Greenpointcrusader shipping in for Louisiana Derby
Grade 1 winner Greenpointcrusader will ship from Florida to start March 26 in the $1 million Louisiana Derby, trainer Dominick Schettino confirmed Wednesday. Greenpointcrusader flies to New Orleans a few days before the race and will have John Velazquez in the irons.
Ranked 10th in Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch, Greenpointcrusader will be making his second start at age 3 after a successful 2-year-old campaign. He won the Grade 1 Champagne by more than four lengths before finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and started his 3-year-old season with a second-place finish to leading Triple Crown hopeful Mohaymen in the Holy Bull Stakes on Jan. 30.
Greenpointcrusader has worked four times since then without racing. The East Coast-based Schettino has started only one horse at Fair Grounds, It’s All Relevant, who finished eighth in the Risen Star Stakes.
“This is the route I chose when I came down to Florida,” Schettino said. “The timing of it all is fine. The horse is in a development stage right now. He’s growing.”
Greenpointcrusader clearly has talent but still has questions to answer. His Champagne win came on a sloppy track, and he has yet to win around two turns. Greenpointcrusader is by Bernardini, a source of stamina, but though his dam, Ava Knowsthecode – a great broodmare – is by stamina influence Cryptoclearance, her two best offspring, Justin Phillip and Keyed Entry, ran best in races up to one mile.
“I don’t see him having a problem with distance, but he’ll tell us,” said Schettino.
Since the Holy Bull, Greenpointcrusader has worked four furlongs twice and five furlongs twice, all the works at a moderate tempo and by himself.
“If I worked him in company, he’d go too fast,” said Schettino. “He’s working the same way he did when he won the Champagne.”
A previous version of his article incorrectly stated that Greenpointcrusader was scheduled to run in the Wood Memorial after the Louisiana Derby. He is not scheduled to run in the Wood Memorial.