Get Her Number's connections eyeing Kentucky Derby, keeping options open

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The connections of Grade 1 winner Get Her Number will be keeping close tabs on Kentucky Derby developments leading up to the May 1 classic at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Peter Miller said Tuesday that the race is on the horse’s radar after his troubled fourth-place finish in the Arkansas Derby last Saturday. Get Her Number earned 10 points to bring his total to 20, and sat 24th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard on Tuesday.

The horse is now back home in Southern California, where last year he won the Grade 1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita. Miller and owner Gary Barber are determining the next move with Get Her Number.

“We’re thinking we’ve got a few different options,” Miller said. “We think we could get into the [Kentucky] Derby, because it looks like there’s going to be some horses that are skipping and are going to go straight to the Preakness. And so, that’s a possibility. The Derby is a possibility. We also are considering going straight to the Preakness, or Peter Pan-Belmont. We’ve got a few options.”

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The Peter Pan on May 8 at Belmont is a stepping-stone to the Belmont Stakes.

Get Her Number experienced a world of trouble early in the Arkansas Derby. He put in a determined stretch run and was beaten just three lengths.

“He got eliminated in the first turn,” Miller said. “I feel like he for sure would have been second, maybe could have won it. He lost about four or five lengths in trouble. He checked, took up, then ducked out. A dirt clod hit him – we had to treat his eye. So, I was really proud of his effort.”