Simmard arrives at Churchill Downs for the Louisville Handicap
The 7-year-old horse, Simmard arrived at Churchill Downs on 24 May, 2012, for a run in the Grade 3, $100,000 Louisville Handicap, where he will be sent as the 2 to 1 morning line favourite by the odds maker, Mike Battaglia.
Bred in Kentucky by Haras Santa Maria de Araras S.A. Simmard will also carry the top weight of 120 pounds in the 1 ½ mile race on turf held on 26 May, 2012, against seven other older males.
“He had a nice breeze yesterday at Woodbine (five furlongs around the dogs on the turf in 1:01) and he travelled through the night to Churchill,” Attfield said via phone from his base at Woodbine. “He arrived in good order this morning.”
Trained and owned in partnership with William K. Werner, Roger Attfield saddled Simmard to a fantastic win in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida Stakes at Gulfstream Park on his seasonal debut. He defeated the likes of Newsdad in second and stable mate Musketier in third , while covered the marathon distance in 2 minutes and 11.71 seconds.
The son of Dixieland Band will face the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes runner up, Tahoe Lake in the Louisville Handicap, where he finished third to winner, Point of Entry at Keeneland, over a distance of 1 ½ miles.
He also finished third in the Grade 2 Pan American Stakes over the same distance at Gulfstream Park on 24 March, 2012, to winner Newsdad, who covered the distance in 2 minutes and 24.93 seconds.
“I haven’t looked at the race too much yet,” Attfield said. “He’s run in some good races, though, and I’m sure it’s an OK spot for him.”
The high weight for the Louisville Handicap was first assigned to, Musketier, who Attfield had entered before, but Attfield scratched the German bred after knowing that his horse will carry 121 pounds, and also that he didn’t want Simmard and Musketier to be running in the same race.
“I didn’t want to run the two against each other again,” Attfield said. “I also thought Simmard was training a bit better and I wanted to give Musketier a little more time between races.”
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