Brilliant ready to sparkle in Firecracker

Grade 2 winner BRILLIANT (War Chant), who just missed in the Woodford Reserve

Turf Classic S. (G1) on Kentucky Derby Day, returns to action in Saturday's

$250,000 Firecracker Breeders' Cup H. (G2) at Churchill Downs. The Neil Howard

charge suffered his first loss in four starts over the Matt Winn Turf Course

when finishing an agonizing second in the nine-furlong Woodford Reserve, then

missed some training due to a high white blood cell count while pointing toward

the May 27 Connaught Cup S. (Can-G3) at Woodbine.

In order to make up for lost time, Howard worked Brilliant four times over

the span of 15 days. The four-year-old breezed four furlongs on the main track

in :49 on Tuesday, after working seven furlongs on the turf in 1:33 on June 21,

five furlongs on the main track in 1:00 2/5 on June 17, and four furlongs on the

turf in :52 2/5 on June 12.

Brilliant won last year's nine-furlong Jefferson Cup S. (G2) over this

course and will carry 121 pounds, including Mark Guidry.

Two New York-based contenders -- REMARKABLE NEWS (Ven) (Chayim) and

OUTPERFORMANCE (Aptitude) -- arrived at Churchill Downs on Wednesday. Remarkable

News comes off a near front-running victory in the nine-furlong Dixie S. (G2) on

Preakness Day and will carry top weight of 122 pounds. The Angel Penna

Jr.-trained horse will break from the rail beneath Ramon Dominguez.

Outperformance won last year's Hill Prince S. (G3) and most recently finished a

closing third in the Dixie. Rafael Bejarano picks up the mount.

The field for the one-mile Firecracker, in post position order with jockeys

and weights, is Remarkable News; HOLD THE SALT (Salt Lake), Brian Hernandez Jr.,

112; FREE THINKING (Unbridled), Jesus Castanon, 114; Brilliant; OBI WAN KENOBI

(Skywalker), Jamie Theriot, 115; VEGA'S LORD (Ger) (Lord of Men), Robby Albarado,

116; CRESTED (Fantastic Light), Shaun Bridgmohan, 115; Outperformance, 115; and

TIGANELLO (Ger) (Acatenango), Julien Leparoux, 115.