Kentucky Derby Day options for Ocho Ocho Ocho

ARCADIA, Calif. – Ocho Ocho Ocho, third in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 4, will have his next start at Churchill Downs on May 2.

A decision on whether Ocho Ocho Ocho starts in the $2 million Kentucky Derby or the $200,000 Pat Day Mile on the undercard will be made at the beginning of that week. The decision depends on how the colt trains and whether he can gain a berth in the Derby, trainer Jim Cassidy said Friday.

“I want to see how he’s doing coming up to it,” Cassidy said.

Owned by Deron Pearson, Ocho Ocho Ocho is winless in two starts since a victory in the $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot in Louisiana last year. Ocho Ocho Ocho was eighth behind top Kentucky Derby hopeful Dortmund in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 7.

Cassidy said the Pat Day Mile, formerly run as the Derby Trial, has appeal because “it’s a mile and it’s 3-year-olds.”

As of Friday, Ocho Ocho Ocho has sufficient qualifying points to gain a berth in the Kentucky Derby, but that may change after this weekend’s final round of Triple Crown prep races.

On April 18, Cassidy plans to start Verraco in the $400,000 Illinois Derby at Hawthorne. Owned by Pearson, Verraco, who won an optional claimer at Santa Anita on Feb. 27, has yet to run in a stakes. Cassidy said the Illinois Derby could be a prep for the Preakness Stakes on May 16 at Pimlico.