For the Last Time
When the Blue Grass Stakes is run at Keeneland on Saturday, it is unlikely to produce the next Kentucky Derby winner. Though it was once the most important 3-year-old prep race, it became irrelevant after Keeneland replaced its dirt track with a synthetic surface. None of the seven horses who captured the Blue Grass on Polytrack proceeded to win on Churchill Downs’s dirt; most ran dismally.
Jeff Scott, writing on Monday:
Some people think this race has lost relevance since it started being run on Polytrack in 2007. The fact is, though, that the Blue Grass has produced by far the most Kentucky Derby starters (26) of the five Grade 1 Derby preps since Polytrack has been in place. The Arkansas Derby is next with 20, followed by the Santa Anita Derby (17), Florida Derby (16) and Wood Memorial (14). Only the Arkansas Derby has had more Derby starters hit the board (four) than the Blue Grass (three).
