Point Dume looks to keep it rolling at Churchill
Gen’l George winner a live longshot
Nick Hahn
May 1, 2026
Nobody should be surprised at how confident – or numerous — the Bush Racing group will be when their former claiming horse, Point Dume (15-1 ML), is saddled for the $1 million, seven-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes (G1).
“We’ll be filling up the paddock,” joked owner David Bushey. “It’s absolutely wild. It’s mind blowing. We got 20 people coming out, friends, family, and people that support this horse. It’s going to be an event and experience for us all. We’re going to just soak up every minute.”
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In the race, which takes place two races prior to the Kentucky Derby, Point Dume drew the outermost post among 11 starters. After being claimed at Penn National last July, Point Dume has won five races for Bush Racing Stable including the last three in a row.
Point Dume’s most recent win came in frontrunning style in the final running of the Carter Handicap (G2) at Aqueduct. Even better: Point Dume gave Bush Racing Stable the first graded stakes win in stable history.
“You look at lots of people that are in horse racing and you just think it’s not a sport for me. It’s a sport of kings,” reflected Bushey. “I’m just an everyday blue-collar guy, and that’s what we are. We didn’t come from anywhere. We just started claiming a couple of horses, and one led to another and two and three, and now 15 in training.”
While that may be blue-collar, it’s definitely not everyday. Point Dume has shown up at the right time for Busheys. Two years ago, David’s father Bryan Bushey, having been diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, was given six months to live. At one point Bryan literally survived death after being resuscitated.
Horse racing had become the elder Bushey’s interest after becoming an empty nester 20 years earlier. Now he’s come much further along in horses and in health.
“To hook on to a horse like Point Dume while dad’s going through his battle, it’s just uplifting,” David Bushey said. “It’s crazy what horse racing can do for your spirits.”
Crazy, perhaps, but also real life, which the Busheys are embracing.
“It’s just the fact that we’re all here,” observed Bushey. “He said to me this is his dream too, running in this race on Kentucky Derby Day. We’re going to make an experience of it, and we’re loving every minute of it.”
Bryan is known for bringing strangers into the winner’s circle and grilling for his friends on weekend afternoons. Will a trip to Louisville change that?
“We have a house for the week,” said David. “I’m sure we’re doing a little bit of grilling, but day of we’ll just be hanging out. I think they put the horsemen in some nice spots, so we’ll all be together and just kind of watching the races.”
Need directions? Follow the charcoal smoke.
Point Dume has won at a bevy of Mid-Atlantic tracks – Laurel, Parx, Aqueduct, Delaware, Pimlico – but not Penn National, where he is stabled. He also has a prior start at Churchill Downs, having finished fifth in a Claiming Crown race there last November.
Edwin Gonzalez, aboard for the first time in the Carter, flies in to take the return mount for trainer Tim Kreiser.
When Point Dume didn’t win in his first three career starts in California while trained by Bob Baffert, he was sent East and immediately claimed out of a $30,000 maiden claiming race at Laurel that he won. Through the claiming game, Bush Racing became the fourth different ownership group of the five-year-old Into Mischief gelding.
“When I had claimed him, there was potential fit for the Claiming Crown,” explained David. “It was always a dream of mine to run in the Claiming Crown. I had gone to Gulfstream Park many times as a fan and just witnessed it, and being an owner that claims horses, you think of the Claiming Crown as the Breeders’ Cup if you’re a claiming owner, right?”
Is this a little bit Seabiscuit or what? The story is Grade One but what about Point Dume’s chances?
Knightsbridge, the three-time Grade 3 winner trained by Bill Mott, is the 9-5 morning line favorite. The race also includes last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up, Imagination (6-1), and the lightly raced Cornucopian (7-2), winner of the Grade 3 San Carlos last out for Bob Baffert. But make no mistake: Point Dume looks like a live longshot in here.
“I’ve seen a couple astute handicappers saying they think it’s the best race of the day,” observed the younger Bushey. “The nice part is we get to watch and see kind of what happens down inside of us. We’ve got a long straightway to find our position. He may just get out there and clear, who knows?”
With the father-and-son Bushey team in Louisville, Bush Racing is approaching this weekend as if they’re already winners. Can you blame them?
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