Photo By: Four-Footed Fotos   Lloyd Madison's Champali, shown winning the Grade III Iroquois Stakes on Nov. 3, 2002 at Churchill Downs, will try to win his second consecutive stakes at Turfway Park in the WEBN Stakes on Feb. 1.

Champali Continues Assault On Turfway's Sophomore Stakes In WEBN Stakes
By: John Gaver III

(Jan. 30, 2003) - Lloyd Madison's Champali, winner of the Grade III Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs as a juvenile, and more recently the $50,000 Prevue Stakes as a three-year-old at Turfway Park, will continue his assault on the Florence, Ky. racetrack's three-year-old stakes schedule when the son of Glitterman lines up against 11 other rivals in the one-mile WEBN Stakes on Feb. 1.

Last year's WEBN Stakes winner, Request For Parole, parlayed that score into a credible fifth-place finish in Kentucky Derby 128 while the runner-up, Perfect Drift, finished a solid third behind War Emblem in last year's famed "Run for the Roses".

A precocious bay colt, Champali, who is trained by Greg Foley, won three-of-four starts as a juvenile, including the aforementioned Iroquois Stakes last fall at Churchill Downs. His only loss was to the undefeated Soto in the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, a race in which he brushed with another rival repeatedly in the stretch drive, yet still managed to finish fifth of 12, beaten 2 ¾-lengths for all the money. In the Prevue Stakes at Turfway on Jan. 4, he stalked the pace and out-fought the well-regarded colt Great Notion to win by a nose on the wire.

Champali's effort in the Prevue didn't appear to take much out of him, evidenced by his five-furlong breeze in a "bullet" 1:00 flat on Jan. 21 at the Churchill Downs Training Center located at the Trackside simulcasting complex in Louisville, Ky. He drew post position five, will tote the co-highweight of 121 pounds and will have the services of Turfway's current leading rider, Jason Lumpkins.

Patty Tipton and Tom Musselman's Tito's Beau, who is coming off an authoritative entry-level allowance win in the mud at Turfway going a mile and a sixteenth on Jan. 5, will return to stakes company in the WEBN Stakes. As a two-year-old, Tito's Beau finished third in the Grade III Kentucky Cup Juvenile at Turfway, beaten 6 ¾-lengths by eventual two-year-old champion and winter book Kentucky Derby favorite Vindication.

Tito's Beau, who is trained by Greg Foley's younger sister, Vickie, will break from post position nine and has the services of veteran jockey Craig Perret.

Paula's Pride, a six-length winner of a mile and a sixteenth allowance race at Turfway in 1:45 1/5 on Jan. 22, may get wheeled back off nine days rest in the WEBN Stakes for trainer Bernie Flint, and Honeagle, who drew off to win a one-mile non-classified allowance race in Florence on Jan. 17 for trainer Warren King, figure to be the most promising entrants in the field stepping up to stakes company for the first time. Brian Peck is named ride Paula's Pride, who will break from post six, and has a double call on Chicken Soup Kid, who is also trained by Flint; Tony D'Amico will ride Honeagle.

Other WEBN Stakes contenders could come in the form of Casino Red, an Ohio-bred son of Banker's Gold, who finished fourth behind Champali in the Prevue, beaten 4 ¼-lengths while running in the five-path at the three-eighths pole and K K Avey, winner of the restricted Indiana Futurity. Rodney Prescott will be in the irons on Casino Red, who will break from post two, and Bill Troilo will ride K K Avey, who drew post 11.

The complete field for the WEBN Stakes, in post position order from the rail out with weights and riders is Cajun Brogue, 114, Wayne Lordan; Casino Red, 116, Prescott; Chicken Soup Kid, 114, Peck; Honeagle, 118, D'Amico; Champali, 121, Lumpkins; Paula's Pride, 118, Peck on a double call; Cherokee Prince, 116, Jeff Johnston; Sell To Survive, 116, Joe Deegan; Tito's Beau, 118, Perret; Preface, 116, Lordan; K K Avey, 121, Troilo and False Promises, 116, Dean Butler.

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