Cash Control Draws Outside Post in Bid for Second Churchill Downs Stakes Win in Cardinal Handicap

Nov 17, 2016 John Asher

Richard and Bertram Klein’s Cash Control, winner of the Old Forester Mint Julep Handicap (Grade III) on Churchill Downs Racetrack’s Matt Winn Turf Course in June, will seek her second stakes triumph over that surface when she breaks from an outside post against a dozen rivals beneath the Twin Spires in Saturday’s 43^rd running of the $100,000 Cardinal Handicap (GIII).

The 1 1/8-mile turf test for fillies and mares ages 3 and up is scheduled as the 10^th event on an 11-race program that opens with the first race at 1 p.m. (all times EDT). The Cardinal, which has a post time of 5:30 p.m., shares the Saturday spotlight with the ninth running of the $80,000-added Bet On Sunshine Overnight Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs. The Bet on Sunshine will be run immediately prior to the Cardinal and has a scheduled post time of 5 p.m.

Cash Control, a 5-year-old homebred mare by Pioneerof the Nile, will bid to snap a losing streak that has climbed to three races since her triumph in the Mint Julep on June 11. The Brad Cox trainee finished second as the favorite in both the Indiana General Assembly Distaff at Indiana Grand and the Ladies Turf at Kentucky Downs before she ran sixth of 10 behind Photo Call (IRE) and reigning female turf champion Tepin in the Grade I First Lady at Keeneland. Earlier, Cash Control had finished third to Tepin in the Distaff Turf Mile (GII) on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs.

If she is to win the Cardinal, Cash Control must overcome an outside post after she drew gate 12 in the field of 13 entered in Saturday’s race. Cash Control will seek her third win in nine 2016 starts and attempt to improve her career record that stands at 8-4-2 in 18 races with career earnings of $434,134.

Shaun Bridgmohan will ride Cash Control, who was assigned high weight of 119 pounds.

Other major contenders in the Cardinal Handicap are Bjorn E. Neilsen’s Real Smart, winner of the Robert G. Dick Memorial at Delaware Park in June for trainer Graham Motion; G. Watts Humphrey’s homebred Annulment, an easy off-the-turf allowance winner for trainer Victoria Oliver last time out at Keeneland who finished third in the Indiana General Assembly Distaff; and Elkstone Group LLC’s 2015 Cardinal runner-up Lady Fog Horn, a Tony Granitz-trainee whose four wins in six races this year include stakes triumphs on turf and dirt at Indiana Grand. Lady Fog Horn finished second at odds of 20-1 to Button Down over yielding turf in last year’s renewal of the Cardinal in her only career outing at Churchill Downs.

Other notables in the competitive field for the Cardinal are Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s Kitten’s Roar, a Mike Maker-trained daughter of Kitten’s Joy who brings back-to-back allowance wins on grass at Kentucky Downs and Keeneland into Saturday’s race; Kendel Standlee’s The Tea Cups, winner of Belmont Park’s Mount Vernon for trainer Jeremiah Englehart; Dixiana Farm’s Belle De Nuit (ARG), a Mark Casse-trained winner of two allowance races in her last three outings at Canada’s Woodbine; and Lisa Lex’s Lots O’ Lex, winner of Kentucky Downs’ One Dreamer.

The field for the Cardinal Handicap, from the inside out, with (jockey and assigned weight): Real Smart (Chris Landeros, 118), Annulment (Corey Lanerie, 116), Complete St. (Joe Rocco Jr., 116), Lady Fog Horn (Albin Jimenez, 117), Kitten’s Roar (Jon Court, 119), The Tea Cups (Jesus Castanon, 114), Belle De Nuit (ARG) (Abel Lezcano, 115), Christie’s Ready (Didiel Osorio, 114), Heath (Joe Johnson, 115), Salama (Brian Hernandez Jr., 114), Lots O’ Lex (Eduardo Perez, 117), Cash Control (Bridgmohan, 119) and Bitty Kitty (Declan Cannon, 115).