Jockey Club Derby a rubber match for Classic Causeway, Nations Pride
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Classic Causeway and Nations Pride split decisions earlier this year, it could be argued Nations Pride was best in both the Belmont Derby in July and the Saratoga Derby in August.
Saturday, the two 3-year-olds get to settle matters when they meet for the third and likely final time this year in the Grade 3, $1 million Jockey Club Derby at Aqueduct.
In the Grade 1 Belmont Derby at 1 1/4 miles on July 9, Classic Causeway sprung a 26-1 upset when, in his turf debut, he was allowed to dictate terms on the front end and held off a slow-starting, late-running Nations Pride by three-quarters of a length.
Four weeks later, in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby at 1 3/16 miles, Nations Pride was able to get better early position and he rallied past Classic Causeway to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Annapolis got up for second by a head over Classic Causeway and did come back to win the Grade 3 Saranac by 5 1/2 lengths.
Saturday, in a six-horse field, Classic Causeway once again is likely to shake loose on the lead under new rider Flavien Prat. The key will be whether Classic Causeway, a son of Giant’s Causeway, will be able to see out 1 1/2 miles.
“I think a mile and a half is good for the horse,” said Kenny McPeek, trainer of Classic Causeway. “He’s going to have some honest fractions. It doesn’t look like anybody can really go with him, not easily, not without taking themselves out of their game. I’d say we’d like our chances. Nations Pride is obviously the horse to beat.”
In the Belmont Derby, Nations Pride acted up a bit in the gate and got away slowly under Frankie Dettori. The horse came with a belated bid that fell short.
“It was one of those races that was a bit frustrating to watch because the pace seemed to break down for some reason at the halfway mark,” said Charlie Appleby, the trainer of Nations Pride. “When everybody was starting to make their forward move, everything slowed up again. Frankie was not in a position where he would have liked to have been coming into the straight.”
In the Saratoga Derby, with William Buick aboard, Nations Pride sat a stalking third, took over mid-stretch, and gradually pulled away.
Dettori will be back aboard Nations Pride on Saturday and the plan, with a better break, is to be sitting a stalking second early on.
In his only previous try at 1 1/2 miles, Nations Pride finished eighth in the Epsom Derby in June. The course was extremely soft that day and Appleby believes that race can be dismissed. Outside of that effort, Nations Pride has five wins and two seconds from seven starts.
“He’s gotten stronger since he’s been in America and the track style and the race style over there suits him more than probably in Europe,” Appleby said.
The Great Britain-bred, German-based Ardakan is the wild card in the field. He won the Group 2 Italian Derby at 1 3/8 miles at Capannelle in May. Since then, he has finished eighth in the German Derby and third in a Group 1 at Hoppegarten in Germany, both races at 1 1/2 miles.
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The Appleby-trained Rebel’s Romance beat Ardakan so he knows the type of horse he will be facing Saturday.
“Those German horses, they stay well,” Appleby said. “Rebel’s Romance, he outstayed them all that day. Nations Pride has probably got a bit more zip about him. He’s a proper mile-and-a-quarter horse and he can hopefully stretch to a mile and a half this time.”
Andrasch Starke will be in to ride Ardakan, who is trained by Markus Klug.
The remaining three entrants in the Jockey Club Derby all seem overmatched on paper.
The Grey Wizard, trained by Graham Motion, has twice been beaten at the entry-level allowance condition. John Velazquez rides.
Daunt, trained by Robert Ribaudo, is 1 for 8 with the one win coming in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Belmont Park a year ago. Javier Castellano rides.
Wicked Fast was just beaten for $35,000 claiming at Saratoga on Aug. 20. Irad Ortiz Jr. rides for Joe Sharp.
The Jockey Club Derby goes as race 10 on an 11-race card that begins at 1 p.m. and includes the Grade 3, $700,000 Jockey Club Oaks for 3-year-old fillies.