Preview Weekend does just that

 

 

 

 

 

Six – maybe all 7 – Preview Weekend winners pointed for Kentucky Downs stakes

Kentucky Downs Preview Weekend Aug. 3-4 at Ellis Park did exactly what it was created for in 2018: Encouraging stakes horses to stay in or ship to Kentucky to try to win a fees-paid berth in Kentucky Downs’ big-money races. Six of the seven winning horses are committed to running in the corresponding race at Kentucky Downs. The connections of Pucker Up (G3) winner Waves of Mischief are considering the $1.6 million Dueling Grounds Oaks but have reservations about the filly handling the 1 5/16-mile distance. The Mike Maker-trained runner-up Pin Up Betty, winner of Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Regret, can be expected to run.

Video: Waves of Mischief rides Brian Hernandez wave

Owner-breeder Ron Dowdy and trainer Tracey Wisner have run Indiana-based Charcoal at Kentucky Downs three times, including a respectable fifth at 46-1 odds in what now is the $2 million Ainsworth Turf Sprint. The 8-year-old gelding defeated Arrest Me Red by a head in the $250,000 Ellis prep to earn a free roll in the Kentucky Downs’ Grade 2 stakes on Sept. 7

Wisner didn’t realize his entry and starting fees would be waived.

“No kidding?” he said at Ellis after the Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint. “Gotta like that. I didn’t know. I love Kentucky Downs. I love it even more now.”

Video: Charcoal earns biggest career victory at age 8

Whitham Thoroughbreds’ homebred Walkathon will come into the $1.5 million Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf (G3) on Aug. 31 off a two-stakes win streak. Trained by Ian Wilkes and ridden by Brian Hernandez, the multiple stakes-winner Walkathon won the $250,000 Ellis Park prep by a neck on the wire over Dana’s Beauty.

“She’s gritty, and she took off after Dana’s Beauty pretty hard, and I thought the whole way down the lane I’d be able to just kind of outclass her and get to her late,” Hernandez said. “If you watch the reply, I never even hit Walkathon. It was more of the fact that we’ve got the next race coming up, which will be a tough task at Kentucky Downs. We just wanted to get the right kind of race into her.”

Maker said Dana’s Beauty also will target the mile Ladies Turf.

(Video: Walkathon wins on the wire)

Jim and Susan Hill’s Highway Robber exploded on the far turn under Jareth Loveberry en route to winning the 1 1/4-mile, $300,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup by a length over favored New York invader Siege of Boston. Trainer Brian Lynch plans to have two horses in the $2 million FanDuel TV Kentucky Turf Cup (G2) on Sept. 7, having also finished third in the prep with Anglophile, winner of last year’s Dueling Grounds Derby (G3), now the Nashville Derby.

“I think he beat a very good field of horses,” Lynch said. “I thought our other horse in there ran a very good race, too. It was a sneaky kind of race; he didn’t get the cleanest of trips or I think he’d have been right there with the winner, too. Highway Robber had to win to get into the next race. It’s one of our highlights of the year to try to get horses a berth in the Kentucky Downs carnival. It’s such an important racing festival for us.”

Video: Highway Robber earns Preview victory honestly

As a graded-stakes winner, Anglophile is in good shape to make what likely will be an overflow field.

Awesome Treat, the longest shot on the board at 25-1 in the $250,000 Ellis prep, earned a spot in the $1.5 million Exacta Systems Ladies Turf Sprint (G2) on Aug. 31 with her neck score over multiple stakes-winner Red Carpet Ready, who was making her turf debut. The Justin Wojczynski-trained 6-year-old Awesome Treat achieved her first stakes while giving jockey Sophie Doyle her first stakes victory since she having her daughter a year ago. Trainer Rusty Arnold also plans to run Red Carpet Ready.

Video: Awesome Treat gives Sophie Doyle wins first stakes as a mom

The Maker-trained Tut’s Revenge led all the way for a 1 1/2-length victory over favored Win for the Money in the $250,000 prep for the $2 million Mint Millions Mile (G3) on Sept. 7. Maker, Kentucky Downs’ all-time win leader, will be shooting for a third victory in the Mint Millions.

Video: $62,500 claim Tut’s Revenge rolls in Mint Millions prep