Juvenile talent will be tested in Iroquois
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – More than seven months to the 2020 Kentucky Derby, and already some serious prospects are making themselves known – or at least the horsemen involved Saturday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs hope so.
The Iroquois and its twin sister, the Grade 2, $200,000 Pocahontas, are the first qualifying races toward the Churchill classics next spring, as well as Win and You’re In events toward their respective Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 1 at Santa Anita. Those kinds of rewards come with pressure.
“It’s pressure, but the good kind,” said Dale Romans, trainer of Iroquois favorite Dennis’ Moment. “When you put the saddle on what you think is a good one, they help relieve the pressure. We really think this is a good one.”
A 19 1/4-length winner when earning a 97 Beyer Speed Figure in a July 27 maiden race at Ellis Park, Dennis’ Moment will face nine other 2-year-old colts in the 38th running of the Iroquois, a 1 1/16-mile race that marks the two-turn debut of every starter. The added distance is a major unknown in a race filled with them.
“You think you know whether they can handle it,” Romans said, “but you never know for sure until they show you. We’re confident this colt wants more ground.”
Dennis’ Moment will have Irad Ortiz Jr. in from New York to guide him from post 8. Ortiz and his brother, Jose, both will be active throughout an 11-race card that starts at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. The Iroquois (race 10, 5:26) is the last of four straight stakes, with the others being the Open Mind (race 7), the Locust Grove (race 8), and the Pocahontas (race 9). They’re all linked together in the 20-cent Single 6 (races 6-11) and the late pick five (races 7-11), but there is no all-stakes pick four. The late pick four spans races 8-11.
The logical second choice behind Dennis’ Moment is Rowdy Yates, the only stakes winner in the lineup. Winner of the Ellis Juvenile nearly four weeks ago, the son of Morning Line is one of two starters in here for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, along with Zyramid.
Other viable challengers include Letmeno, a closing second in the Ellis Juvenile for Ian Wilkes; Scabbard, a good second in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special for Eddie Kenneally; a Maryland shipper, Lebda, who joins Rowdy Yates as the only two-time winner in the cast; and first-out maiden winners Juggernaut and January Won.
Juggernaut is one of two in here for trainer Keith Desormeaux, just as January Won is part of an uncoupled duo being sent forth by Kenny McPeek.
“I don’t think you can coronate any of these horses just yet,” said McPeek, a two-time Iroquois winner with Harlan’s Holiday (2001) and Cairo Cat (2018). “We like both of ours. This is a big race for everybody involved.”
The Iroquois, named for the scenic park located just south of the track, and the Pocahontas both were lengthened from their former one-mile distances and moved from the fall meet when Churchill assumed September dates from Turfway Park in 2013.
