On to the Kentucky Derby for Noble Indy, Lone Sailor

NEW ORLEANS – Noble Indy and Lone Sailor, separated by a neck at the end of a thrilling Louisiana Derby on Saturday at Fair Grounds, both came out of the race well, their trainers said Sunday morning, and both will be pointed to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5, six weeks hence.

Both Todd Pletcher, who trains Noble Indy, and Tom Amoss, who trains Lone Sailor, said their colts would not squeeze in another prep race between now and Derby Day.

Noble Indy got a Beyer Speed Figure of 95 for the win, his third in four lifetime starts.

Noble Indy picked up 100 points on Saturday under the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the Derby field, bringing his total to 110 and putting him atop the leaderboard. Lone Sailor got 40 points and now has 42 – he got two points from a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last fall – which in every year since the Derby went to a points system has been a sufficient number to make the field.

Pletcher said he thought there was still room for improvement with Noble Indy, who added blinkers for the Louisiana Derby. He praised the job jockey John Velazquez did in working with Noble Indy, whom Pletcher said “was a little more keen that I’d have liked to have seen.”

“I think we can improve on that, cut back the blinkers a bit,” Pletcher said.

Noble Indy was scheduled to return on Monday to Pletcher’s winter base in Florida at the Palm Beach Downs training center. How long he stays there before heading to Kentucky has yet to be mapped out, but when Pletcher won the Derby last year with Always Dreaming, he arrived in Kentucky to have a final work over the Churchill Downs track.

Pletcher also has top Derby contenders in Magnum Moon, the Rebel winner, and Audible, who won the Holy Bull and is scheduled to run Saturday in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream.

Lone Sailor ran the best race of his eight-race career in the Louisiana Derby, nearly pulling off an upset that would have led to a raucous celebration here, as he was the hometown favorite, being as his co-owner, Tom Benson – the owner of the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Pelicans – died days earlier and was buried on Friday.

As it was, Amoss – who was at Benson’s funeral on Friday – was ecstatic with the performance. He has held Lone Sailor in high regard. Earlier this season, Amoss put blinkers on Lone Sailor for the Lecomte, but he finished ninth of 13. They were removed for his last start, a first-level allowance in which he closed well for second.

“We made a terrible mistake in the Lecomte. He had been showing so much ability in the morning, and we weren’t seeing it in the afternoon, and that’s what trainers do, we experiment, but that was a disaster,” Amoss said. “Then in the allowance race, no one changed places but us. He was the only one who closed. That gave us a good feeling.”

Lone Sailor has been based here all winter with Amoss. When this meet ends next weekend, Amoss will head straight to Churchill Downs, so Lone Sailor will have more than a month of training over the Derby surface.

Amoss is a native of New Orleans, but until Saturday, he had never won either the Louisiana Derby or the Fair Grounds Oaks. Amoss got his first Fair Grounds Oaks victory earlier on the card with the longshot Chocolate Martini, so he’s halfway there to a sweep.

Amoss celebrated his big day later that night at the terrific uptown restaurant Clancy’s, but he was only the second-most-famous person there. Jon Bon Jovi was in the house. He had a concert in New Orleans on Sunday night.

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