Barboza keeping close eye on weekend Derby preps

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Victor Barboza Jr. and the connections of Grand Mo the First will be paying close attention to Saturday’s three Kentucky Derby preps – the Wood Memorial, Blue Grass, and Santa Anita Derby. Grand Mo the First has 40 qualifying points to the Derby, which have him on the bubble in 16th place when it comes to getting into the race.

Grand Mo the First earned 25 points for his game third-place finish in Saturday’s Florida Derby to go along with the 15 he had already accumulated for finishing a close third in the Tampa Bay Derby three weeks earlier. Barboza said Wednesday he intends to send Grand Mo the First to the Derby if his horse has enough points to qualify for one of the 20 starting slots available once all the Derby preps are in the books.

“Right now, our first plan is to run in the Derby if we can,” Barboza said. “Obviously, the horse that won the Florida Derby [Fierceness] is a very good horse but the pace was very favorable for him. I thought my horse ran a very good race, a very game race, to finish third, especially coming back in only three weeks after the Tampa Derby.

“He really needed another two weeks coming off that race, but we felt this was our best option, to stay here with him, rather than wait and take him out of town again for one of the other prep races.”

Grand Mo the First was ridden to victory in his first two lifetime starts by jockey Emisael Jaramillo, who was back aboard in the Florida Derby after a two-race absence. Barboza said Jaramillo would be his first choice to ride Grand Mo the First if he’s fortunate enough to make the Kentucky Derby lineup.

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“Emisael rode a lot of winners for me in Venezuela, he’s ridden a lot of winners for me here in the U.S., and I think he fits this horse very well,” Barboza said.

Meanwhile, trainer Michael Yates said future plans are up in the air for Frankie’s Empire, who won the seven-furlong Swale and finished third in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth before ending up a disappointing and well-beaten sixth in the Florida Derby.

“He just didn’t run up to par on Saturday,” Yates said. “He got shuffled back in the first turn pretty good, just like Hades, who also broke near the inside, when all those horses from the outside dropped over going to the first turn and left nowhere for either of them to go.

“After that, I thought my horse made his run pretty premature and then just flattened out down the stretch. We’ll give him a little time to regroup and then see what else is out there for him down the road.”

Money in Motion has edge

Friday’s eight-race program will be highlighted by a $49,000 starter allowance and optional-claiming event carded at 1 1/16 miles on the turf for 3-year-olds. It is the only grass race on a program that begins with six straight races over the Tapeta course. The finale will be run on the main track.

A field of seven was entered for the headliner, with only one member of the lineup, Money in Motion, having a turf win on his résumé. That victory was in his most recent start, a game maiden win March 13 that came in his first start in more than four months, his first while equipped with blinkers, his first while racing on Lasix, his first for a claiming price, and his first in South Florida.

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Money in Motion, who turned in a sharp work over the main track coming out of his maiden win, will face a lineup that includes key contenders Private Thoughts, beaten a neck by next-out stakes winner Crystal Thoughts over the synthetic track four weeks earlier, along with El Matador and Falfurrias, who finished second and fourth, respectively, under similar conditions over the Tapeta surface March 7.

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