Busy prep, travel schedule no issue for My Boy Jack

Few have logged more miles this year in pursuit of the Kentucky Derby than My Boy Jack.

With two or three Kentucky Derby preps now the norm for top contenders, My Boy Jack had a busy spring in pursuit of enough points to make the field, with four preps in four states. He finished third in the Sham Stakes on Jan. 6 at Santa Anita, then won the Southwest Stakes on Feb. 19 at Oaklawn. He finished third, beaten less than a length, in the Louisiana Derby on March 24, necessitating a trip to Keeneland for the Lexington Stakes on April 14, which he rallied to win.

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The last horse to win the Kentucky Derby off four preps was Smarty Jones, who came to the 2004 edition unbeaten. Combatant, Firenze Fire, Flameaway, and Magnum Moon also have made four starts this year, but My Boy Jack is unique in his amount of travel. Flameaway and Magnum Moon each raced in two states, while Combatant and Firenze Fire remained at the same track for all their preps.

Trainer Keith Desormeaux is pleased with My Boy Jack’s condition, appetite, and energy level after all the activity.

“We feed three times a day, and he’s been cleaning up and is vigorous in his hay bag,” Desormeaux said. “He doesn’t seem fatigued. When a horse is [stressed] they’ll maybe dig in their stall, walk around, walk back and forth, but he seems very relaxed.”

Desormeaux credits assistant Julie Clark, who oversaw My Boy Jack through the Lexington and early days at Churchill.

“We make a mash we have coined our ‘gumbo,’ and even though she’s from Canada, she makes great gumbo,” Desormeaux said.