Aristides

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

A compact but solid field of six will contest Saturday’s $125,000 Aristides
S. (G3) at Churchill Downs. Many in this group are quite sharp and possess
tremendous early speed, so we’re tabbing NOONMARK (Unbridled’s Song) to pick
them all up late in this dash. The Steve Asmussen charge began his 2008 campaign
with a comprehensive score in the Mr. Prospector H. (G3) at Gulfstream Park and
has posted respectable stakes placings in his last pair, notably the Churchill
Downs S. (G2) on the Kentucky Derby (G1) undercard. The five-year-old was a
dominant 4 1/2-length victor when last seen on this oval and he should sit a
dream trip under Shaun Bridgmohan.

Speedball ESPERAMOS (Stormy Atlantic) turned from a listless maiden claimer
to a crack sprinter in the matter of a few races, and the gelding seems poised
for a big effort in here for Wesley Ward. Last seen running a decent sixth in
the Dubai Golden Shaheen (UAE-G1), the four-year-old had won four of his five
starts leading up to that race in dominant fashion and smoked a bullet
five-eighths in preparation for this event. The bay has the rail and will surely
be attending the early tempo under Elvis Trujillo.

INDIAN CHANT (Suggest) has been first or second in nine of his last 10 trips
to post and is an obvious contender for Tom Amoss. The late-blooming chestnut
had an excellent prep for this when cruising home by five lengths over this
oval, and his career mark at Churchill reads 4-2-2-0. The gelding ranks first in
BRIS Prime Power (147.7) and has the ability to rate some early, so chances are
that the California-bred will be in with a chance late beneath Jamie Theriot.

KELLY’S LANDING (Patton), who set the track mark in this race three years ago, was soundly beaten by Indian Chant in his most recent outing and would
need a quick turnaround to have a chance at the win in here. The Grade 1 winner
should improve in his second start of the year and he has won or placed in five
of seven tries over this surface, so we’d include him in the exotics.

ELITE SQUADRON (Officer) romped in front-running fashion in the Churchill
Downs S.
and has never been better for James Baker. The Churchill-loving chestnut has
four wins from six tries over this surface and has been superb in his last pair, so
it would unwise to dismiss the Kentucky-bred. We are concerned, though, about
the expected heavy pace duel in here and will restrict this one’s use to the
gimmicks under Javier Castellano.

CARNACKS CHOICE (Carson City) has one career win on dirt and was trounced by
a few of these last out, so it would be hard to use the late
runner even if the race does fall apart some.