Cardinal Conditions Stakes goes to Bye Bye Hong Kong

Bye Bye Hong Kong won the $77,000 Cardinal Conditions Stakes on Thursday at Chelmsford in the final leg of the European Road to the Kentucky Derby.

His neck victory over Antilles all but assured the Euro Road to the Derby won’t yield a Kentucky Derby starter this year.

Bye Bye Hong Kong earned 30 points on the Euro Road to the Derby series to top the final standings. Two horses that didn’t race Wednesday, Jahbath and Playa del Puente, have 20 points, while the 12 points Antilles earned for his second-place finish Wednesday places him fourth. Churchill Downs extends invitations only to the top four point-earners in the series and none of these horses is Triple Crown-nominated. The late Triple Crown nomination deadline was April 1 and it would cost $200,000 merely to make a supplementary Kentucky Derby nomination at this point.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien had said leading into the Cardinal that Triple Crown nominee U S S Michigan could run in the Derby with a strong showing Wednesday, but, given a clean inside stalking run by Ryan Moore, U S S Michigan finished a well-beaten fourth.