Gaslight Dancer and Tyler Gaffalione after their Palisades score (Keeneland Photo)
Churchill Downs Press Release
LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Paradise Farms Corp (Peter Proscia), David Staudacher, Skychai Racing (Harvey Diamond) and Angelo Carlesimo’s Gaslight Dancer, the winner of the April 16 Palisades Turf Sprint at Keeneland, tops a field of eight 3-year-olds that were entered in Saturday’s eighth running of the $225,000 William Walker Stakes (Listed) at Churchill Downs.
The 5 ½-furlong William Walker Stakes is scheduled to be contested in Lane 2 on the Matt Winn Turf Course, 12 feet off the inside. The featured event on the 11-race card will go as Race 10 at 5:26 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post is 12:45 p.m.
Trained by Mike Maker, Gaslight Dancer recorded his second-lifetime score in the Palisades Turf Sprint where he rallied from just off the pace to defeat 11 rivals by 1 ½ lengths. The William Walker will be Gaslight Dancer’s second start of his 3-year-old campaign and he’ll be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione out of post No. 2.
Among Gaslight Dancer’s rivals is the Palisades Turf Sprint runner-up Two of a Kind. Owned by K and R Racing Stable (Phil Deguire) and Town Branch Racing (Stewart A. Smith), Two of a Kind finished second in his first turf effort in the Palisades Turf Sprint at odds of 51-1. The Brian Lynch-trained son of Overanalyze will be ridden from post 3 under Julien Leparoux.
Mike McCarty’s Private Creed was the 8-5 post-time favorite in the Palisades but finished fifth. He’ll return in the William Walker in search of his fourth-lifetime score. Previously, the Steve Asmussen trainee recorded victories in the Juvenile Sprint at Kentucky Downs and the Indian Summer at Keeneland. The speedy son of Jimmy Creed will be piloted by Brian Hernandez Jr. from post 7.
The complete field from the rail out (with jockey and trainer): Gilcrease (Corey Lanerie, Al Stall Jr.); Gaslight Dancer (Gaffalione, Maker); Two of a Kind (Leparoux, Lynch); Chiringo (Luis Saez, George Weaver); No Nay Hudson (IRE) (James Graham, Wesley Ward); Crispy Cat (GB) (Ricardo Santana Jr., Jorge Delgado); Private Creed (Hernandez, Asmussen); and Ah Jeez (Rey Gutierrez, Doug O’Neill).
