LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Churchill Downs grass course is different this May than last. The connections of Santin hope the Old Forester Turf Classic outcome is the same. Santin won the 2022 Turf Classic and is a logical choice to capture the Grade 1, $1 million turf race again Saturday – if he likes the refurbished course as much as last year’s version. Churchill’s new $10 million grass course quickly was beset by problems early in spring 2022. Poorly rooted grass created a quirky surface many horses disdained. Santin was not among them. He beat Mira Mission by a neck in last year’s renewal of the Turf Classic, a career pinnacle, and last August at Churchill notched his other Grade 1 victory in the Arlington Million. Churchill rested its course last fall, giving the turf time to mature, and it has come back in far better shape – so far – this spring. But is better actually better for Santin? “I don’t see why he wouldn’t handle it,” said Brendan Walsh, who trains the 5-year-old for his breeder, Godolphin. Santin is one of 10 in the Turf Classic, which, like the entire North American male grass division, is in a down cycle. He’s the race’s only Grade 1 winner. Santin tailed off in two post-Million starts, but his comeback race following a winter break comes with a major excuse. Santin stumbled out of the gate in the Kentucky Cup Classic on Tapeta as badly as a horse can without losing its rider; he gave his rivals a head start of many lengths but made a decent middle move and stayed on gamely for fourth. Walsh, in any case, was using the race, Santin’s first try on a synthetic surface, to prep for the Turf Classic. And connections have reason to believe Santin can get back to his best: He has been training since February over the Tapeta surface at Turfway, kinder on touchy feet than dirt. :: Bet the races on DRF Bets! Sign up with code WINNING to get a $250 Deposit Match, $10 Free Bet, and FREE DRF Formulator.  The addition of blinkers last spring helped Santin get into his races sooner, and jockey Tyler Gaffalione has ridden the horse, by Distorted Humor, in his top showings. Santin, unfortunately for those who like him, is likely to go postward lower than his 9-2 morning-line odds. The race’s morning-line favorite at 7-2 is Hong Kong Harry, one of two California-based entrants trained by Phil D’Amato, who has won one Churchill grass race from 21 starters over the last five years. Six-year-old Hong Kong Harry, bred in Ireland and imported from England for a 2022 campaign, is California’s leading turf miler. D’Amato excuses his fourth at even money March 4 in the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile to missed training time over the winter. “I battled 40 inches of rain and could never get him in a consistent training pattern,” D’Amato said. “I think he was compromised by that. Second off the bench I think you’ll see the horse you saw all last year.” Hong Kong Harry is 3-2-1 over nine furlongs but has hit his peak going one mile. D’Amato believes Hong Kong Harry and his other entrant, Earls Rock, who looks even more like a miler, can adequately see out the nine furlongs. “They’ve both got positional pace. That’s the key.” Todd Pletcher also entered two horses who, like D’Amato’s, aren’t entirely proven at the distance. Of the two, Up to the Mark might be better suited to the trip and have a higher ceiling than Steady On, who won the one-mile Appleton at Gulfstream on April 1. Up to the Mark, by Not This Time, raced against a speed bias when he finished a strong closing third in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile three weeks ago at Keeneland. Pletcher won this race in 2006 with English Channel, the sire of 8-year-old Spooky Channel, who, like many of his sire’s get, has improved with age. Spooky Channel came back from a 14-month layoff in December at least as good as he went into it, winning the Diliberto Memorial at Fair Grounds his first race back and the $300,000 Muniz Memorial over this nine-furlong distance on March 25. “He’ll stay a mile and a half, but I think he’s best at a mile and an eighth. He loves to run past horses. He’s easy to manage, not a horse that needs a lot of work at this point. He’s acting like a 2-year-old in the morning. You can always tell when he’s sharp,” trainer Jason Barkley said. Spooky Channel needs pace and should get it with Bye Bye Melvin, Wolfie’s Dynaghost, and Ocean Atlantique in the lineup. Bye Bye Melvin could be using this as a bridge to the 1 1/4-mile Manhattan on the Belmont Stakes undercard, but Wolfie’s Dynaghost has a chance. The horse has hit a new level in his first two starts for trainer Jonathan Thomas, was a powerful winner of the nine-furlong Kentucky Cup Classic over Turfway Tapeta in his las start, and breezed extremely well over the Churchill grass on April 30. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.