Churchill Downs: Stephen Foster Highlights Stakes Rich Card
The G1 $500,000 Stephen Foster Stakes will go as the 8th race on the card at Churchill Downs on Saturday.
It’s one of 5 graded stakes races on the calendar of summer racing in Louisville and marks the return of Gun Runner in his first race back since a second place finish last time out in the Dubai World Cup.
Before the World Cup, the 4 year-old son of Candy Ride went to the winner’s circle back-to-back in the G1 Clark Handicap here at Churchill last November. And opened the year by winning the G3 Razorback at Oaklawn in convincing fashion.
He traveled to Dubai where he led with 800 meters to go before being overtaken by the powerful performance of Arrogate who has yet to make his return to racing since his win in Dubai.
In the Foster, Gun Runner will likely face challenges from Bird Song and Stanford for the early lead.
Bird Song is the 4 year-old son of Unbridled’s Song and exits a front-running victory in the G2 Alysheba here at Churchill on May 5. He’s 3 for 4 over the track in shorter races.
Stanford will be making his first start over the Churchill strip for trainer Todd Pletcher who has two wins at the meet. Pletcher added blinkers two races back to win a $100K overnight stakes at Tampa in March before sending Stanford out over a sloppy track to finish fifth as the favorite in the Charles Town Classic in April.
