Race 11 at Churchill Downs | Saturday, May 2 | Post Time 5:39 PM Eastern

Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes - Grade 1 | Purse $1,500,000 | One Mile and One Eighth on Turf | Four Years Old and Upward

Top Win Contenders: Make Me King (10), Test Score (9), Mercante (5)

Make Me King (10) is making his 30th start in his first U.S. race. He has won seven races and finished second or third nine times. He won one race this year in three starts, but one of his best races was finishing fourth, three lengths behind the winner and behind 11 horses in the $5 million Group 1 Dubai Turf, where some of the world’s best turf horses competed, including Ombudsman (7-3 for 10, $5 million). His Equibase Speed Figure was 127, the best of any horse in this race ever. He previously won the Group 2 Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Stakes by three lengths, earning a 104 figure. His trainer, Jehan Al, has two horses shipped to North America, and both won graded stakes last year, including one in a Grade 1 race. It is good that Jose Ortiz, one of the top jockeys in North America, is riding Make Me King. This field isn’t that tough, and if he repeats either of his last races, he can win.

Test Score (9) just won the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitation Stakes, battling head-to-head for the final eighth of the race. He has won three “A” races in his last three starts, all since he put blinkers on, including the Grade 2 Twilight Derby last October. Between those two wins, he missed by a half-length. All three races were run at one mile and one-eighth. He earned a 113 figure, the best in any American race this year. He is a big shot if Make Me King doesn’t run as well.

Mercante (5) finished second in this race last year, missing by three-quarters of a length. He then won the Group 3 Arlington Stakes at Churchill Downs at the end of May. He also won the Kentucky Cup Classic prior to his finish in this race last year. He earned 105,108 and 106 figures. He just made his start in this year’s Kentucky Cup Classic, where he again missed by three-quarters of a length. He is on the same pattern as his big effort in this Turf Classic, and he may not be one of the favorites, as he was 13 to 1 last year.

Win bets: Make Me King (10) and Test Score (9) at odds of 3 to 1 or higher.

Mercante (5) at odds of 5 to 1 or higher

Exactas:

Box Make Me King (10), Test Score (9), Mercante (5)

Doubles to the Kentucky Derby (race 12):

Race 11: Make Me King (10), Test Score (9), Mercante (5)

Race 12:  Further Ado (18), Renegade (1)