Morticia facing familiar rival

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A millionaire mare with eight stakes wins should have a big edge when she takes a rare drop into the allowance ranks, right?

Not at the 2020 Churchill Downs spring meet, where the lack of racing opportunities elsewhere during the coronavirus crisis has led to a swarm of high-class Thoroughbreds convening here.

“They’re not giving anything away,” said Rusty Arnold, who will saddle Morticia for the feature of a 10-race Thursday card, an $88,000 turf sprint with wide-open conditions. “Until everybody starts scattering in different directions, pretty much anything can show up in these Churchill races.”

Morticia, now 6, has been a mainstay in the national ranks of female turf sprinters for the last three seasons, racking up 10 wins, seven seconds, and more than $1 million from 26 starts. Arnold and owner G. Watts Humphrey were initially inclined to retire the homebred daughter of Twirling Candy after she ran second in the Franklin County last October at Keeneland, “but then I saw a 6-year-old mare [Belvoir Bay] win the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and a 6-year-old mare win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff [Blue Prize] at Santa Anita, and I thought, ‘Let’s give it one more go,’ ” Arnold said.

“Plus, her best races last year were her last two. She’s sound, she’s having fun, and she’s doing just great.”

So here she is. Morticia, with Tyler Gaffalione riding from post 1, is part of a full field of 10 in the ninth race at five furlongs. She’s the morningline second choice at 9-5, right behind a familiar rival, Girls Know Best (8-5), an Eddie Kenneally trainee who’ll have

Jose Ortiz aboard from post 8.

“Eddie’s filly ran a few times at Gulfstream over the winter, so she might have a little edge in fitness on us,” Arnold said.

One other allowance directly precedes the feature as race 8. It’s an $81,000 first-level maintrack route for 3-year-olds and up. A maiden special dash for 2-year-old fillies (race 2) also is on tap.

Those and most other races are part of another jam-packed overnight, as 130 entries (including also-eligibles and exclusions) were accepted for Thursday by the Churchill racing office. Rain was in the local forecast Tuesday through Friday, and while the feature is scheduled for turf, it’s reinforced with a five-horse alsoeligible list that should allow it to hold together in case it’s transferred to the main track.

Both allowances are links in the 20-cent Single 6 (races 5-10), which had its carryover jackpot emptied Sunday with a $223,803 single-ticket winner.

First post every day at the spectator-free meet is 1 p.m. Eastern.

COADY PHOTOGRAPHY Morticia will make her 6-year-old debut in a five-fulong turf sprint allowance race on Thursday at Churchill Downs.