Sales horses have edge over homebreds in Derby
Of all the roads that lead a horse and his connections to the Kentucky Derby, the most conventional path to this year's edition went through the auction ring.
Joe NevillsMay 02, 2016
Of all the roads that lead a horse and his connections to the Kentucky Derby, the most conventional path to this year's edition went through the auction ring.
Although the modest past performances of Tom's Ready would suggest he is a horse unlikely to challenge in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, the past performances of his trainer, Dallas Stewart, tell a different story. For three consecutive years, a Stewart-trained longshot has run second in one of the legs of the Triple Crown.
Bob Baffert, one year removed from winning the Triple Crown with American Pharoah, on Monday put the finishing touches on his lone contender for this year's Derby, Mor Spirit, just moments before trainer Steve Asmussen, seeking his first Derby win, sent out his pair of Creator and Gun Runner.
Shortly after 10 a.m. Sunday, outside barn 41 on the Churchill Downs backstretch, a gaggle of media swarmed around trainer Doug O'Neill to get the lowdown on Nyquist, the undefeated 2-year-old champion who will likely be favored in Saturday's Kentucky Derby. A furlong or so away, outside barn 42, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin sat by himself in a folding chair having just finished a cell phone conversation. Had things worked out differently in the Florida Derby four weeks ago, it likely would have been McLaughlin at the center of the media scrum.
Dale Romans is back with a Kentucky Derby starter for the sixth time in seven years, which is pretty much the way he likes it. And with Brody's Cause, winner of the Blue Grass Stakes in his last start, Romans believes he has his best shot ever.
Trainer Donnie Von Hemel's second Kentucky Derby starter will come Saturday. Suddenbreakingnews put himself in the gate following an Oaklawn season in which he won the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest in February, finished a troubled fifth as the favorite in the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel in March, and was second in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.
The globe-trotting Lani, who comes to the Kentucky Derby off a victory in the Group 2 U.A.E. Derby, will become just the second Japanese-based horse to start in the Run for the Roses. The first was Ski Captain, who finished 14th in the 1995 edition behind Thunder Gulch. In the irons that day was Yutaka Take, who has been aboard Lani in five of his six starts and will ride him in the Derby.
Nyquist followed in young stallion Uncle Mo's hoofprints by becoming an unbeaten juvenile champion. Meanwhile, Outwork diverged from his sire's path to avenge one of the stallion's biggest career disappointments.
The richest of the races on the list assembled by Churchill Downs that award Kentucky Derby qualifying points is run about 7,400 miles from the twin spires, and some would argue that the winner of the $2 million United Arab Emirates Derby, despite being assured entry into the Kentucky Derby by earning 100 points, is not necessarily qualified.
The track was listed as muddy for Sunday’s Kentucky Derby/Oaks session, which began at 8:30 a.m., and aside for Lani, it was a quiet morning as expected, with most of the field either walking the shed or merely jogging to stretch their legs.