California Chrome has come to mean more than he ever should. Think he’s carrying only 126 pounds and Victor Espinoza on Saturday against Wicked Strong, Danza, Tapiture, and Candy Boy? Think again.
Churchill Downs will attempt to address complaints lodged by two-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Ron Turcotte about his treatment by the company on several Derby Days in the past, a spokesperson for Churchill said, adding there had been “a communication breakdown.”
With the defection of Hoppertunity as the 6-1 second choice on the morning line for the 140th Kentucky Derby, the morning line has been revised and reissued by Churchill Downs following the colt’s untimely defection.
Plotting the race flow of a 20-horse stampede is difficult at best, and this year’s Kentucky Derby is as complex a puzzle as any in recent memory.
Hoppertunity, runner-up to California Chrome in the Santa Anita Derby and winner of the Rebel Stakes, was scratched from the Kentucky Derby on Thursday morning because of an issue with his left front foot, trainer Bob Baffert said.
California Chrome is a Kentucky Derby standout. He’s the fastest horse and also the classiest.
Perhaps the most remarkable running line from the prep races was Dance With Fate vaulting from 11th at the pace call to the lead in midstretch of the Blue Grass Stakes.
By any measure, California Chrome’s romps in the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby in his last two starts were the best pair of performances any member of this Derby field has ever put together.
This looks like a Derby in which you have to take a stand, either for or against the favorite, California Chrome, and after watching him train here Wednesday, I’m going to stand against a short-priced favorite in a seemingly wide-open 20-horse field.
Expectations for Todd Pletcher are high. Pletcher is a six-time Eclipse Award winner, trains more horses than anyone in North America and, this year, set a record for Triple Crown nominations with 41, nearly 10 percent of the 413 nominated at the early deadline in January.
