Smile Happy, Played Hard pointing to high-end stakes

Smile Happy and Played Hard, both of whom scored major victories on the first weekend in May, are among those expected to line up for another marquee card at Churchill Downs on the first weekend of July.

Trainer Kenny McPeek confirmed that Smile Happy is pointing to the Grade 1, $1 million Stephen Foster on July 1, a race that will award its winner a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic this November at Santa Anita.

Smile Happy, a Grade 2 winner as a juvenile and Grade 1-placed early last year, has won 2 of 3 starts this year since returning from a lengthy break following the 2022 Kentucky Derby. He scored a two-length victory over Art Collector in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes on the Kentucky Oaks undercard May 5 at Churchill Downs, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 110. That is the highest figure this year at a mile or longer on the main track.

Meanwhile, Phil Bauer, a former assistant to McPeek, is targeting the Grade 2, $400,000 Fleur de Lis on the July 1 card with his stable star Played Hard. The mare held off 2022 Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath for a neck win in the Grade 1 La Troienne on May 5. That was her first start of the year following a strong fall in Kentucky in which she won the Grade 3 Locust Grove and Grade 3 Falls City at Churchill, and was third in the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland behind champion Malathaat.

“She came out of the race in great shape, especially with it being her first start of the year,” Bauer said. “She loves the track at Churchill and we have big goals for her this year.”

Along with the Stephen Foster and Fleur de Lis, the July 1 card at Churchill Downs will include the Grade 2, $400,000 Wise Dan, $225,000 American Derby, $225,000 Kelly’s Landing, and $225,000 Tepin. Corresponding prep races for all six of those stakes races will be contested on a preview card June 3 at Churchill, with nominations closing Saturday.

The June 3 card includes the $225,000 Aristides Stakes, the prep for the Kelly’s Landing. Expected for the Aristides is two-time defending winner Bango, who scored his 10th win at Churchill Downs in the St. Matthews Overnight Stakes on May 4. According to Churchill Downs records, Ready’s Rocket holds the modern-day record as the winningest horse at this racetrack, with 11 wins, all at the claiming or starter-allowance level, in a career spanning from 2005-12.

Hay Stack keeps good company

Churchill Downs opens another four-day racing week Thursday, with a pair of allowance-level turf races for fillies and mares topping the card as nominal features.

The fourth race on Thursday’s card is a $127,000 allowance going 1 3/8 miles. Hay Stack, racing for Peter Brant and Chad Brown, tangled with eventual stakes fillies in several key maiden races, and finally broke through last time when given more distance, rallying to win by a head going 1 1/8 miles at Keeneland. She gets even more ground to work with here.

Frivole has plenty of route experience, racing at up to 1 1/4 miles in France, and now makes her first start in the United States for Graham Motion.

The day’s seventh race, a $134,000 allowance/optional claimer, also has plenty of international flavor. Mise En Scene, an English Group 3 winner who was sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, remained in the United States to race with Brendan Walsh. She is making her second start of the year off a strong second at Keeneland and should be tighter for this effort.

Manuca is making her first start in the United States for Paulo Lobo. She was a Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed in Argentina last year.

Friday will be the first twilight card of the spring meet, with a first post of 6 p.m. Before darkness falls, stakes winners B G Warrior, Back to Ohio, and Dazzling Blue are likely to light it up tangling on the front end in the second race, a $134,000 allowance/ optional-claiming sprint for 3-year-old fillies.

B G Warrior, who enjoyed a strong meet at Turfway Park, was a maiden winner on dirt last year at Belterra over two next-out winners. Back to Ohio won a pair of statebred stakes, including the Best of Ohio John Galbreath, but also shipped out to win the Debutante at Presque Isle.

Dazzling Blue, whose hand may be forced by drawing the rail, has won both her starts by open lengths, most recently the Letellier Memorial Stakes in December at Fair Grounds.

Sitting just off the pace and perhaps able to capitalize could be Sunday Shoes, unbeaten in two starts at Turfway, including the Serena’s Song.

The eighth race, a $134,000 allowance/optional-claiming event on the turf, includes several familiar names looking to get back in the winner’s circle. The main body of the field includes Grade 1-winning millionaire Henley’s Joy; graded stakes winner Stolen Base; stakes winners Price Talk and Rarified Flair; and graded/group-placed Altazor and Hidden Stash.

The feature on Saturday, when Churchill also will be simulcasting the Preakness card, will be the Grade 3, $225,000 Louisville Stakes on the turf. Entries will be drawn Wednesday, and assistant racing secretary and stakes coordinator Dan Bork lists Another Mystery, Bay Street, English Conqueror, Therapist, and Yamato as likely entrants.

Rich Strike moves

A new trainer has not yet been named for 2022 Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, but owner Rick Dawson indicated that he plans for the colt to remain based in Kentucky.

Dawson wrote on his Facebook page that his horses were moved on Saturday from former trainer Eric Reed’s Mercury Equine Center in Lexington to Blackwood Stables in Versailles, on the other side of town. Blackwood, a full breaking, training, and lay-up facility, has a six-furlong dirt track and a turf course and is accredited for public official workouts.

Dawson did not name a new permanent racetrack trainer for Rich Strike, who is winless in six starts since his Derby upset. However, he wrote that “it’s important to me that my horses remain in the Lexington area.”

Reed resigned as Rich Strike’s trainer last Thursday, due to differences with Dawson over image rights and a media deal to depict the story of the colt’s Derby win.