Action on Saturday’s Stars of Tomorrow card at Churchill Downs includes a pair of rich sprint stakes for juveniles, plus maiden and allowance races featuring promising runners on the card.
Tough Catch comes into the $225,000 Ed Brown Society Stakes with only one unplaced effort in his nascent career, and that came against much tougher competition than lines up for Saturday’s 6 1/2-furlong race. The son of Complexity – among this year’s top freshman sires – held well for a debut victory going 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 78. He finished eighth at seven furlongs in the Grade 1 Hopeful, an edition of that historic race that has held up well. He bounced back with another strong effort in the six-furlong Bowman Mill at Keeneland, altering course late and missing by a half-length while earning another 78 Beyer.
Tough Catch is trained by Dallas Stewart, who is pursuing his 1,000th career victory. Stewart, who has 999 wins, had one entrant on Thursday’s card at Churchill Downs and six 2-year-olds entered on Saturday’s program. He also has one entrant at Fair Grounds on Saturday.
Glean or Wisconsin Gal would be the first filly to win the Ed Brown Society. Wisconsin Gal, a last-out maiden winner in her sixth career start, is the first stakes mount at Churchill for jockey Killian Leonard, who won with three of his first seven mounts at the track.
Glean, a $450,000 yearling by leading freshman sire McKinzie, was a half-length maiden winner sprinting on the Keeneland turf last month for Wesley Ward.
Thrilla, who has already shown multi-surface ability, is cutting back in distance. After leading throughout for an 18-length maiden win at a mile on the Colonial dirt, the colt was third in the 1 1/16-mile Kitten’s Joy on the Colonial turf after setting the pace. He then faded to seventh after pressing the speed in an allowance race going two turns on the Keeneland main track.
:: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.
Keep It Easy was a four-length maiden winner during the spring meet at Churchill with a 79 Beyer, narrowly the best in the field. He then was eighth in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special after stumbling badly at the start. He has worked strongly for his return to the races.
Keep It Easy is well drawn toward the outside of a group of eight that looks to have plenty of early pace, including Thrilla. Tough Catch and Glean have both shown the ability to be on or just off the lead. Tyler Gaffalione and Gerardo Corrales, respectively, will have to make early choices for those two as they break from the two inside posts.
The sister race of the Ed Brown is the $225,000 Fern Creek going the same 6 1/2 furlongs. Echo Sound, with Luis Saez in the irons for Rusty Arnold, has won all three of her starts, all at six furlongs. Those include a Churchill Downs allowance, in which she showed affinity for the surface, and a score in the Myrtlewood at Keeneland in which she displayed her stakes quality. The filly won the Myrtlewood by 2 1/2 lengths over Praying – who she faces again here – and earned an 84 Beyer, narrowly best in this field.
Impulse Buy, an 11-length maiden winner going seven furlongs, cuts back in distance after a good second in the one-mile Tempted at Aqueduct despite stumbling at the start.
Shezafunkydrummer, winner of the Prairie Gold Lassie on dirt, comes back to this surface off two turf stakes, finishing second in the Untapable around one turn at Kentucky Downs before fading to sixth after setting the pace in the two-turn, Grade 2 Jessamine at Keeneland.
◗ Chasten, a half-sister to Eclipse Award champion Idiomatic, debuts in Saturday’s first race, a seven-furlong maiden special weight for fillies.
The daughter of leading sire Into Mischief is a Juddmonte Farm homebred trained by Brad Cox and will be ridden by Florent Geroux – the same connections as her older half-sister, who retired last month after winning five Grade 1 races.
Juddmonte, Cox, and Geroux also team up with the promising Disco Time in the seventh race, an allowance. The daughter of Not This Time and multiple stakes winner Disco Chick is coming off a 3 3/4-length debut win at seven furlongs. She goes a mile Saturday, which she should handle with aplomb. Not This Time is the sire of several prominent two-turn runners, including marathon specialist Next.
◗ Running Away seems like a threat for the win in the second race, a 1 1/16-mile dirt maiden. The filly was second and third in her first two starts, beaten just more than a half-length in total. Both outings were on turf and both were at two turns, giving her a strong foundation. She also has a solid dirt pedigree, being by Gun Runner and from the immediate family of Kentucky Oaks winner Summerly.
Take Note of This finished a head in front of Running Away last time out, and Running Away could provide a form clue before Take Note of This looks to win her maiden in the fourth race, going a mile on turf. The Ghostzapper filly, a $550,000 yearling, is bred for the trip as she is a half-sister to Grade 1-winning turf router Sadler’s Joy.
◗ Maidens in an overflow field for the day’s final race include the Curlin colt Buzz Rocket, a half-brother to champion California Chrome.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.