Derby dreams still alive for Blue Grass's top five

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Not a whole lot was settled by the surprising results of the Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland: The top five finishers in the field of seven all have enough qualifying points and appear likely to run back May 6 in the Kentucky Derby.

Irap, the 31-1 winner and the first maiden in 93 runnings to capture the premier race of the Keeneland spring meet, will remain here for the time being for owner Paul Reddam and Southern California-based trainer Doug O’Neill, essentially mimicking the pre-Derby schedule used last year before Reddam and O’Neill won with Nyquist.

Always prominent under Julien Leparoux, Irap took sole command on the final turn of the Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass before holding off a sustained run from Practical Joke to prevail by three-quarters of a length. It was the Tiznow colt’s first victory in eight career starts. His winning time of 1:50.39 for 1 1/8 miles equated to a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.

Practical Joke, trained by Chad Brown, also will stay at Keeneland until a decision is made to move to Churchill Downs.

McCraken, third as the 8-5 favorite when incurring his first defeat in five starts, will have jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. back aboard for the Derby. Hernandez revealed Monday that he has chosen McCraken over Girvin, whom he rode to win the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby.

“I felt very, very fortunate to be in this position,” said Hernandez. “Both horses are really good. Neither had done anything wrong. It was a tough decision to finally make. I guess it boiled down to me having a lot of history with [trainer Ian Wilkes] and the owner,” the Whitham family of Kansas. “We’d kind of committed to McCraken early on and always thought he was going to be a really good horse.”

In 2012, Hernandez rode Fort Larned to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic for Wilkes and Whitham Thoroughbreds.

Hernandez said McCraken ran well in defeat Saturday while making his first start in eight weeks. Always in striking distance, he finished 3 3/4 lengths behind Irap.

“At first, I was kind of disappointed, but he had every right to give up when [the top two] ran away from him at the top of the lane,” he said. “But he didn’t. He ran the whole way down the lane. I think he needed the race more than anything. He got pretty tired late.”

McCraken returned Monday to the Wilkes barn at Churchill after spending the last few weeks at Keeneland following several months in Florida.

In turn, Girvin will now be ridden by Mike Smith, trainer Joe Sharp said Monday. Owned by Brad Grady, Girvin is scheduled to breeze Saturday at the Trackside training center in Louisville, Ky., in his first work since his April 2 Louisiana Derby victory.

In another matter pertaining to Derby jockeys, the situation with Irap is unsettled and might well result in a one-and-done for Leparoux. On Saturday, Leparoux will ride Classic Empire, the reigning divisional champion and still one of the Derby favorites, in the final remaining prep of consequence, the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. Leparoux also rode State of Honor to a runner-up finish in the April 2 Florida Derby. Both Classic Empire and State of Honor are trained by Mark Casse.

Further worth noting is that Reddam and O’Neill have won two of the last five runnings of the Derby, with I’ll Have Another (2012) and Nyquist, with Mario Gutierrez as the jockey. Gutierrez finished far back Saturday in the Santa Anita Derby aboard So Conflated for Reddam and O’Neill.

Meanwhile, Dale Romans said J Boys Echo, fourth in the Blue Grass, is definite for the Derby. “He didn’t run a bad race,” said Romans. “A lot of crazy stuff can happen in a 20-horse field.”

Tapwrit, trained by Todd Pletcher, was the clear disappointment of the Blue Grass when finishing fifth as the 2-1 second choice after winning the Tampa Bay Derby in his prior start, but his connections appear willing to write off the race and proceed to Louisville. Aron Wellman, representing one of the colt’s co-owners, Eclipse Thoroughbreds, said the partners are “not overreacting” and that Tapwrit likely will go to Churchill in a week or so.

– additional reporting by Nicole Russo and Byron King