Trinniberg faces streaking Delaunay in Churchill Downs

Delaunay appears well-positioned to knock off sprint champ Trinniberg in the Churchill Downs (Lynn Roberts/Hodges Photography) Defending champion sprinter Trinniberg will need to have his running shoes on Saturday if he is going inflict a first career defeat under the Twin Spires on the streaking Delaunay in the Grade 2, $400,000 Churchill Downs. The seven-furlong heat attracted a field of nine, with the two protagonists breaking side by side in posts 8 and 9, respectively. Trinniberg, who cemented championship honors with a 13-1 upset of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November, is seeking to rebound off a poor effort in the March 30 Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan, a straight six-furlong dash contested on Tapeta. The Teuflesburg colt beat only two of his 12 rivals in that contest, but hasn’t fared much better in two prior trips over the Churchill strip with back-of-the-pack finishes in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint and 2012 Kentucky Derby. Delaunay has thrived at Churchill, and pretty much everywhere else, since being claimed by owner Maggi Moss and trainer Tom Amoss for $40,000 a year ago. The six-year-old gelding has won six of seven starts for his present connections, including two overnight stakes at Churchill and a trio of Fair Grounds’ leading sprints over the winter. The likely favorite will have Rosie Napravnik in the saddle.

Unbridled’s Note, a Grade 3 winner on turf and twice Grade 1-placed on dirt,
exits a close second-place effort in the Potrero Grande at Santa Anita. Hierro,
the 2012 Derby Trial winner, has a win and a third in allowance company since
his transfer from Steve Asmussen to Todd Pletcher, while Grade 2 victor Handsome
Mike enters off a 1 1/4-length score in the Commonwealth at Keeneland.

Among the remainder are Politicallycorrect, who took the Damascus at Santa
Anita on Breeders’ Cup weekend last fall, and Pass the Dice, who bested Hierro
in a one-mile allowance at Gulfstream in late March.

Conspicuously absent from the Grade 1, $300,000
Humana Distaff is
Groupie Doll, who set a track record in this seven-furlong test last year en
route to champion female sprinter honors. Sidelined since November, she’s left a
vacuum from which a divisional leader might emerge Saturday.

Expected to garner the most pari-mutuel attention are Rumor, who registered
her first graded win in the Las Flores at Santa Anita two months ago, and Aubby
K, three-length winner of the Inside Information at Gulfstream last time.

Byrama, a neck second in the Madison at Keeneland tries dirt for the first
time in the Humana Distaff, but Madison third-placer Jamaican Smoke has winning
experience over the Churchill strip and should be among the earl leaders. Emma’s
Encore, meanwhile, has placed only twice in five starts since scoring in the
Prioress and Victory Ride in consecutive starts last summer.

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