With such stars as Street Sense, Hard Spun, and Lawyer Ron already having been retired, there is more to come following the $500,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, as at least three horses in the field will be making their final starts Friday: Istan, Magna Graduate, and Purim. Nevertheless, the show goes on with a highly competitive field of nine entered Tuesday for the Grade 2 Clark, a 1 1/8-mile race with no clear-cut favorite.
Magna Graduate, the 2005 Clark winner, has been assigned high weight of 122 pounds, but it might be Istan (118) who will wind up as a slight wagering choice. It may be difficult for fans to ignore the last race for Istan - an 8 3/4-length romp in the Nov. 3 Ack Ack Handicap at Churchill, resulting in a sizzling mile in 1:34.08 and a 111 Beyer Speed Figure.
"The time and figures from the Ack Ack are very, very good," trainer Bill Mott said. "He's already proven as an extremely good miler, and hopefully he'll get the extra eighth of a mile in an important race and enhance his popularity at stud."
Istan will stand next year at Airdrie Stud.
Magna Graduate is one of three starters for trainer Todd Pletcher in the Clark, with the others being A.P. Arrow and Fairbanks.
From the rail, this is the entire field: Diamond Stripes, Magna Graduate, Purim, A.P. Arrow, Brass Hat, Plug Me In, Fairbanks, Istan, and Going Ballistic.
The Friday-after-Thanksgiving card always draws the biggest crowd of the Churchill fall meet in non-Breeders' Cup years, and more than 20,000 are expected again this year. The Clark is carded as the 11th of 12 races. First post for the last three days of the meet is 11:30 a.m. ET.
