Kentucky Derby 2022: Saez goes for Oaks-Derby sweep; early scratches on card
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fresh off his victory aboard Secret Oath in the Kentucky Oaks, jockey Luis Saez was set on Saturday at Churchill Downs to try and sweep both that race and the Kentucky Derby, a feat that has been accomplished twice in the past 12 years, but officially just once.
John Velazquez won last year’s Oaks on Malathaat and then finished first in the Derby with Medina Spirit, but that horse subsequently was disqualified for a medication violation. So, Saez, who rides Charge It in the Derby, will be seeking to become the first rider since Calvin Borel in 2009 to win both races.
Borel rode Rachel Alexandra in the Oaks and Mine That Bird in the Derby. Both ran two weeks later in the Preakness, and Borel stuck with Rachel Alexandra as she recorded the first of her three victories against males that year, with the Haskell and Woodward to follow.
Saez was winning the Oaks for the first time Friday. He’s yet to win the Derby.
Saez rode Secret Oath for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Finishing second in the Oaks was Nest, trained by Todd Pletcher, the former Lukas assistant with whom Saez teams Saturday in the Derby with Charge It. Pletcher followed Lukas into the Hall of Fame.
Derby Day dawned cool and cloudy, and the forecast from the National Weather Service was for it to remain cloudy all day, with a high temperature of just 63 degrees. No rain is in the forecast. Then again, the weather handicappers had a major whiff Friday, predicting day-long, heavy rain that turned out to be a couple of passing showers, nothing close to what was initially predicted.
Owing to the rain that did fall Friday, though, the track was listed as sloppy for training Saturday morning. But Churchill’s main track can dry quickly, so if no rain in fact arrives, it should dry out in a hurry before the first race at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, and certainly well before the Derby, whose post time is right about 7 p.m.
There were two scratches from the Derby – race 12 of 14 – both announced at scratch time Friday, with Ethereal Road (program No. 20) coming out from the main body of the field and second also-eligible Rattle N Roll (22). The withdrawal of Ethereal Road allowed the first also-eligible, Rich Strike (21), to get in.
The early scratches for the remainder of the card, per Churchill Downs publicity as of 8:45 a.m. Eastern, were:
Race 1 – Supercool (3), Sargent Lee (4), and Curlin Lane (5)
Race 3 – Played Hard (10), entered as a main track only, scratched with the race remaining on turf
Race 4 – O P Firecracker (5), and also-eligibles Summer in Malibu (13), Red Knobs (14), and Varatti (1a)
Race 5 – She Can’t Sing (1), who ran instead Friday in the Modesty, and Mona Stella (3)
Race 6 – Major Fed (10)
Race 13 – Also-eligibles Soup and Sandwich (13) and Payne (1a)
Race 14 – Lucky Devil (5) and The Judge and Jury (10)