The eighth season of Countdown to the Crown returns as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene. Posted each Friday at DRF.com from Jan. 4 through the Belmont Stakes, Countdown keeps you apprised of the rising stars of the 3-year-old class from the maiden ranks through the Grade 1 stakes. You can access daily updates, opinions and interactive features at Countdowntothecrown.com as well.
Straight from the gate
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Maybe it was a result of being matched up with a graded stakes-winning sprinter. Maybe it was the result of his connections wanting to do a little more with him. Or maybe it was simply a result of just how good Vyjack is doing right now.
Whatever it was, Vyjack, the undefeated 3-year-old, turned in a sensational five-furlong workout Friday morning at Aqueduct in preparation for a start in the $1 million Wood Memorial here on April 6.
As the only graded stakes winner in the field, Shakin It Up is the most accomplished horse in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby on Sunday at Sunland Park, but he will be making his first start around two turns while coming out of a race whose form is debatable.
Where else to look? Perhaps not that far away.
The winner of Sunday’s 1 1/8-mile Sunland Derby will be awarded 50 points in the Kentucky Derby qualifying system, which should be more than enough to ensure a place for him in the Derby starting gate.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Always in a Tiz, who had spent about a month at Oaklawn Park, was held out of last week’s Rebel Stakes because his connections felt he wasn’t quite himself.
Back home in New York, Always in a Tiz showed signs of life Thursday morning when he worked four furlongs in 48.27 seconds over the Belmont Park training track. Working by himself under exercise rider Carl Allsop, Always in a Tiz went his first quarter in 24.11 and his final quarter in 24.16. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:00.92.
Sunland Derby favorite Shakin It Up was one of six horses who flew into New Mexico on Thursday morning to be part of a Sunday program of seven stakes worth more than $1.4 million. The card is the richest of the meet at Sunland Park.
Shakin It Up was joined on Thursday’s flight by Govenor Charlie, Saint Prado and Mudflats, all of whom are also entered in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby. The fillies Midnight Lucky and Unusual Way also made the trip, according to a track official, to run in the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks.
FLORENCE, Ky. – The road to the Kentucky Derby rarely is smooth, as Mark Casse can attest. With a colt named Uncaptured, the trainer hit a detour that has led him to Turfway Park, where on Saturday the track’s showcase event will serve as a critical test for Uncaptured and 11 other Derby hopefuls.
FLORENCE, Ky. – There were agonizing moments when Jeff Greenhill questioned why he ever gave up the security of being a government-employed chemical engineer to become a Thoroughbred horse trainer.
“One morning a few years ago, I was driving through the split in the hills near Carrollton,” said Greenhill, referring to the monotonous drive on Interstate 71 in Kentucky. “And I broke out in a sweat. I thought, ‘Where in the world is my next win coming from?’ All I had in the barn was manes and tails.”
