Cafe Pharoah will not travel from Japan for Kentucky Derby
It appears unlikely that a horse representing Japan will be in this year’s Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
Jay PrivmanJul 12, 2020
It appears unlikely that a horse representing Japan will be in this year’s Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
With four Derby preps scheduled to be run within a 10-day period, and with this offering the fewest points of those four toward the Kentucky Derby, it stood to reason that this would come up with a field of horses not yet at the top level. Shared Sense made the most of the opportunity, winning his graded stakes debut against eight rivals, who, like him, had never won a graded stakes race.
Art Collector is one of several horses who have become major players in this year’s Kentucky Derby owing to the race’s postponement for four months. This was obviously his most significant win this year, as it was against the best field he has faced. He responded by earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure.
Art Collector, a fast-improving colt who figures as one of the favorites for the 2020 Kentucky Derby, posted an emphatic triumph Saturday in the Grade 2, $600,000 Blue Grass Stakes at spectator-free Keeneland.
One of the many changes to this year’s Saratoga summer is the addition of the Grade 3, $100,000 Peter Pan to the stakes schedule. Nine 3-year-olds were entered Saturday for the Peter Pan, which will offer 85 qualifying points to the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby to its top four finishers.
Swiss Skydiver, already safely in the Kentucky Oaks, will be looking to make the Kentucky Derby a tempting alternative for her connections as the 3-1 morning-line favorite Saturday in the 96th Blue Grass Stakes at spectator-free Keeneland in sultry Lexington, Ky.
Bulling his way to the outside at the quarter pole, Shared Sense got up a full head of steam into the homestretch and drew clear to win the Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby by three lengths.
Danon Pharaoh, a Japanese-bred colt by American Pharoah, had an ideal trip to win Wednesday’s $711,694 Japan Dirt Derby at Oi Racecourse in Tokyo, the final race in the Kentucky Derby qualifying series in that country. Danon Pharaoh easily beat the strongly favored Cafe Pharoah, the previously unbeaten Kentucky-bred colt who faded from contention in the final three furlongs and finished seventh.
Churchill has released the balance of the stakes schedule for Kentucky Derby week (Sept. 1-5) with the Grade 1 Churchill Downs being the most notable absentee from the traditional slate. Grade 1 races such as the Old Forester, the La Troienne, and the newly named Derby City (formerly Humana) Distaff will be run as usual on the Oaks and Derby undercards.
Kenny McPeek revealed Wednesday that Swiss Skydiver will run against males Saturday in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.