Cezanne a late arrival to the Kentucky Derby festivities

In a year where the events in the world, let alone racing, are dizzying, the Kentucky Derby now has as a top contender in a horse who didn’t even make his debut until the day the final leg of the Triple Crown was supposed to be run.

Cezanne never would have been ready for the Kentucky Derby’s original date on May 2. But owing to the four-month postponement of the Derby, coupled with an attrition rate that has seen several highly regarded prospects sidelined just in the past fortnight, Cezanne enters the Derby Watch top 20 as the fourth choice on the line of Daily Racing Form’s Marty McGee. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 90 when beating maidens last Saturday at Santa Anita, the day the Belmont Stakes was originally scheduled.

There’s time for Cezanne to get in two more races before the Kentucky Derby, now set for Sept. 5. He won’t be pushed, but if he shows he’s capable of handling the task, he will get every opportunity.

“We’re not going to rush him. If he makes it, he makes it. It’s like with Justify,” said his trainer, Bob Baffert, referring to the 2018 Triple Crown winner who went from an unstarted maiden to a Derby winner in less than three months. “I’ll work him back in a couple of weeks and he’ll tell us.”

The Kentucky Derby has been run in the month of May 143 times in its 145 editions. It once was run at the end of April, back in 1901. The latest date it has been run previously was June 9, in 1945, owing to racing restrictions earlier in the year because of World War II. That year’s winner was Hoop Jr., – the first horse owned by Fred Hooper – who had raced five times at age 2 and had two races at age 3, including a victory in a division of the Wood Memorial, prior to the Derby.

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His career ended one week later. Hoop Jr. finished second in the Preakness Stakes to Polynesian – who had bypassed the Derby – “and came out of the race decidedly lame,” according to the race’s official chart.

The injury bug has been particularly cruel to this year’s Derby crop, underscoring the uncharted waters of having the race postponed. Maxfield and Wells Bayou on Wednesday were the latest to go to the sidelines, joining the winners of the Arkansas Derby divisions, Charlatan and Nadal, as well as Mr. Monomoy.

The flipside of that is horses who had hiccups earlier this year, like Enforceable, are getting a chance to hit the reset button, and horses like Cezanne are able to make Hail Mary bids.

Much has been expected of Cezanne following his purchase as a 2-year-old for $3.65 million, last year's highest price for a juvenile at auction, by the Coolmore team of John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith, who teamed up with Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias Stable, a co-breeder of the colt. The son of Curlin had been timed in 10 seconds at his breeze-up at Gulfstream.

“Real strong, very athletic, beautiful frame. A specimen of a horse. He worked unbelievable, and he had a pedigree,” Baffert said. “When you work that fast and you’re beautiful and you have a pedigree, he was the horse. There wasn’t a lot of thinking.”

Cezanne – named for the great French painter – turned in his first work for Baffert last July 12 at Los Alamitos, where Baffert keeps a second string and often starts off his young horses. He worked four times there, then three times at Del Mar, the last on Aug. 26, before needing time off.

“He had a minor issue. We had to back off a little,” Baffert said.

Cezanne did not work again until Jan. 31 at Los Alamitos. He had six works through March 12 and was nearing his debut, but then Santa Anita had to suspend racing operations because of the coronavirus pandemic. Cezanne did not work again until April 15, the first of seven works, all at Santa Anita, through May 30, with two of the last three the best of the morning at the distance.

“He was ready to run a month ago, but the pandemic set us back,” Baffert said. “I almost shipped him out of town.”

Baffert during that time did ship both Charlatan and Nadal for Grade 1 opportunities in divisions of the Arkansas Derby. Both were victorious, on May 2, the day the Derby was originally scheduled.

Now, those two are out. And Cezanne is applying the initial brush strokes to his Derby bid.