Alysheba

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Defending champion WANDERIN BOY (Seeking the Gold) will lead a field of seven
postward in Friday’s Alysheba S. (G3) at Churchill Downs. The Nick Zito-trained
seven-year-old is the inside speed of the field and has an obvious affinity for
the the local strip, so we’ll tab him for the repeat under Corey Nakatani if he
starts here (he’s cross-entered to Saturday’s Churchill Downs S. [G2]). The
Kentucky-bred chestnut was last seen finishing fourth in the inaugural Breeders’
Cup Dirt Mile and has been freshened for this engagement, blitzing a bullet
half-mile in preparation for this test.

JONESBORO (Sefapiano) has amassed a nifty 13-4-4-2 record at this trip and
could be the value play in this group coming off a stinker at Oaklawn, finishing
sixth in the Fifth Season S. at 4-5 odds. The chestnut six-year-old has excellent
early footing and is perfectly drawn on the outside, which should allow jockey
Ramon Dominguez to judge the happenings to his inside early. We’re hoping that
the Kentucky-bred tracks our top pick around the entire oval.

BETTER THAN BONDS (Sweetsouthernsaint) hasn’t won a race since April of 2007,
but he’s well drawn on the rail and could be a sneaky exotics runner under Edgar
Prado. Trained by Graham Motion, the bay six-year-old was a close fourth in the
Mineshaft H. (G3) and earned a season-best 101 BRIS Speed figure most recently,
so we like him to grab a late piece at big odds.

Multiple Grade 2 winner MAGNA GRADUATE (Honor Grades) has been off form as of
late but just missed in the Stephen Foster H. (G1) last summer over this oval,
so it would be unwise to completely ignore the dark bay. The Todd Pletcher charge showed improvement
when steadily closing for fourth in the Excelsior H. (G3) in his latest venture
and has trained well in the interim. The Kentucky-bred sports an 8-4-1-1 mark at
this distance and will be guided by John Velazquez.

PROM SHOES (Include) owns a win over this oval and is not that far off many
of these when glancing at his past performances, but he will still need some
improvement to top this bunch for William Fires. The four-year-old bay captured
the Fifth Season in his latest try and should get ample speed at which to run, so we’ll include him under Julien Leparoux.

CHELOKEE (Cherokee Run) put in a strong effort versus a solid field in taking
a one-turn allowance last out for Michael Matz. The dark bay captured the
Northern Dancer S. (G3) over this oval in his 2007 finale and appears to have a
bright future ahead of him, but we’re going to pass on the likely overbet four-year-old colt, due to the fact that he’s facing arguably the
deepest field he’s seen since last spring. GIANT GIZMO (Giant’s Causeway) has improved a good deal this campaign for
Bobby Frankel, but he’s still a question mark on dirt and is hard to recommend
at this stage of his career. The Stronach homebred has trained well, smoking
four panels in :46 2/5 at Keeneland earlier in the week, but we will let him and jockey Rafael Bejarano beat us in here.