Stephen Foster Field Taking Shape

From track reports
As Saturday's deadline for nominations to the Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. I) draws closer, the possible field for the $750,000 race is becoming clearer. Trainer Bobby Frankel said he is considering the race for Metropolitan Mile (gr. I) winner Aldebaran; Pass Rush will not be in the Stephen Foster field, according to trainer Pat Byrne; Proud Citizen, who finished fourth behind Aldebaran in Sunday's Met Mile, could also go next in the Stephen Foster; Tenpins and Full Mandate are still possibles for the race.

Pass Rush is apparently out of consideration for the Stephen Foster after the Indiana-bred son of Crown Ambassador ran a disappointing fifth in Saturday's Lone Star Handicap (gr. III). Trainer Byrne said the horse will be pointed instead toward the Aristides Handicap (gr. III) on June 21 at Churchill Downs.

Tenpins, who finished third in the 2002 running of the Stephen Foster, worked four furlongs on Tuesday at Churchill, going the distance in :49.20. It was the first breeze for Tenpins since the 5-year-old colt suffered a bruised foot in a fourth-place finish to Lido Palace last November in the Clark Handicap (gr. II) at Churchill Downs

Padua Stable and Fog City Stable's Full Mandate, winner of the Black Tie Affair Handicap at Arlington Park, breezed five furlongs in 1:02 for trainer Steve Asmussen.

The Stephen Foster is Churchill's centerpiece of a day of racing that includes four added-money races. Three of those races, the Stephen Foster, the Fleur de Lis (gr. II), and the Regret (gr. III), are graded events. The nominations deadline for all of Churchill's June 14 races is midnight, May 31.