Surprises All Around
Lawyer Ron was the only favorite to win one of today’s Derby preps: The sharp colt trained by Bob Holthus came from off the pace to take the Rebel, with second-favorite Private Vow, making his first start since last November, fading out of contention early. Achilles of Troy finished fifth in the Gotham, well behind wire-to-wire winner Like Now, and was vanned off with a sore leg; Bluegrass Cat was second to Deputy Glitters in the Tampa Bay Derby; and Bob and John had a troubled trip and barely got up for third in the San Felipe, which was won by A.P. Warrior. John Shirreffs, who recently took over training the colt, told the Downey Profile earlier this week that he planned to let the A.P. Warrior “do his thing,” and that, “I don’t think you want to mess around and play games with him. You don’t want to take him back, or send him.” Shirreff’s approach — at least in this race — seems to have worked wonders on the colt who’d gone off form in his past couple of races.
More: Complete coverage of Saturday’s race results can be found in the Derby Watch …
