Kentucky Derby: Brooklyn Strong ready, if spot opens
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The connections for Brooklyn Strong have indicated a desire to run in the Kentucky Derby if their New York-bred gelding can make it into the field by Tuesday.
With the defection of Get Her Number on Saturday afternoon, Brooklyn Strong, with 10 qualifying points, moves up to 21st on the list of horses still under consideration for the Derby. He would need one defection between Saturday and Tuesday morning's draw to make the body of the field. Starrininmydreams is now 22nd on the list.
Brooklyn Strong, who won the Remsen last December at Aqueduct, could enter the Derby as an also-eligible, but under that scenario he would have to be on the Churchill Downs grounds by 11 a.m. Tuesday, the day of entry. Brooklyn Strong is based at Parx with trainer Danny Velazquez, and owner Mark Schwartz said he wouldn’t want to ship the horse to Kentucky without being assured a spot in the gate.
“I don’t think I would do that and I wouldn’t run in the Pat Day Mile,” Schwartz said, referring to a 3-year-old stakes on the Derby undercard.
Schwartz said if Brooklyn Strong didn’t enter the Derby he would be pointed to the Preakness at Pimlico on May 15.
Schwartz believes Brooklyn Strong, if he gets in, would be a contender in the Derby. At 2, Brooklyn Strong won the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct as well as a New York-bred stakes. An illness forced him to miss some time earlier this year and his only start in 2021 came in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial, in which he finished fifth, 4 3/4 lengths behind 72-1 upset winner Bourbonic.
In the Wood, Brooklyn Strong was getting a ground-saving trip along the inside when a potential hole closed on him at the three-sixteenths pole.
“We feel a lot better about the Wood Memorial than [other people] feel about it,” Schwartz said. “We feel we were pulled up a few times in that race. We were going to have a burst and the burst was cut off.”
Schwartz, who purchased Brooklyn Strong for $5,000, added “I’ll probably only get one chance at the Derby in my life. It’s a crazy race with 20 horses, you only get one chance. More importantly, we feel we have a shot, we really do. We love our horse, we absolutely love our horse. If we get on the outside, we think we’ll pass horses. If we don’t win, we feel that we’ll be up there.”
Schwartz said he does not have a rider for Brooklyn Strong.