Ennis between Derby and Day on Derby Day
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Great White is running on Saturday at Churchill Downs. Trainer John Ennis just doesn’t know yet in what race, or crucially, at what distance.
Great White is the first also-eligible for the Kentucky Derby, and would need a defection by scratch time Friday morning, before advance wagering opens, to draw into the field. With his Derby status uncertain, he is also cross-entered in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile for 3-year-olds on the undercard. Entry procedures in Kentucky this year allow for a horse to be cross-entered in two graded stakes on the same day, provided the horse is an also-eligible in an overflow field in at least one of those races.
Ennis said that he would “love to know sooner rather than later” if Great White will draw into the 10-furlong Derby, or if he will be running a one-turn mile on the undercard.
“If we get a defection, which I don’t wish on anyone, but if we do, it will give me a bit of insight into what to do training-wise,” he said.
Ennis indicated that while somewhat splitting hairs, he would train Great White more lightly for a mile race than he would a route.
“If he’s going to the Pat Day Mile, I’d probably freshen him up more, and take back on his training a little bit – won’t concentrate so much on the mile and a half gallops, like I did this morning,” Ennis said. “[But] there’s not much more training you can do between now and then. It’s exciting. There’s no pressure, there’s no right and wrong way to do it. They’re either good enough or they’re not.”
Great White, a massive May foal, is co-owned by Ennis with Three Chimneys Farm. The gelding earned Derby consideration with a win in the John Battaglia Memorial on Turfway Park’s Tapeta, then finished fifth in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes in his first try on dirt, an effort that didn’t dissuade the trainer from entering dirt races this week with a horse he feels is still developing.
“He’s a baby still,” Ennis said. “He’s still a big baby. He’s such a big child.”
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