LoPresti trying for third Firecracker win,Casse looking for first Bashford Manor

LoPresti trying for third Firecracker win, Casse looking

for first Bashford Manor

Trainer Charlie LoPresti will bid for his third win in four

years in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Firecracker at Churchill Downs -- not with two-time

horse of the year and defending champion Wise Dan, but with Villandry, who is seeking his first stakes win.

Villandry, coming off a runner-up effort to Regally Ready

in the Opening Verse on May 31 over the same turf course as the Firecracker, will break from post position

6 in an

eight-horse field Saturday.

"Villandry has been doing really well," LoPresti said. "I really like our

post position in the 6-hole rather than being stuck down on the inside. It looks

like there's going to be a lot of speed up front this time around, which is

conducive to his running style."

Villandry was sixth in the seven-horse Opening Verse after

the first quarter-mile, and seventh through the half-mile up to the sixth

furlong. He swung six wide in the stretch and was able to rally late, finishing

second by three-quarters of a length to Regally Ready, who also returns for the

Firecracker.

"I think it's going to set up for a horse like ours if he runs his race," LoPresti said.

"I'm a little questionable about the mile. A mile

and a sixteenth would suit me better, but you don't always get to pick and

choose where you go and what you do.

"I was going to put Set the Sail in there, too, but I think

it would be hurting our chances with Villandry. The only way the other horse

wins is if he's close to the pace, then yes it will set it up well for Villandry,

but I don't want to use my other horse to do that, so I'm taking him to Indiana.

"I haven't seen the morning-line odds but I would guess we would probably be

the third or fourth choice," LoPresti added. "We just got beat a head to Regally

Ready, another stride and we would have had him in that last one, and with

Silver Max coming off that long layoff, who knows what he's going to do. So I

like our chances."

LoPresti won the 2011 and 2013 editions of the Firecracker

with Wise Dan, who was sidelined due to emergency colic surgery last month.

LoPresti is hoping for the champion to make a return in the Grade 2, $500,000 Fourstardave

Handicap at Saratoga on August 9.

"It'd be really awesome if our horse could step up and win this race for us

again," LoPresti said. "We're excited and definitely think we have a shot."

The Firecracker is the co-feature on Churchill's Saturday card, which also

boasts the Grade 3, $100,000 Bashford Manor and $65,000 Kelly's Landing. Coming off an impressive 6

3/4-length victory at Keeneland in his debut, Skyway will tackle a field of five other

two-year-olds in the six-furlong Bashford Manor in hopes

to become the first juvenile of the year to achieve graded stakes glory.

After breaking his maiden going 4 1/2 furlongs on April 5,

Skyway looks to give trainer Mark Casse his first Bashford Manor win, breaking

from the rail.

"They only sent up a handful of two-year-olds to Keeneland

that they really thought could run and he was one of them," Casse's assistant

and son Norman Casse said. "He obviously ran a really big race, which was what

we expected.

"The one big disadvantage of winning with a two-year-old at Keeneland is that

you have virtually nowhere to run afterwards. But I feel like we've really done well with him getting him ready.

"He seems to really like the track and we've worked him with some of our more

talented horses and he's been right there with them, so he should be fit and

ready to go."

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