Kentucky Derby
2019 Kentucky Derby
Prep schedule: Includes leaderboard, charts, replays, speed figures
Gayego, Monba Move Up
The earnings list and prep race results chart are updated and Arkansas Derby winner Gayego assumes a new prominence on both, moving to #5 with $640,000 in graded stakes earnings and scoring a Beyer speed figure of 103 for his first try on dirt. The effort suggests this year’s California Derby contingent is strong, making Santa Anita Derby winner Colonel John look all the better. Monba, well down on the graded earnings list before Saturday, is now headed to the Derby with $515,000 and a 92 Beyer for winning the Blue Grass, as is stablemate and Blue Grass runner-up Cowboy Cal, now #16 on the list with $207,660 in earnings.
Friday Morning Notes
– Bob Ike finds the Derby picture crystal clear: “This year’s Kentucky Derby winner will be one of the following three horses: BIG BROWN, COLONEL JOHN or PYRO. Period, end of discussion.”
– Big news in the bloodstock world: Auction house Fasig-Tipton will be sold to Synergy, a Dubai-based company headed by an associate of Sheikh Mohammed. “Business will continue as usual,” said CEO Boyd Browning of the deal, before noting there would be changes (Blood-Horse).
– A reminder, in case anyone needs one, that speed figures are subjective.
– The on-track fatality rates reported last month at the Racehorse Welfare and Safety Summit, which initially showed little difference between dirt and synthetic surfaces, have been revised. In updated stats released on Thursday, “the rate of synthetic fatalities dropped 24.6% and the dirt fatality rate increased 3%.”
– With three weeks remaining until the Kentucky Derby, where do the prep results leave us? Dick Powell’s still not on the Pyro bandwagon, but “if it’s a last-man-standing contest, it’s to Pyro’s advantage.”
Denis of Cork Out?
If it were April 1, I’d think this notice from Denis of Cork’s owner William Warren on Paul Moran’s blog was a joke, but it looks quite genuine:
I take sole responsibility for the decision to run in the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne. Denis of Cork’s poor showing was not due to the jockey, Julien Leparoux, or my trainer, David Carroll. The disaster was my fault alone.
I have never made such a bad decision in horse racing as the one I made to take Denis of Cork to Hawthorne. After the race, Suzanne was devastated and I was in total shock. The race was a complete failure and has probably eliminated Denis from the Kentucky Derby.
After some discussion of the speed bias Warren claims to have seen at Hawthorne (Warren made the mistake of going to Hawthorne, but Hawthorne is to blame for the track playing unfairly) Warren goes on to apologize to everyone who wagered on Denis of Cork. How odd. And refreshing.
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Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
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