Derby Express back on dirt in Governor's Stakes

Derby Express was a really good Indiana-bred 2-year-old, winning two statebred stakes last fall by almost 13 lengths combined. But while racing on a sloppy Churchill Downs strip in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes following those blowout victories, Derby Express cracked his shin, and he looked little like the same horse when he returned to action this year.

Soundly beaten into third in his 3-year-old debut, he threw a total dud, losing by 20 lengths in his second start this season. And then, just like that, Derby Express was back. Trainer Jeff Greenhill added blinkers, tried Derby Express on grass for the first time, and Derby Express scored an impressive win July 13 in the Snack Stakes, winning by six lengths. And off that return to form, he figures to be favored Wednesday at Indiana Grand in the $150,000 Governor’s Stakes for Indiana-bred 3-year-olds.

Derby Express goes back to dirt in the one-mile-and-70-yard Governor’s, but that shouldn’t matter since all his best races before the Snack came on the main track. In retrospect, his bounce-back race last time didn’t come out of nowhere. Derby Express’s workout pattern looked light coming into his first start back, and he might just have needed a race, and his bad loss came on a sloppy track over which Derby Express twice has floundered.

Bettors who missed the party in the Snack can only stare longingly at the 13-1 odds Derby Express offered that day, since his price is going way down again Wednesday: He’s 5-2 on the morning line and should go to post no higher than that.

Left reeling behind Derby Express’s front-running Snack score was 7-5 favorite Conquest Stormy. He also returns for the Governor’s but makes his first start on dirt after five turf races.

Badabing Badaboom finished a one-paced fifth in the Snack, but with a fast pace in front of him, he rallied to win the $103,000 Hoosier Breeders Sophomore Stakes in June, the sloppy-track race in which Derby Express ran so poorly. Badabing Badaboom might be somewhat pace-dependant but probably doesn’t need a wet track for his best.

Carmalley Chrome in First Lady

The $150,000 First Lady for Indiana-bred 3-year-old fillies over one mile and 70 yards on dirt has both fewer horses and fewer good horses than the Governor’s. But it does have a 9-5 morning-line favorite, Sassy Miss Officer, who appears to be vulnerable.

In her most recent dirt race two starts back, Sassy Miss Officer won the $103,000 Hoosier Breeders Sophomore fillies’ division by more than 18 lengths. But the pedestrian 59 Beyer Speed Figures she earned shows the degree to which the race, which unfolded at a suicidal pace, totally fell apart.

Sassy Miss Officer handled grass last year and thus was an odds-on favorite when switching to turf for the Ellen’s Lucky Star last month, but she ran one-paced and was no factor, suggesting that the sloppy-track score two back might have taken something out of her.

Sassy Miss Officer could bounce back, but so might Carmalley Chrome, who is a more-attractive 4-1 on the line. The speed duel that carried Sassy Miss Officer to victory was the undoing of Carmalley Chrome, who was eased June 22 after dueling on that sprint pace in a sloppy-track route race. Her connections didn’t try turf in the Ellen’s Lucky Star, instead giving Carmalley Chrome a breather to point for this start, and if she can slip loose on the lead from the rail Wednesday, she might not be caught.

Tequila and Salt dueled with Carmalley Chrome in the June 22 race before wiring the Ellen’s Lucky Star on a much slower pace, and rather than fight for the lead again, Tequila and Salt could settle into a pressing trip Wednesday.