Kentucky Derby: Lack of dirt experience not necessarily a hindrance

Like the King is looking for his first victory on dirt in the Kentucky Derby, and Wesley Ward will be saddling the colt as his first starter in the classic. But Ward has someone in his camp who knows the ins and outs of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby well, and who has given him additional confidence that his colt’s synthetic and turf abilities could be an asset.

“I’ve been talking with Gary,” Ward said, referencing three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Gary Stevens, now agent to jockey Drayden Van Dyke. “Gary would know Churchill a lot better than I would. He says that turf horses get over Churchill.”

There is history to back up that assertion, as several Kentucky Derby winners raced on various surfaces before succeeding on the dirt oval at Churchill Downs. Barbaro won his first three starts on turf, including two stakes, before moving to dirt to prepare for the 2006 Derby. Big Brown, a dual classic winner in 2008, won on turf as a juvenile in his debut. The 2009 upset Derby winner, Mine That Bird, won three stakes on Woodbine’s synthetic as a juvenile. Animal Kingdom successfully raced on turf and used a win in the 2011 Spiral Stakes – now the Jeff Ruby – on synthetic as a springboard to his Derby victory. Furthermore, Paddy O’Prado finished third in the 2010 Derby before going on to be a Grade 1 winner on turf. Dullahan, a multiple Grade 1 winner on synthetic, was third in the 2012 Derby.

“I don’t know if it’s necessarily a help, but as long as it’s not a hindrance,” said Garrett O’Rourke, manager of U.S. operations for Juddmonte Farms.

Juddmonte sends out Mandaloun, who is from a European female family, in this Derby.

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“You look at Animal Kingdom and horses like that,” O’Rourke said. “Definitely it helps probably in having a little bit of stout breeding there to get the 10 furlongs.”

Like the King, who won his maiden on turf, has won two of his last three outings, all on the synthetic Tapeta at Turfway Park, including the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby, in which fellow Derby candidate Sainthood was second. They are among several expected entrants with alternate-surface experience. Rock Your World won on turf in his first two starts before successfully moving to dirt for the Santa Anita Derby. Helium also won his first two starts, both on a synthetic track at Woodbine, before taking the Tampa Bay Derby on dirt. Furthermore, Helium, Known Agenda, Mandaloun, and Rock Your World are all out of mares who were stakes winners on turf or synthetic.