Last Saturday's Wood Memorial came up ridiculously slow, 1:52.92 for the 1 1/8 miles on the muddy track. Were the horses really that bad or was there another explanation?
Kentucky Derby hopeful Mo Tom had a serious breeze early Wednesday at Churchill Downs, going a half-mile in 48.40 seconds, with gallop-out times of 1:01.40, 1:14.20, and 1:27.40, according to Churchill clocker John Nichols.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas is relentlessly positive, and even Wednesday morning, reflecting on the death of his only child, Jeff, three weeks ago, Lukas chose to look at the good, not dwell on the bad.
In the fall of 2014, Iowa businessman Dennis Albaugh and his son-in-law Jason Loutsch sat in the sale pavilion at Keeneland and selected nine yearlings. The nine youngsters came from a North American foal crop estimated at 23,509. Less than two years later, the men were walking back through the tunnel at Keeneland, arms around each others' shoulders, celebrating after one of those Albaugh Family Stable colts, Brody's Cause, won the Blue Grass Stakes to punch his ticket to the Kentucky Derby.
My Man Sam, second in the Blue Grass, and Trojan Nation, second in the Wood Memorial, are the newest members of the Derby Watch top 20. Both earned 40 points last week and go onto a Derby Watch roster that increasingly must be driven by the points list.
Cupid is one of the best-bred 3-year-olds of this class, as evidenced by his purchase price as a yearling. However, the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes winner, likely to be favored in the Arkansas Derby on Saturday, has also been outrunning some aspects of his pedigree.
Luis Quinonez is the regular rider of Suddenbreakingnews, who runs Saturday at Oaklawn in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. The horse will be one of the top choices on the strength of his sweeping win in the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest in February.
The Desormeaux brothers are in the Kentucky Derby, with a horse named Exaggerator, no less.
