Churchill Downs notes: No Kentucky Derby for Officer Alex
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
Lynn Whiting sure wouldn’t mind having a horse in the Kentucky Derby again, but it won’t be this year with Officer Alex, a four-time winner who runs Saturday night in the Derby Trial.
Whiting, who won the 1992 Derby with Lil E. Tee, said the new points system that would appear to allow the Derby Trial winner to run back in seven days in the Derby is irrelevant to his agenda with Officer Alex, a Pennsylvania-bred who was a nose winner of the six-furlong Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn Park earlier this month.
“We just needed somewhere to run him, and there aren’t many options out there,” Whiting said. “We might need to invent something for him.”
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
Margolis high on Wine Princess
Steve Margolis is hoping to see his name atop the trainer standings at the spring meet – at least after the first race is run Saturday evening.
Margolis will lead over one of his stable stars, Wine Princess, for a $57,000, one-turn, one-mile allowance that opens the meet. Last summer at 3, Wine Princess won the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks before finishing second to Grace Hall in the Grade 2 Indiana Oaks in her season finale.
“The filly is doing super,” Margolis said. “She’s training so well right now, I can’t wait to get her back to the races.”