One of my favorite horse racing cliches is something to the effect of, Don’t attend the funeral if you missed the wedding.

Such might be the case with me and Brunacini in the Cherokee Mile on Sunday at Churchill Downs. The Cherokee is the last stakes and penultimate race of the Churchill season, making it the fifth leg of the Pick 6 with a mandatory payout. I missed Brunacini at 28.08-1 in the Perryville Stakes last month at Keeneland but saw enough from Emilie Fojan’s homebred Dortmund colt to try to ride the wave in the Cherokee.

Brunacini beat two next-out winners on debut in July before stretching out to two turns in an allowance race at Churchill and fading to fifth after setting a fast pace. He cut back in the Perryville and made a sustaining rally to win in a fast time. Now he’s back out to a one-turn mile here, and trainer Mark Simms wanting to stretch this one out second time gives me confidence that this middle distance should suit him.

Speaking of cutbacks, Call Me Fast has a longshot look to him after closing into a slow pace going 1 1/8 miles last out in a Keeneland allowance. He is one-for-three with a second at this mile distance and most recently has run well in seven-furlong races. He will need some pace, but 15-1 morning line makes him playable.

Injunction is dangerous at his best, which explains the 3-1 morning line, but that was a big step backward in the Parx Dirt Mile. I’m going to bet that we’ve seen his best already and that we won’t see it here.