Calhoun goes for second-generation Indiana Derby win with Our Moneyman
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Trainer Bret Calhoun won the first of his two Indiana Derbies in 2019 with a horse named Mr. Money. Calhoun will try for a third on Saturday at Horseshoe Indianapolis with Our Moneyman, the highest-earning horse that Mr. Money has produced since becoming a stallion in Louisiana.
Our Moneyman exits the best race of his eight-start career, a second to the Brad Cox-trained Further Ado – who could be favored next weekend in the Grade 1 Haskell – in the $500,000 Matt Winn last month at Churchill, and it’s Cox he might have to beat again in the Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby.
Cox sends out Leading Change, a second-time starter whose first race suggested potential stardom. With Irad Ortiz Jr. coming in to take the mount, and Leading Change’s exceedingly impressive June 7 debut right out there for all to see, Leading Change figures to go favored in the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Derby.
The Indiana Derby, the last of eight stakes on a card that starts at noon Eastern, drew nine entrants, but not all will run. Desert Gate, the 5-2 morning-line favorite, was cross-entered in the Iowa Derby, with connections leaning toward a start in Iowa rather than Indiana. Bricklin is in the same two races and is expected to run at Prairie Meadows.
Our Moneyman was bred in Louisiana and made four starts in statebred-restricted competition before proving his open-company mettle this spring after becoming a full-time route horse. On Kentucky Derby Day, he finished a closing third in a first-level Churchill allowance race won by Indiana Derby runner Out of the Woods. While Out of the Woods led on a modest pace and hugged the inside rail, Our Moneyman lost ground on both turns, got fanned very wide coming into the homestretch, and raced somewhat greenly before bearing down late.
“I thought his Derby Day race was sneaky good. He lost just enough ground to let ourselves get beat, and it gave me confidence to go on to the Matt Winn,” Calhoun said.
The 106 Beyer Speed Figure that Further Ado earned winning the Blue Grass in April remains the highest 3-year-old dirt-route figure this year, and when Further Ado got a perfect pressing trip as the overwhelming favorite in the Matt Winn, nobody was beating him. Our Moneyman at least tried. Switched outside in upper stretch as Ortiz let Further Ado move down to the fence, Our Moneyman gained mildly through the last half-furlong, while 5 1/2 lengths clear of the third-place finisher.
“I really liked the way he finished, and I think he continues to move forward. He’s a smart horse, quiet, but he’s actually been pretty sharp of late,” Calhoun said. “Of course, Brad’s horse could just be in a different league.”
Could be. Only three times in the last five years has Cox run a debut-winning 3-year-old back in a graded dirt route stakes, and never in a race later than March. You can’t blame him for jumping Leading Change up from a seven-furlong maiden to the Indiana Derby – not considering the ease with which the colt won and his A-plus gallop-out around the clubhouse turn.
Cox said he had options at Saratoga, one-mile allowance races run out of the Wilson chute.
“Why wouldn’t I run him two turns – which I think he wants – against his own age group?” Cox said. “He’s doing well and here we are.”
Cox had Leading Change in a Keeneland maiden race last fall but the colt suffered an injury between entry day and race day. Leading Change began breezing again in April and proved more than ready for his debut, where he sat third behind a moderately fast pace before attacking midway around the turn.
“Irad said when he asked him to go at the three-eighths pole . . . he was really impressed,” Cox said. “He breezed really well with Commandment this weekend.”
Commandment, second in the Belmont last out, runs next in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga.
Lighter, Mister T, and Zihnal all look up against it, but Creole Chrome and Out of the Woods rate a chance. Both have front-running tendencies, but while Creole Chrome in his first start without blinkers proved more rateable than during the spring, stalking the pace before blasting overmatched Louisiana-breds, he might be the quicker horse and is a plausible leader under Junior Alvarado.
“With blinkers off, he’s been a little more relaxed, but if he’s on the lead, I’m fine with it,” trainer Joe Sharp said. “I’m not trying to take the speed out of him.”
Out of the Woods probably didn’t quite run back to his Churchill allowance win finishing a well-beaten second in the Delaware Derby. One wonders if he peaked in May, but he could fall into a favorable outside trip stalking Creole Chrome and Leading Change. Our Moneyman figures to race a couple of lengths behind Out of the Woods, saving ground in a bid to follow in the hoofprints of his father.
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