The six-furlong Debutante is on Churchill’s main track. It is race 10 on the 11-race card and post time is set for 5:51 p.m. EDT.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Garden District broke her maiden on first asking April 10 on the Keeneland Polytrack, winning by three lengths in the 4 1/2-furlong contest. She returned for the five-furlong Kentucky Stakes three weeks later, stalking the pace before finishing 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner.
Garden District is out of the Unbridled's Song mare Brisquette. She was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and was sold for $240,000 at the Keeneland September 2007 yearling sale. Churchill’s leading spring meet rider, Robbie Albarado, will have the mount on the 5-2 morning line favorite.
Steve Asmussen and D. Wayne Lukas will each saddle a pair of good-looking fillies in the Debutante, a race that they love to win. Asmussen has won the last three runnings of the event, while Hall of Famer Lukas has captured a record six in his career.
Asmussen will send out Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s Songtress and Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Simplify, both winners in their racing debuts. Songtress, a daughter of Songandaprayer , scored by 2 3/4 lengths in maiden special weight company May 22 while going 4 1/2 furlongs. She was bought for $97,000 at the Keenelend September 2007 yearling sale. Calvin Borel gets the call.
Simplify also broke her maiden at Churchill, doing it by 1 1/2 lengths May 1 at the same distance. The Kentucky homebred is by Pulpit and will have the services of Corey Lanerie.
Lukas goes to task with Bob Hurley’s Cameron Crazies and Donald Dizney’s Runaway Heart, each of them one-for-two in their short career. A daughter of Lion Heart, Cameron Crazies was second in her racing debut at Keeneland in April, but rebounded to score by a nose in maiden special weight competition May 29 at Churchill. The Florida-bred was bought for $125,000 at the OBS 2007 Selected sale of yearlings.
Runaway Heart was also runner-up in her debut May 10 at Calder Race Course, but came back to win by 8 1/4 lengths in gate-to-wire fashion three weeks later. Also bred in Florida, she is by Runaway Groom.
$100,000 Debutante Stakes (gr. III, Race 10, 5:51 p.m.), Three-Year-Old Fillies, Six Furlongs
*All Starters carry 118 pounds
PP. Horse, Jockey, Odds
1. Corlett (FL), Jamiet Theriot, 6-1
2. Songtress (KY), Calvin Borel, 4-1
3. Simplify (KY), Corey Lanerie, 3-1
4. Garden District (KY), Robby Albarado, 5-2
5. Rachel Alexandra (KY), Brian Hernandez Jr., 6-1
6. Cameron Crazies (FL), Miguel Mena, 10-1
7. Super Poni (KY), Fernando De La Cruz, 50-1
8. Renda (KY), Wesley Henry, Sr., 12-1
9. Runaway Heart (FL), Julien Leparoux, 12-1
10. Yo Eleven (KY), Larry Melancon, 30-1