– It looked as though longshot Miss Norman would wire the field in the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn today until the filly blew the stretch turn, losing “at least 10 lengths.” Ready to Please won instead. Miss Norman, after ducking out again, finished second.
– Miesque’s Approval delivered an upset in the Maker’s Mark at Keeneland this afternoon, beating 1-2 favorite Artie Schiller by a nose. “The other horse was coming on so fast, I don’t think [Artie Schiller] saw him,” said jockey Garrett Gomez. “But it was a really good effort for him coming off a layoff.” It was an even better effort for the seven-year-old Miesque’s Approval, who was running five or six paths from the rail and came from well off the pace.
– The Fair Grounds is returning to New Orleans. The track, which held its fall meet at Louisiana Downs after Hurricane Katrina destroyed most of its facilities, applied for racing dates on Thursday.
– Champion filly Smuggler, who hasn’t raced since winning the Coaching Club American Oaks last July, may start next Saturday in the Bed o’ Roses Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Aqueduct, said trainer Shug McGaughey. “If she works good Monday, I’ll run,” McGaughey said.
– Rockport Harbor has been sold to Darley at Jonabell Farm, where he’ll stand at stud.
Posted by JC in News on 04/14/2006 @ 8:30 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
The Kentucky Derby prep season largely comes to an end this Saturday with the Blue Grass Stakes and the Arkansas Derby. Sure, there’s the Lexington on April 22, which might yield a Derby starter or two, and it’s possible some brave (or desperate) trainer will use the Derby Trial as a tightening for the Derby as Ron Ellis did last year with Don’t Get Mad, who ended up finishing fourth in the run for the roses after winning the Trial the week before. It’s not likely, though, that the Derby winner will run in either of those races. And it’s not likely that the Derby winner ran in last weekend’s races either, writes Gary West, who expects that this year’s winner is running tomorrow:
The Kentucky Derby winner is likely to come out of one of Saturday’s preps because, quite simply, they’re better preps. Their fields are full, or nearly so, and their fractions should be lively, and so they could come closer to simulating the most frenetic two minutes in sport than, for example, the recent Santa Anita Derby.
Brother Derek won the Santa Anita Derby, getting a comfortable lead in sleepy fractions while defeating four rivals, and with a string of four stakes victories behind him, he’ll go to Churchill Downs as the Kentucky Derby favorite. But what do easy leads and five-horse fields prepare you for?
A stroll through the park, perhaps, or a parade down Easy Street, or maybe a merry search for Easter eggs, but certainly not for that turbulent, volatile, raucous scrum of a horse race known as the Kentucky Derby. No, the pace burns, the traffic bangs, and then a tsunami of noise floods the senses — that’s the Kentucky Derby.
Just don’t look to the winner of either race to follow up with a victory at Churchill. A Blue Grass Stakes winner hasn’t won the Derby since 1991, and Smarty Jones — undefeated through the Belmont — is the only Arkansas Derby winner in recent years to also win the Derby.
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I get the impression that many of the connections surrounding Blue Grass Stakes starters will be feeling a lot of pressure tomorrow. Trainer Nick Zito is scrambling for a Derby horse with only three weeks to go, and he’s looking to Little Cliff as one of his last chances for this year. “I need him. I need everything he’s got … I’m still trying to get in. He’s got a good shot, one of my last shots.” The much-hyped Strong Contender will be making his first stakes start (and only his third career start) and needs to finish first or second to get the graded earnings to enter the Derby. And Trainer Frank Brothers needs First Samurai to show some improvement off his first two-turn race last month to move ahead. “Talking doesn’t really cut it. He has to do it.”
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In the Arkansas Derby, the focus is all on Lawyer Ron. Should he win on Saturday, he’ll sweep Oaklawn’s Derby prep series and go into the Kentucky Derby as one of the two or three top prospects, “a lifelong dream” for trainer Bob Holthus. Lawyer Ron will face 12 others, including Private Vow, stablemate Red Raymond, and Rushaway winner High Cotton. Well Said has been scratched with some filling in his ankle. Breaking from post four, which Holthus called “excellent” after Wednesday’s draw, Lawyer Ron should be well-positioned to do whatever he wants. Holthus, though, hopes he’ll “lay third or fourth, three or four lengths off the lead.”
Posted by JC in Racing on 04/14/2006 @ 1:00 pm / Tagged Kentucky Derby / Follow @railbird on Twitter
– Perfect Drift made his season debut today, finishing second in a 1 1/8 mile allowance race over the turf at Keeneland today. The seven-year-old veteran will start next in the Woodford Reserve at Churchill on May 6. “We’re staying on the turf, because it’s softer on his feet,” said trainer Murray Johnson. In other results: Diplomat Lady wired the field in the Beaumont, finishing 2 1/4 lengths ahead of Lake Alice.
– Everyone loves Rafael: “America’s hottest young jockey is having a breakout season and fans are leaping aboard for the ride.”
– New Jersey racing officials handed out suspensions and fines to harness driver Eric Ledford and others accused in the horse-doping case that broke at the Meadowlands earlier this month.
Posted by JC in News on 04/13/2006 @ 6:30 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
