Blinkers an option for Greatest Honour moving forward

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A set of blinkers has helped take Florida Derby winner Known Agenda to the next level and trainer Shug McGaughey said Sunday morning that blinkers will likely also be added when Greatest Honour begins his final preparations for their rematch in the Kentucky Derby.

Both Florida Derby hero Known Agenda and beaten favorite Greatest Honour, who finished a disappointing third, eight lengths behind the winner, came out of the race at Gulfstream Park in good order and if all goes well over the next five weeks they are expected to meet for a third time in the Kentucky Derby. Known Agenda also defeated Greatest Honour in a maiden race last fall at Aqueduct.

Florida Derby runner-up Soup and Sandwich is also Derby-bound if the 40 qualifying points he earned for his second-place finish Saturday are enough to get him into the field.

“He came out of the race great, had good energy today,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of Known Agenda the morning after his breakthrough performance in the Florida Derby, for which he earned a career-best 94 Beyer Speed Figure.

Pletcher said he is pleased with the progression Known Agenda has made in his last couple of starts.

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“He’s much more focused and professional than at the beginning of the year, the blinkers have definitely helped,” said Pletcher, who trains Known Agenda for owner-breeder Vinnie Viola. “I was happy to see him be inside and behind horses, take some dirt and run into it. I was always confident the distance would be to his liking and it’s been interesting watching him put it all together. Part of that comes from experience and maturity and him getting used to being in those situations.”

Pletcher also said he wasn’t concerned when Known Agenda drifted out to the middle of the track under strong left-hand sticking from jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. while assuming control of the Florida Derby near midstretch.

“I think it was more Irad trying to separate himself from Soup and Sandwich and taking him out there using the whip than the horse doing it himself,” Pletcher said. “And I was happy to see him come back in when Irad asked him to near the end.”

Pletcher said Known Agenda would continue training and have one or possibly two works at the Palm Beach training center before shipping to Churchill Downs for the Derby.

Trainer Shug McGaughey said Greatest Honour “was doing fine” after returning to his winter base at Payson Park on Saturday evening. McGaughey gave a couple of reasons why Greatest Honour did not run back to his previous two efforts in which he won the Grade 3 Holy Bull and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here earlier this winter.

“The winner ran a tremendous race, but I also think our horse being down on the inside is really not what he wants to do,” McGaughey said. “He couldn’t get out until the top of the stretch, and by that time the race was over. He didn’t run his ‘A’ race, although we’re still planning on going to Louisville unless he shows something to tell us otherwise over the next few weeks.”

McGaughey said he plans to make two significant changes when preparing Greatest Honour for the Derby: adding a set of blinkers, and bringing jockey Jose Ortiz in for his works. Just where those works might take place is still up in the air.

“I need to get Jose to work him, I just don’t know what the (Covid) protocols will be wherever we’re at when that time comes,” McGaughey said. “I’m also going to try working him with blinkers and see how it suits him. He’s never had them on before. It crossed my mind after the Fountain of Youth when he got to wandering around a little bit early in the race, but I didn’t want to change anything at that point. If he doesn’t like them, we won’t use them in the Derby.”

McGaughey said he’s uncertain at what point he might ship Greatest Honour to Churchill Downs. When Orb won the Derby in 2013, he worked twice at Payson Park following his victory in the Florida Derby before having his final breeze at Churchill Downs the Monday prior to the race.

Trainer Mark Casse said Soup and Sandwich was also doing well the morning after his promising second-place finish in the Florida Derby and will head to Churchill Downs along with his Tampa Bay Derby-winning stablemate Helium “about three weeks before the race.”

“I think right now he’s 12th on the points list and obviously there are a lot more races to run, but I would think he’ll end up qualifying,” Casse said.

Helium, a late supplemental nominee to the Triple Crown, is currently ninth on the list with 50 points.