Kentucky Derby: Trainers biding time as waiting game drags on

On the day he could have been going for his second victory in the Kentucky Derby, trainer Barclay Tagg was a little more than 1,000 miles away from Churchill Downs, at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida. And instead of running for the roses with his colt Tiz the Law in the biggest race in the country, one he won in 2003 with Funny Cide, Tagg was sending Tiz the Law through a five-furlong work, marking time, waiting to see what’s next.

“We’re all just treading water,” Tagg said in a telephone interview earlier this week.

A number of top 3-year-olds were in action last Saturday at Oaklawn Park in divisions of the Arkansas Derby, but many other elite Derby prospects – like Tiz the Law, Sole Volante, and Ete Indien – were cooling their heels, their trainers awaiting a clear path forward to the rescheduled Derby, now on Sept. 5.

“He’s doing really well,” Tagg said of Tiz the Law, who has won both his starts this year, most recently the Florida Derby on March 28. “Haven’t really stopped on him or anything. He does everything easy, and he’s had plenty of time between his races.

“I’d much rather have had run him in the Kentucky Derby last weekend, but you can’t be too [upset] about it with everything that’s going on. Keeping him ready, waiting to see what happens.”

There’s not much to go on at this point. Churchill Downs has announced it will release an updated list of points-scoring races toward the Derby, but until locales like Southern California and New York get back in action, it’s impossible for Churchill Downs to put out anything concrete.

:: KENTUCKY DERBY 2020: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more

Churchill will offer 17 points (10-4-2-1) for its Matt Winn, on May 23. The Santa Anita Derby (100-40-20-10) has been rescheduled to June 6, but as of Wednesday Santa Anita had yet to receive the green light to reopen from government officials, which could impact plans for the likes of Authentic and Honor A. P.

The Preakness will be rescheduled from its original May 16 date, most likely to September or October. The Belmont was originally scheduled for June 6, but New York, like California, is awaiting clearance to run, meaning the Belmont seems certain to be postponed, too. Depending on when the Belmont is slotted, there is the potential it could precede the Derby and be a points-scoring race. If so, the Belmont might have to be run at a different distance to accommodate a crop that won’t have been built up to 1 1/2 miles through the Derby, Preakness, or, in New York, the Peter Pan.

The Haskell at Monmouth is scheduled for July 18, making it a potential points-scoring race, but the Travers at Saratoga would likely have to be moved from its late August date for it to accommodate horses who want to run in both it and the Derby. Del Mar is likely to reschedule its Shared Belief Stakes to earlier in its meet to make it a West Coast prep for the Derby. Keeneland, whose spring meet was canceled, has indicated it will apply for dates that could potentially allow for the Blue Grass (100-40-20-10) or its equivalent to be run in the summer. But so little of that is firmed up that Churchill can’t release an updated list, and the domino effect leaves trainers waiting, watching, and hoping.

Tagg, for instance, would be based in New York by now. But like trainers Patrick Biancone (Ete Indian, Sole Volante), Todd Pletcher (Farmington Road, Gouverneur Morris), and Bill Mott (Modernist), he is still in South Florida.

“We can’t go anywhere,” he said. “But we’re lucky in that this is a lovely place to train and the weather’s nice. If you’re going to be stuck somewhere, this isn’t bad.”

Biancone, like Tagg based at Palm Meadows, used the delay in the Derby to give both Ete Indien and Sole Volante brief freshenings from regular work. Ete Indien was third in the Florida Derby, while Sole Volante hasn’t raced since finishing second in the Tampa Bay Derby on March 7. Both returned to the work tab Wednesday, going a half-mile in 50.60 seconds.

“Right now we’re focused on the first Saturday in September. Four months to go,” said Biancone, who said he was resigned mentally to the postponement of the Derby weeks ago.

“We’ve known for a long time. It wasn’t last minute. We were prepared,” Biancone said. “What can you do?”

Biancone said Sole Volante would be targeted to the Belmont, depending on when it is run, and Ete Indien’s next main goal is the Haskell.

“Maybe we’ll find something before” for both, he said.

Maybe.