Veteran trainer Wayne Catalano, already enjoying his best year at Churchill Downs, will attempt to build on his 2014 accomplishments when he sends multiple Grade 3 winner I'm Already Sexy and two stablemates into an overflow field of 16 fillies and mares entered for Saturday's 41st running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Cardinal Handicap on the Matt Winn Turf Course.
Only 14 will be allowed to compete in the nine-furlong Cardinal, the final stakes race scheduled on the Churchill turf course in 2014.
I'm Already Sexy will be making her seventh start of the year on Saturday, having already collected victories in the Grade 3 Modesty Handicap at Arlington and Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf at the all-grass racing venue in Franklin, Kentucky. The four-year-old daughter of Ready's Image finished second in the Grade 3 Mint Julep Handicap under the Twin Spires earlier this season and enters the Cardinal after running fourth, but placed fifth via disqualification, in the Grade 2 Goldikova on the Breeders' Cup undercard at Santa Anita Park.
Catalano's filly has displayed early speed throughout her career and will need another alert start after she drew the inside post for Saturday's race. Jockey Calvin Borel will ride I'm Already Sexy, who will carry the highweight of 119 pounds in the Cardinal.
A victory by I'm Already Sexy in the Cardinal would provide Catalano with his third Churchill Downs stakes victory of 2014, following triumphs in the Grade 3 Regret (via disqualification) by Aurelia's Belle and West Coast Belle in the Rags to Riches overnight stakes. Catalano's breakthrough season also has included his first leading trainer title at Churchill Downs after he saddled seven winners during the 12-day September meet to share that honor with Steve Asmussen.
The other members of Catalano's Cardinal trio are Angegreen, who is winless in 11 U.S. starts but finished a fast-closing third last time out in a division of the Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon at 1 5/16 miles, and Imposing Grace, winner of the Grade 3 Arlington Matron last year on the Chicago track's synthetic Polytrack. Channing Hill will ride Angegreen under a 114-pound impost from post 4, while Imposing Grace will also carry 114 as she breaks from post 7 under Rafael Mojica Jr.
An intriguing invader for the Cardinal is Grade 3 heroine Nellie Cashman, who returns to Churchill for the first time since a sixth-place run in last fall's Grade 2 Mrs. Revere. Trained by Francis "Trey" Abbott III, the four-year-old daughter of Mineshaft scored a comfortable victory in a Laurel Park turf allowance on September 26 to snap a six-racing losing streak that began last fall with a runner-up finish in Keeneland's Grade 3 Valley View.
Nellie Cashman, a Pennsylvania-bred filly who trains at Maryland's Fair Hill Training Center, will break from post 8 under regular rider Forest Boyce. Nellie Cashman was assigned the second high weight of 117 pounds for the Cardinal.
Another Cardinal contender could be Royal Fury, runner-up the Grade 2 Canadian on the Woodbine grass two back for trainer Brian Lynch. The Langfuhr mare has run strongly in the second half of 2014 with performances that includes runner-up finishes in the Grade 3 Ontario Matron and Trillium Stakes over Woodbine's Polytrack. Julien Leparoux will ride Royal Fury, who totes 116 pounds, from the outside gate in the field of 14.