Thoughts on the $1,000 Show-Place-Win bonus at Churchill Downs

The sun is back shining in Kentucky for most of the weekend, and TwinSpires.com will be offering a chance to share in a $1,000 bonus on Saturday's Churchill Downs card.

Opt in to the Show-Place-Win promotion and then cash a $20 Show bet in Race 7, a $20 Place bet in Race 8, and a $20 Win bet in Race 9 to split an additional $1,000. You can bet more than one horse to Show in Race 7 and to Place in Race 8, but only your first Win bet in Race 9 will count toward a share in the prize pool.

Here are horses to consider in the sequence:

Race 7

Given he was returning from a 17-month layoff and racing over a soft turf at Keeneland (he was zero-for-five on the grass going in), no surprise #8 THE GOMPER (12-1) faded out of contention late early last month. Though respectable form against some of California's best sprinters was in the distant past, back class could carry him a ways here and this is a much better spot in his second start off the shelf for Maker/Gaffalione.

Race 8

#6 GO GOOGLE YOURSELF (4-1) ran out of real estate when missing second by a diminishing margin in the seven-furlong Dogwood during the September meet. Freshened a bit, she's turned in some swift works of late for her comeback. Toss her two turf efforts and she's been a consistent factor in nearly every other start for Paul McGee.

Race 9 (River City H. [G3])

Horse-for-the-course Mr. Misunderstood is eminently logical, as is his streaking stablemate Big Changes. If you're alive to this point, don't blame those taking the risk-averse route. A potential price play, though, is #6 TEAM COLORS (12-1), popular at the claim box of late and confidently hiked back into stakes company by Joe Sharp off an N3X allowance win at Keeneland where she showed a solid closing kick. Note he ran in last year's River City and, despite a poor start and wide rally entering the stretch, was only beaten two lengths in wet conditions he's likely to encounter again here.