Defending Champion Dubai Majesty Faces 3-Year-Old Hot Dixie Chick, Six Others In Winning Colors

May 30, 2010 John Asher

The Martin Racing Stable and Dan Morgan's Dubai Majesty will try to become the first repeat winner of the $100,000-added Winning Colors (GIII) when she faces seven rivals in the featured event of a special holiday racing program on Monday, May 31.

    The seventh running of the Winning Colors, named in honor of the most recent of three fillies to win the Kentucky Derby, will be the 10th race on the 11-race Memorial Day program that begins at 12:45 p.m. (all times EDT). Approximate post time for the six-furlong Winning Colors is 5:29 p.m.

    Trained by Bret Calhoun, Dubai Majesty comes into the Winning Colors off a ninth-place finish in Churchill Downs' Grade I Humana Distaff, a seven-furlong race that was run over a sloppy track on Kentucky Derby Day. Prior to that, Dubai Majesty finished second to Dr. Zic in the Vinery Madison (GI) at Keeneland.

    Miguel Mena has the call on Monday on Dubai Majesty, who will break from post position eight under a 122-pound impost.  She has won eight of 28 lifetime starts with earnings of $614,888, but has not won in four 2010 starts -- although she has three runner-up finishes in those race.

    Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia has installed Dubai Majesty as the narrow 5-2 morning line favorite for her attempt to win a second consecutive running of the Winning Colors.

    Grace Stables' Hot Dixie Chick will attempt to become the first 3-year-old to capture the Winning Colors. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Hot Dixie Chick won the Schuylerville (GIII) and the Spinaway (GI) at Saratoga last summer after breaking her maiden here in June.  The daughter of Dixie Union won the Prima Donna at Oaklawn Park in her 2010 debut, but followed that with a third-place finish to Buckleupbuttercup as the odds-on favorite in the 7 ½-furlong Eight Belles (GIII) over a sloppy Churchill Downs track on the May 1 Kentucky Derby Day program.
    Regular rider Robby Albarado has the mount on Hot Dixie Chick, who will break from position five and carry 116 pounds.  The 3-1 second choice has a career record of 4-1-1 in six races with earnings of $332,533.

    The field for the Winning Colors, from the rail out (with rider, weight and morning line odds), is as follows: Emmy Darling (Larry Melancon, 118 pounds, 8-1), Double Espresso (Leandro Goncalves, 120, 7-2), Nadeshiko (Corey Lanerie, 118,
10-1), Secret Gypsy (Francisco Torres, 118, 6-1), Hot Dixie Chick (Albarado, 116), Minewander (Freddie Lenclud, 118, 20-1), J Z Warrior (Alex Solis, 118, 6-1), and Dubai Majesty (Mena, 122).

Churchill Downs, the world's most legendary racetrack, has conducted Thoroughbred racing and presented America's greatest race, the Kentucky Derby, continuously since 1875.  Located in Louisville, the flagship racetrack of Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select Market: CHDN) also operates Trackside at Churchill Downs, which offers year-round simulcast wagering at the historic track. Churchill Downs will conduct the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 7, 2011. The track's Spring Meet continues through Sunday, July 4 and it will conduct its 2009 Fall Meet from Sunday, Nov. 1 through Saturday, Nov. 28.  Churchill Downs is scheduled to host the Breeders' Cup World Championships for a record seventh time on November 5 and 6, 2010.  Information about Churchill Downs can be found on the Internet at www.churchilldowns.com.