Mrs Rocco back on dirt in allowance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – While the opening three-day weekend of the brief September meet at Churchill Downs was crammed with high-level races, that’s not exactly the case with the first of two Thursday programs.

A solitary allowance for 2-year-old fillies serves as the highlight of an eight-race card that starts at 5 p.m. Eastern. Otherwise, maiden or claiming races will have to satisfy fans, whose diversions include the food trucks, beer specials, and live music that Churchill has used since the 2015 spring meet to foster a livelier ontrack experience during twilight cards.

Mrs Rocco, a last-out winner over the Ellis Park turf, returns to dirt for trainer Brad Cox as the probable favorite in a field of eight entered in race 7, a $53,000 first-level allowance at six furlongs.

“I really like the way she’s been training,” said Cox, who on Sunday suffered a major disappointment when one of his stable stars, Green Mask, was retired due to injury. “Hopefully the filly will keep improving and we can knock out this condition in quick order.”

Corey Lanerie has a return call on Mrs Rocco, a daughter of Quality Road owned in part by prominent New York owner Michael Dubb. Lanerie, the leading rider at 13 of the last 15 Churchill meets, got away to another quick start at this meet and led the jockey standings after the first three cards with six winners.

Mrs Rocco has been well backed in both her starts. She was 9-5 when second in her debut on opening weekend of the Ellis meet, then 7-10 when shifted to the turf on Aug. 27, emerging a neck winner after making all the pace from the inside post.

Mrs Rocco will break from post 5 in a field that also includes My Peeps (post 4, Jon Court), winner of a maiden-claiming race over the Churchill dirt at the spring meet for Jack Van Berg; Lullingstone (post 5, Calvin Borel), back in a better spot after being overmatched in the Ellis Debutante last out; and D’Cat (post 3, Gabriel Saez), a Louisiana-bred in off a maiden victory at Indiana Grand for Bernie Flint.

Rounding out the lineup are La Dama, Lady Rubi, Bella Kristina, and Anna Kate.

Besides the nominal feature, the Thursday card also includes a pair of maiden special weight events (races 4 and 6) which drew big fields. All are part of a Single 6 sequence (races 3-8) offering a rollover jackpot of $20,545.

Next week will mark the final Thursday evening of the year at Churchill. This 11-day meet runs through Oct. 1. Keeneland starts its 17-day fall meet on Oct. 6.