Good Magic, Bolt d'Oro top 360 Triple Crown nominees
Led by the likes of Eclipse Award winner Good Magic, fellow Eclipse finalists Bolt d’Oro and Solomini, and the unbeaten McKinzie, a total of 360 3-year-olds were announced on Thursday as early nominees to this year’s Triple Crown.
That number is a decline from last year, when 419 were nominated at the early stage, but is similar to the 368 nominated at this stage in 2016. There were 429 nominated at the early stage in 2015. The record is 450 in 2007, which followed a huge foal crop of 37,948 in 2004. The 2015 foal crop is estimated at 22,500.
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The Triple Crown consists of the Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs, Preakness at Pimlico on May 19, and Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on June 9. Twelve horses have swept the series, but just one since 1978, American Pharoah in 2015. In the Triple Crown races of both 2016 and 2017, a different horse won each race.
Those announced as nominees on Thursday were made eligible through a $600 payment that was due Jan. 20. There is a second deadline, on March 19, but the cost then is $6,000. Six horses were added at the second stage last year. There also is a supplemental stage for all three races, but the cost is steep -- $200,000 prior to the Kentucky Derby in order to be eligible for all three races, $150,000 prior to the Preakness for the final two legs of the Triple Crown, or $50,000 for the Belmont Stakes alone. The Belmont supplement has been reduced from last year’s $75,000.
There are four fillies nominated, most notably Wonder Gadot, winner of the Demoiselle. Caledonia Road, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, is not nominated.
:: View the complete list of 2018 Triple Crown nominees
The nominees also include 13 horses based in Europe, most notably Mendelssohn, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. This year, for the first time, Churchill Downs has carved out a potential spot in the 20-horse Derby field for a horse based in Europe through its European Road to the Kentucky Derby series.
There are three horses nominated from Japan, a country from which Churchill Downs for the second straight year is actively seeking a participant for the Derby via its Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby series, which reserves a potential Derby starting spot from that country.
There are three other overseas nominees, all based in Dubai.
Other prominent nominees include Enticed, winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes; Remsen winner Catholic Boy, Hopeful winner Sporting Chance, Breeders’ Futurity winner Free Drop Billy, and Champagne winner Firenze Fire.
Well-known male horses not listed as nominated include All Out Blitz, runner-up in last month’s Sham Stakes; Engage, who won last fall’s Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park; and Projector, who has not worked since finishing second in a maiden race at Gulfstream in December to the highly regarded Impact Player. Both All Out Blitz and Engage are going to have sprint-focused campaigns, their trainers said.
Todd Pletcher, who won both the Derby and Belmont last year, leads all trainers with 37 nominees. Bob Baffert, trainer of McKinzie and Solomini and a four-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, is next with 32 nominees. Steve Asmussen is third with 17.
The Zayat Stables of Ahmed and Justin Zayat, which campaigned American Pharoah, leads all owners with 12 nominations, one more than Kenny Troutt’s WinStar Farm.
Charles Fipke, for the second straight year, leads all breeders with 11 horses nominated, followed by Gainesway Thoroughbreds with 10.
Also for the second straight year, Tapit leads all sires with 22 offspring nominated. Pioneerof the Nile, sire of American Pharoah, is next with 12.
