Kentucky Derby: Reincarnate remains on track for Louisville

Reincarnate, third in last Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby, remains pointed to the Kentucky Derby, Tom Ryan, managing partner of SF Racing, part-owner of the colt, said this week.

Ryan said he was “proud” of Reincarnate’s effort and suggested a weather-interrupted training schedule in California may have hampered him some. Ryan said the horse has returned to trainer Tim Yakteen’s California stable and has emerged from the race in good order.

“I thought he ran well. He showed enough class to put himself on the podium,” Ryan said. “He’s got his 45 points through the Yakteen system and has fairly and squarely put himself in the Derby. We’ll hopefully get a nice, direct run into the race in the sense of weather and soundness, what have you. You would have loved to have won that race and stick your chest out and be rah-rah, but the points suggest he belongs in the race.”

Reincarnate won the Sham Stakes earlier this year and was third, with trouble, in the Rebel.

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Meanwhile, Ryan said Fort Bragg, who finished fifth in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, could be shortened up in distance with a race like the Grade 2, $500,000 Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard one consideration. The $100,000 Laz Barrera Stakes, a seven-furlong race on May 6 at Santa Anita, is another possibility.

“We’ll see how we are in 10 days, two weeks,” Ryan said. “He’s a horse who is maturing and has genuine ability.”

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