JC / Railbird

Kentucky Derby

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 …

Posted in Racing on March 18, 2006 / Tagged Kentucky Derby / Comments Off on Surprises All Around

Stevie Out of Derby

Perhaps there’s something to this Juvenile Jinx superstition after all: Stevie Wonderboy will miss the Kentucky Derby after suffering a hairline fracture in his right front ankle while breezing six furlongs this morning at Hollywood Park. “He’s out of the Derby. It’s the saddest thing in my life,” said owner Merv Griffin of the sudden injury. The 2005 Juvenile champion will likely have surgery on the ankle and be out of training for the next three months.
Stevie was one of the leading early Derby contenders and the third favorite in the first Derby Future Wager pool (behind the field and First Samurai). His absence leaves San Rafael winner Brother Derek the undisputed top California prospect right now.

Posted in Racing on February 6, 2006 / Tagged Kentucky Derby / Comments Off on Stevie Out of Derby

Quick Saturday Results

Barbaro remains undefeated. The Michael Matz-trained colt showed he could handle the switch from turf to dirt (or at least, from turf to slop) and deserved to be considered a legitimate Derby prospect, winning the Holy Bull Stakes by three quarters of a length over Nick Zito’s Great Point, who trailed the field in twelfth through the first half and closed impressively in the final yards to finish second. Barbaro stalked Aventura winner Doctor Decherd to the top of the stretch and then pulled away to briefly open up a three-length lead. It was a nice race, with a final time of 1:49.31. The fractions though show the Holy Bull slowing with each quarter, with splits of :23.1, :24.05, and :25.82. The final furlong was run in a weak :13.16. As Andrew Beyer notes in the Washington Post, Barbaro “was only .25 second faster than a fair group of mares who ran an hour earlier.” Given the numbers, the horse that really comes out looking the best in the race isn’t Barbaro, but Great Point. If he’d had a few more yards, the results could well have been reversed.
More: Barbaro earned a Beyer speed figure of 95 for the Holy Bull.
In the Hutcheson, “First Samurai ran faster than the track record for 7 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. Trouble was, Keyed Entry ran faster.” Todd Pletcher’s colt ran faster from the beginning, speeding from the gate to take the lead from favorite First Samurai, who was making his first start since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. First Samurai ran about a length behind Keyed Entry for much of the race, and finished one and a half lengths back. At least the colt was capable of staying within striking distance (even if he couldn’t quite mount a strong challenge), unlike the rest of the field, which lagged nine lengths or more back when Keyed Entry and First Samurai hit the stretch.
Wow: Keyed Entry earned a 110 Beyer while setting a track record in the Hutcheson.
Bob and John looked terrific in the Sham Stakes, which was basically another workout for Bob Baffert’s hardworking Derby hopeful. Comfortably stalking the pace-setting Hawkinsville into the stretch, Bob and John easily drew clear to win by four and a half lengths. Disqualified in the Real Quiet last November, the Sham was Bob and John’s first official stakes win. “This will be the last powder puff race he gets,” Baffert said after the Sham. “From here on out, it’s going to be all heavyweights.” The March 4 Santa Catalina may be Bob and John’s next start.
I was wrong about High Limit. Very, very wrong. I said he couldn’t rate, but High Limit has proved that he’s more than capable of sitting off the pace and waiting for the right moment to run. That’s exactly what the four-year-old did in the Strub today, “the finest performance of his career.” Longshot Top This and That finished second, while Giacomo ran in his usual late rallying style to finish third.

Posted in Races/Results, Racing on February 4, 2006 / Tagged Kentucky Derby / Comments Off on Quick Saturday Results

The Yum! Derby

There are some things that should be beyond the reach of advertisers.
What’s next? Jay Hovdey considers the sponsorship possibilities: “In a surprise move, The Jockey Club today announced that the entire North American Thoroughbred foal crop of 2007 would be underwritten by Pampers, a division of Procter & Gamble Co., the home and personal products giant.”

Posted in Racing on February 1, 2006 / Tagged Kentucky Derby / Comments Off on The Yum! Derby