Expert Pick of the Week: 2024 Chorleywood Stakes

Jun 13, 2024 John Mucciolo/TwinSpires.com

An accomplished and competitive field of 11 males will travel 1 3/8 miles on the Churchill Downs lawn in Saturday’s $175,000 Chorleywood S. The graded-stakes worthy tilt marks the U. S. debut of the German-bred Winning Spirit who will also be making his first start of 2024.

The four-year-old son of Soldier Hollow was an expensive purchase in the fall and is lightly raced with a lot of room for improvement. Now in the barn of Christophe Clement, the bay colt showed nice progression as a sophomore with a Group 2 second and a Group 1 fourth, and he has been training in consistent fashion on U. S. soil since early March. This barn does very good work with European imports in general and I love that Joel Rosario will be in the silks atop the expected late runner.

Godolphin homebred Bold Act is too good and consistent to leave off tickets for expert horseman Charlie Appleby. The gelded son of New Approach failed as a short-priced favorite in both the Elkhorn (G2) and Louisville (G3) since returning to the states, but the four-year-old went close on each occasion and doesn’t need much improvement to be right there in the stretch with clear sailing in the grassy marathon. Tyler Gaffalione inherits the ride atop the well-bred contender.

Mark Casse’s Webslinger is a Grade 2 winner on the Churchill sod following a score in the 2023 American Turf (G2). The four-year-old son of Constitution is a stout closing type at shorter trips, and he could find his niche at this extended voyage on Saturday. The gelding has been performing with some of the best horses in his division over the past two seasons, and his solid current form is evidenced by consecutive third-place runs in the Turf Classic (G1) and Muniz Memorial (G2) as of late. Jose Ortiz picks up the mount on the bay.

Expert Pick

An exacta with #9 Winning Spirit on top of #6 Bold Act and #2 Webslinger in the 2024 Chorleywood Stakes is the Best Bet of the Week.

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