Churchill Downs ushers in the weekend with an appealing and competitive Friday card featuring three allowance-level events.
The eighth race on the program, a $134,000 allowance/optional-claiming turf sprint for older horses, is not quite the richest race on the card, but it has attracted a deep field with the richest participants. Three in the main body of the 10-horse field – there are four also-eligibles on the program – have earned more than $500,000, led by millionaire Outadore. The average earnings for these 10 entrants is a healthy $350,210. In addition to multiple stakes winner Outadore, the field includes stakes winners Bushido and Mischievous Rogue; multiple graded stakes-placed Bad Beat Brian; and stakes-placed B D Valeski.
Despite holding those accomplishments, Outadore fits the conditions of this race, as he is in for the $80,000 claiming price. The race is a second-level allowance with an optional $80,000 tag.
The speedy Outadore has drawn the rail under Luan Machado and will get pace pressure from Bushido, Urban Legend, and Portofino. Outadore is making his fourth start for trainer Eddie Kenneally, who claimed him for $80,000 out of a Churchill turf sprint win in June in which he led home Bushido and B D Valeski. He is still looking for his first win since. His best form was when he was a multiple stakes winner at ages 2 and 3 for trainer Wesley Ward. However, he is still relatively consistent this year at age 6 and is unbeaten at this distance on turf and unbeaten over the Churchill course.
Mischievous Rogue also made a barn switch this summer. Following a close second-place finish in the Mighty Beau at Churchill, he was purchased for $160,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July horses of racing age sale and transferred from Doug Cowans to Mike Maker. He proceeded to handily win the Robert S. Molaro Memorial in July at Hawthorne. More recently, he was fourth and fifth in a pair of Kentucky allowance races. However, he was beaten less than three lengths in each outing, and both races were stakes-quality, with graded stakes winner Arrest Me Red leading home both times.
:: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!
The richest purse on the card comes in the fourth race, a $148,000 three-other-than allowance for fillies and mares with an optional claiming price of $100,000, and the entrants in this race bring in significant stakes experience as well. She’s Lookin Lucky is multiple stakes-placed this year since moving to turf for Matt Shirer, including a solid effort at Friday’s mile distance in which she set the pace in the Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Turf Mile at Ellis Park before finishing third, beaten just a length by Walkathon and Dana’s Beauty, both graded winners who took their respective next outings.
Join the Dance, multiple stakes-placed this year, is cutting back slightly from a number of good efforts at 1 1/16 miles. She will need a good break from the rail and faces a field with plenty of other speed, including from Stylish Sue, whose only start at Churchill Downs was a front-running allowance win.
Selenaia has back class, as she won the Grade 3 Honeymoon Stakes in June 2023 while starting her career strongly. She is winless in five outings since. A hot pace would help this late-runner, who might offer some value.
Friday’s seventh race is a $127,000 entry-level allowance/optional claimer for 2-year-old fillies. Eunomia is favored off a strong effort at this 1 1/16-mile distance, winning a maiden at Keeneland in her third career start.
◗ Desert Adventure, from a family the powerhouse Godolphin operation has had success with recently, makes her debut in the sixth race, a $120,000 maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies. The Hard Spun homebred is out of Grade 1 winner Dubai Escapade, dam of six winners from as many starters. Those include Gap Year, dam of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Immersive.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.