Tour Player, if nothing else, has the force of 10 Kentucky Derby wins behind him when he starts in the seventh race on Thursday night at Churchill Downs. Bob Baffert, who has trained six Derby winners, bred Tour Player, who campaigns for Baffert’s spouse, Jill Baffert. And Tour Player makes his first start for the barn of D. Wayne Lukas, trainer of four Derby winners.
Tour Player has the outside post in an eight-horse field, the services of Florent Geroux, and a solid chance to go 2 for 2 after returning from a six-month layoff. He starts in a second-level allowance race carded for 7 1/2 furlongs around one turn on dirt.
Tour Player winds up in the Lukas barn because Baffert evidently has finished running a small string of horses he left at Churchill following the Kentucky Derby. Baffert still was listed as trainer on May 23 when Tour Player, racing for the first time in half a year, made an eye-catching sweep from the rear of a six-horse field to easily clear his first allowance condition while earning a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure.
Tour Player had his first three starts in California but has made his last four in Kentucky, presumably to capitalize on purses roughly twice as high for Kentucky-breds as the ones offered in Southern California. Racing for the first time without blinkers, Tour Player looked like a considerably improved version of his 3-year-old self in his comeback win, and it’s easy to see him getting bet below his 5-1 morning line.
The morning line lists Cat On Time as the 2-1 favorite for owner-trainer David Jacobson, who bought the gelding this winter after he’d popped a couple big figures following a claim by trainer Alexis Claire, who also owned a part of Cat On Time. The horse’s first-start dud for Jacobson came over a two-turn trip and he since has elevated his game in sprints, including a first-level allowance win two races ago.
Cristian Torres rode Cat On Time to that win, while Jose Ortiz had the mount last out and three races ago. Torres rides Cat On Time again Thursday, with Ortiz named on rail-drawn Ignite the Light.
Ignite the Light’s trainer, Rick Dutrow, has not been on fire. Through June 8, his barn had lost 34 starts in a row over a 51-day span. Ignite the Light has been training at Belmont Park and has compiled a strong one-turn dirt allowance résumé this winter and spring. He fits on his current form.
Deer District lost by one length last out to Cat On Time but stands to regress from that high-water mark. Coach Jimi D also is a regression candidate, having returned from a layoff with an Oaklawn Park first-level allowance score that yielded a career-best 91 Beyer.
Friar Laurence was claimed for $50,000 last out by trainer Linda Rice and no doubt soon will be on a van to Rice’s New York base. Spinning Pride has little to no chance, but Stretch Ride can outrun his odds cutting back from 1 1/8 miles in a race at about this level on April 18 at Keeneland, his first start since January.
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