Blue Grass winner will have to make his own luck
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Blue Grass Stakes has mimicked the Kentucky Derby in recent years in at least one notable respect: surprises are the norm.
No favorite has won the Blue Grass since 2003, and with the 90th running of the Keeneland showcase on tap for Saturday, a jam-packed gate of 3-year-olds replete with unknown variables portends more of the same.
“Our colt is training well and likes this track, and I like where we drew,” said Wesley Ward, the trainer of Pablo del Monte, a two-time Keeneland winner who breaks from post 3 in a full gate of 14 entered in the 1 1/8-mile Polytrack race. “But I keep hearing a lot of other trainers saying pretty much the same thing.”[bc_video_id:320982:]
Pablo del Monte is listed at 12-1 on the program, a lower price than such recent Blue Grass winners as General Quarters (14-1), Stately Victor (40-1), and Brilliant Speed (19-1). No doubt the Keeneland tote board will offer plenty of all-around value Saturday, when some 30,000 ontrack fans and a national television audience (Fox Sports 1, 4:30-6 p.m. Eastern) will witness one of the last major preps for the May 3 Derby.
Bobby’s Kitten, making his synthetic-surface debut after emerging as a standout on grass, is a lukewarm 3-1 morning-line favorite from post 5. While the turf-slanted form of recent winners has edged the Blue Grass toward Derby irrelevancy, that does not alter the fact that, as a points race, it’s still likely to produce a starter or two.
“Whatever way we can get in the Derby, we’ll take it,” said Ken Ramsey, who bred and owns Bobby’s Kitten with his wife, Sarah. “There’s nothing written anywhere that says this colt can’t adapt to the dirt once we’re over there at Churchill Downs. First, let’s see if he can win a race as prestigious as the Blue Grass Stakes. That’s all we want to get done right now.”
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
Bobby’s Kitten, with Javier Castellano riding, figures on or near the early lead, with maybe four or five others having enough early speed to go with him. However the race unfolds, racing luck figures as a major factor in such a bulky field.
“A lot can happen,” said Emma-Jayne Wilson, the Canadian jockey who will be aboard one of the stalkers, Asserting Bear, from post 1. “We’ve got a little bit of a run to the first turn to get things sorted out. We’ll take it as it comes.”
Vinceremos (post 12, Edgar Prado), in off two sharp efforts at Tampa Bay Downs, is “a horse that always wants to put himself into the race,” said Randy Gullatt, a principal in co-owner Twin Creeks Racing. “Obviously, you’d hate to be four or five wide in the first turn, but I think he’ll be fine.”
Vinceremos is one of three entries for Todd Pletcher in this Blue Grass. The others are Gala Award, assigned post 14 with John Velazquez, and Divine Oath, the lone also-eligible who can run only if another horse is an early scratch. Pletcher won the Blue Grass in 2005 with Bandini and in 2008 with Monba.
Gala Award, like Bobby’s Kitten, has raced exclusively on grass and is trying something new Saturday for the Coolmore ownership group.
Medal Count (post 13, Robby Albarado) wheels back on just seven days’ rest for trainer Dale Romans after winning the 1 1/16-mile Transylvania over this same surface.
“It’s a little unorthodox, I know, but this horse deserves a chance like this,” said Romans.
The Blue Grass is worth 170 points toward eligibility to the Derby, with 100 to the winner and 40 to second.
Sponsored by Toyota since 1996, the Blue Grass has been contested by 23 Derby winners, the most recent being Street Sense, who was beaten a nose in the 2007 Blue Grass before prevailing at Churchill. The last horse to win both races was Strike the Gold in 1991.
The 2013 Blue Grass was won by Java’s War, a 9-2 chance who overtook Palace Malice in the final yards to prevail by a neck.
The Blue Grass is the last of five straight graded stakes on a sensational 12-race card that starts at 12:35 p.m., 30 minutes earlier than normal. The Blue Grass, the 11th race, goes at 5:45.
Following the likelihood of Friday showers, Saturday is expected to bring a nice day, with a high of 72.