Toews On Ice Heads Opening Churchill Stakes

Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman's Toews On Ice, a three-time stakes winner and runner-up to Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) hopeful Mor Spirit in the 2015 Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I), heads a field of five 3-year-olds entered in the $100,000 William Walker Stakes on the April 30 opening night Churchill Downs card.

The William Walker, at six furlongs on the main track, will go as the seventh race on the program, with a 9:05 p.m. EDT post time.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Toews On Ice will be making his first start in more than three months, following a sixth-place finish in the Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 18 at Oaklawn Park. As a 2-year-old, the son of Archarcharch   won the Barretts Juvenile at Los Alamitos, the Speakeasy at Santa Anita Park, and the Bob Hope (gr. III) at Del Mar, before the runner-up finish to his stablemate.

David Lopez has the mount on Toews On Ice and will break from post 4.

Chief among the rivals to Toews On Ice is Abdullah Saeed Almaddah's Sheikh of Sheikhs. Trained by Wesley Ward, Sheikh of Sheikhs will be making his first start since finishing fourth behind Kentucky Derby favorite Nyquist in the San Vicente (gr. II) Feb. 15. Winner of the Juvenile Dirt Sprint at Keeneland last fall, Sheikh of Sheikhs will be ridden by Jose Valdivia Jr. and break from post 2.