Alternation meets 8 in CD’S Foster

The nation’s top- rated older horse might be an underdog tonight in the 31st running of the $ 400,000 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs.

Alternation, ranked No. 1 in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association poll and 4for- 4 this year, was made the 4- 1 second choice for the first night running of the Grade 1 Foster. Luis Quinonez remains aboard the 4- year- old colt for trainer Donnie Von Hemel, Alternation coming off a Grade 3 victory in the Pimlico Special after winning the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap and two other races at Oaklawn Park.

The Charlie Lopresti- trained entry of Wise Dan and Successful Dan is the early 8- 5 favorite with John Velazquez named aboard both horses. Lopresti has said Successful Dan will race only if Wise Dan scratches. The 5- year- old Wise Dan is a horse for the course, winning last year’s Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, and comes off a track- record performance at Keeneland in his only start this year. Successful Dan broke a Churchill Downs track record in the May 4 Alysheba on the Kentucky Oaks undercard.

Wise Dan is high- weighted at 123 pounds, Alternation receiving 122. Santa Anita Handicap winner Ron the Greek ( 6- 1, 119) is the only other Grade 1 winner in the mile- and- an- eighth Foster, which includes 2011 Kentucky Derby runner- up Nehro. Completing the nine- horse field are Nates Mineshaft, Fort Larned, Mission Impazible and Rogue Romance. The 5- year- old Mission Impazible, trained by Todd Pletcher, finished second by a neck to Pool Play in last year’s Foster and returned to finish

second in the Clark.

The Foster is scheduled at 8: 39 p. m. CDT on an 11- race card starting at 6 p. m. For the first time, the Foster winner gains automatic entry to the Grade 1 $ 5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, scheduled Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs.

Earlier on the card, Oaklawn stakes winner Master Rick is among five 3- year- olds in the Grade 3 $ 100,000 Matt Winn at a mile and one- sixteenth. Master Rick, one of two Winn starters trained by Steve Asmussen, defeated Grade 1 winner Drill by a length and a quarter in Oaklawn’s $ 100,000 Northern Spur at one mile on the Arkansas Derby undercard April 14. Corey Nakatani keeps the mount.

Zapper Belle, a two- time Oaklawn winner for trainer Dan Peitz, goes in the Grade 3 $ 100,000 Regret at nine furlongs on the turf. The 3- yearold Ghostzapper filly is produced by Capote Belle, a multiple Grade 1 winner trained by Peitz and, like Zapper Belle, owned by Robert and Lawana Low of Springfield, Mo. Channing Hill, Zapper Belle’s rider in both Oaklawn victories, keeps the mount.