Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Major Fed first on the track as barn area begins to fill up
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Major Fed was among the first horses vanned through the Churchill Downs stable gate early Monday, and he was the very first on the racetrack when 2020 training opened before dawn Wednesday.
“Naw, I wasn’t trying to tell anybody anything,” Greg Foley said with a laugh, “but come to think of it, I hope it does mean something.”
The symbolism is clear. In his rush to scratch the itch that prodigal Kentucky trainers have been experiencing at Fair Grounds in Louisiana, Foley was using no less than a Kentucky Derby contender to get himself and his staff back into a welcome routine. Whether or not Foley is subconsciously hinting that Major Fed also will be first in the Sept. 5 Derby can wait as a topic for summer conjecture.
“Everybody was just ready to get home,” Foley said. “Been ready.”
Three weeks after it was supposed to open, the Churchill spring meet will get under way Saturday. Horsemen who wintered at Fair Grounds – the Churchill-owned track where racing was last conducted March 21 – were permitted to return first according to a ship-in system purposely staggered to allow for the extra time required by stringent health protocols that have been put into place because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Fair Grounds horses were assimilated Monday through Wednesday, with horses from Florida getting their turn Thursday to Saturday; Oaklawn Park arrivals, Sunday through Tuesday; and horses from all other locales after that.
Major Fed, a late-running fourth in the March 21 Louisiana Derby, is among the confirmed starters for the Grade 3 Matt Winn, which will be run May 23 among the first set of spring-meet stakes. The Ghostzapper colt is scheduled to breeze Saturday in what will be his third work since his last start.
“The horse looks great,” Foley said. “He’s dappled out head to toe, slick as can be. We’re pointing to the Matt Winn, but I’m sure we’re not the only ones looking at it now.”
Churchill officials announced Tuesday that the 1 1/16-mile Matt Winn is now worth 85 qualifying points (50-20-10-5) toward the Derby, a move likely to entice more horses than when it was initially designated as a 17-point race (10-4-2-1) earlier this month. The Matt Winn is among nine new Derby qualifiers on an updated list released Tuesday.
Not counting a handful of American tracks that have conducted spectator-less racing even amid the height of the coronavirus crisis, Churchill is among the first wave of racetrack reopenings set for the coming weeks. Given the lack of racing opportunities in this and other regions in recent times, there were a whopping 209 entries (including 38 also-eligibles and 47 exclusions) accepted for an 11-race Saturday opener that begins at 1 p.m. Eastern.
“Thank goodness we’re getting back to running here pretty quick,” Foley said. “It’s been a tough time for everybody.”
The 26-day meet runs through June 27, when the Grade 2 Stephen Foster will be run in daylight for the first time since 2011. With ontrack attendance being tightly restricted to essential personnel only, there will be no evening cards here this spring.
The Saturday forecast calls for possible thundershowers and a high of 80.
Monomoy Girl returns
Monomoy Girl is foremost among the opening-day entries for Saturday at Churchill Downs as the heavy favorite in race 4, one of four allowances on a terrific program. Winner of the Kentucky Oaks and an Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old filly in 2018, the now 5-year-old mare will be making her first start since she won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill on Nov. 3, 2018, a span of more than 18 months.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Brad Cox, trainer of Monomoy Girl. “She’s been working great down at Keeneland since late March, and we’re looking forward to this first step back.”
Monomoy Girl will break from post 2 with Florent Geroux aboard when facing six other fillies and mares in a one-turn mile with an $85,000 purse.
Horses such as Monomoy Girl are being exempted from the restrictive ship-in schedule if they are entered on the first two cards Saturday and Sunday. A four-day schedule of Thursdays through Sundays (plus the May 25 Memorial Day card) begins next week, when the stall capacity at Churchill and the nearby Trackside training annex will be reaching their limits.
Cox, whose stable has grown by leaps and bounds in both quantity and quality in recent years, can be expected to contend again for the meet training title. He is reunited here not only with Churchill mainstays such as Steve Asmussen, Mike Maker, and Dale Romans, but high-profile trainers such as Bob Baffert, Chad Brown, and Todd Pletcher also will have active strings at Churchill.
The all-star quality of horses and trainers is equaled by the type of jockey colony usually seen only on major race dates such as the Breeders’ Cup or Derby. With New York racing still idle, John Velazquez, Javier Castellano, Jose Ortiz, and Joel Rosario are among the 48 riders named on the Saturday overnight.