Country Grammer rallied along the rail to defeat Caracaro by a neck to capture the $100,000 Peter Pan in front of a silent, empty grandstand on what winning trainer Chad Brown called a “bittersweet day” Thursday at Saratoga.
Dr Post heads to New Jersey on Saturday, where he will look to continue his rapid ascension among the 3-year-old ranks in the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.
Bob Baffert has won the Kentucky Derby five times, and the Haskell Invitational a record eight times. American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner, and War Emblem, are the only two of his who have won both. Authentic will be the latest to give it a try, but the first to do so in reverse order from the norm, which is becoming the norm in this abnormal year.
Seven new names are among the 22 separately listed interests in Pool 6 of the 2020 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern.
Kentucky Derby: Who's hot, who's not for July 15, 2020
Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Art Collector
Ohio Derby winner Dean Martini is being pointed to the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby, an Aug. 9 race that is looking like an important Kentucky Derby prep. It will be the first time in the 98-year existence of the western Kentucky track that it has held a Derby prep of note – and it's probably a one-and-done.
Trainer Michael Stidham was far from discouraged by Mystic Guide's second-place finish as the favorite in a first-level allowance race June 4 at Belmont Park. Instead of looking to run him back in the same condition, Stidham has opted to run Mystic Guide in Thursday's Grade 3, $100,000 Peter Pan Stakes on Saratoga's 10-race opening-day card.
Uncle Chuck has bounced out of his Los Alamitos Derby win in good order and is preparing for his crucial next race, which will determine whether he goes on to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
Art Collector is back in the quiet environs of the Skylight training center just east of Louisville, Ky., as his hometown connections ponder what will come next for a colt whose emphatic triumph Saturday in the Blue Grass Stakes has made him a major contender for the 146th Kentucky Derby.
