Kentucky Derby: Summer Is Tomorrow ready for blast-off

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Summer Is Tomorrow had a quiet Tuesday morning, walking at the quarantine barn that houses the international candidates for the Kentucky Derby a day after turning in his final breeze toward the race, and a day after drawing a post position that will make his early moves key in the run to the first turn.

Summer Is Tomorrow, who is a forward-minded runner, drew post 4 under Mickael Barzalona, inside much of the other speed in the full field. The versatile Epicenter is immediately to his inside in post 3, and moving further over finds the closers Happy Jack and Mo Donegal in 2 and 1.

“He’s got a good mind on him, but when he goes in the gates he kind of turns it on,” trainer Bhupat Seemar said of Summer Is Tomorrow. “He likes to be on the lead and dictate things.”

In his most recent start, the Group 2 UAE Derby on March 26 at Meydan, Summer Is Tomorrow broke alertly enough from post 14 to move in and dictate the pace in his first start beyond seven furlongs. However, he appeared to tire in the later stages of the 1 3/16-mile race - just a sixteenth shorter than the Kentucky Derby - and was worn down late by Crown Pride, his Japanese-bred neighbor in the quarantine barn this week, to finish second by 2 3/4 lengths.

Summer Is Tomorrow has been at Churchill Downs since April 23, and Monday's four-furlong work in 49.23 seconds on Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch's watch was his first timed move here. The colt had Caroline Seemar, Bhupat Seemar's wife, aboard, and the trainer, who indicated he caught his charge working a bit faster, was pleased with the move.

"I thought he breezed really well, to be honest," Bhupat Seemar said. "I thought he finished strong. Starting off, he was relaxed, and then he picked it up in the straight.”