special weight on May 11. And on Friday, the last of the quartet, Go Captain, makes his initial Churchill start in the eighth race, a $127,000 turf sprint allowance.
Go Captain is coming off a good runner-up effort in an Oaklawn allowance on dirt, beaten by next-out winner Red State. However, he may be moving back to his preferred surface here. The son of dual-surface graded winner Mo Town and a Johannesburg mare made two turf starts last year, posting a maiden victory at Kentucky Downs before finishing third in a Keeneland allowance.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.