According to the betting public participating in Pool 4 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which closed Sunday night, trainer Tom Amoss’s best hope for the 2023 Derby runs not in the Risen Star Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds but in the filly-restricted Rachel Alexandra. Hoosier Philly, the unbeaten 3-year-old filly trained by Amoss, makes her season’s debut in the Rachel Alexandra after attracting surprising support in the latest future pool, where she closed at 11-1. Only champion 2-year-old male Forte at 8-1 was a shorter price among individual horses. Curly Jack, the Amoss-trained colt who launches his 3-year-old campaign in the Risen Star, closed at 49-1. Hoosier Philly and Julia Shining are the only to fillies currently nominated to the Triple Crown, and Hoosier Philly also has been nominated to the Louisiana Derby. Amoss, however, has no interest in going down that road right now. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. “The only thing I’m considering is how Hoosier Philly comes back in her 3-year-old debut,” he said. “I have no interest in anything other than how she performs and doing what’s right by her. Beyond that, everything else is a lot of noise.” Hoosier Philly won all three of her starts at 2, capturing a maiden sprint and two route stakes, all at Churchill. She won the stakes races by wide margins in what looked like a common gallop. Hoosier Philly’s Beyer Speed Figures look modest, a peak of 81, but visually she looks like a star, and Amoss has heaped praise on the horse. After a winter break at a Florida farm, Hoosier Philly joined Amoss’s string at Fair Grounds around the first of the year and has required only three workouts for her 1 1/16-mile comeback. Her first two breezes were solo before Amoss worked Hoosier Philly a half-mile in company Feb. 11. As with her two previous drills, her work was the fastest of the morning, Hoosier Philly was clocked in 47.40 seconds, quickest among 86 four-furlong works. “Each work was designed a certain way and she did well in all three,” Amoss said. “In the last one, we wanted her to work against an accomplished horse, to be in hand. What we wanted to see was her going alongside another horse without being overly aggressive. The work played out just like that – she was herself.” Hoosier Philly faces five foes in the Rachel Alexandra, including Silverbulletday runner-up Chop Chop. Curly Jack is one of 14 entered in the 1 1/8 mile Risen Star, and people might be taking him too lightly. Curly Jack ran six times at 2, winning twice in his first four starts, and Amoss blames himself for a fading fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. “I made a big mistake,” Amoss said. “I thought the track as playing very much to the front end. We used him early and that was a mistake.” Curly Jack prefers settling into his own rhythm and making one run. That style was thwarted by serious traffic trouble when he finished second in his final start at 2, the Kentucky Jockey Club. Finally clear along the rail in deep stretch, Curly Jack zipped home with good energy and quickly galloped out in front of victorious Instant Coffee, who won the Lecomte Stakes in his 3-year-old bow. “I thought it was worth getting another race into him [after the Breeders’ Cup], because even though he had a number of races, I didn’t think he ever really understood competition that well,” said Amoss. Curly Jack has worked four times for the Risen Star and “has prepared pretty well himself,” according to Amoss. All the buzz surrounds the Philly. Jack might be all right, too. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.