Derby works: General a Rod looking better in half-mile drill
The welcome mat was out here Tuesday morning for the three latest arrivals on the Kentucky Derby scene: the favored California Chrome, Dance With Fate, and Samraat.
Mike WelschApr 29, 2014
The welcome mat was out here Tuesday morning for the three latest arrivals on the Kentucky Derby scene: the favored California Chrome, Dance With Fate, and Samraat.
Art Sherman has assembled around California Chrome a troupe of low-profile talent that has taken the colt from modest little state-bred stakes to the brink of everlasting fame, led by his son and assistant, Alan Sherman, exercise rider Willie Delgado, and the colt’s groom, Raul Rodriguez.
On Saturday, Rajiv Maragh’s job will be trying to get Wicked Strong to the wire first in the 140th Kentucky Derby. Wicked Strong figures to be the second or third choice in the wagering behind California Chrome.
Art Sherman was a bit player in the story of Swaps, who won the 1955 Derby. But when he left California on Monday, Sherman did so as the trainer of the horse acknowledged as the favorite for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, California Chrome.
Dosage index. Center of distribution. Dual qualifiers. Crosses and nicks. Paternal sire lines. Female families. Average winning distance statistics. Tomlinson Distance Ratings. The Rasmussen Factor. It’s enough to make your head spin.
In racing, the big fish often eat the small fish. That explains why Billy Gowan’s cellphone started blowing up just a few minutes after Ride On Curlin made his career debut last summer at Churchill Downs.
There is a practice that threatens our racing industry – that of creating non-generic restrictions to the entrance requirements for a graded race. This year's Kentucky Derby is an example.
Bob Baffert called an audible regarding the scheduled work times for both Kentucky Derby contender Hoppertunity and his Oaks runner, Ria Antonia, during sloppy conditions Monday at Churchill Downs.
By the end of the week, at the end of the long prep season toward the Kentucky Derby, handicappers and horsemen alike often simply look to the heavens for some sort of inspiration or intervention, but this year they needed to look earlier, for on Monday, the heavens opened, the rains came, and then, after a dramatic morning, this year’s chosen one dropped from the sky.
In a sport amply populated by rogues and cheaters, trainer Steve Asmussen has become Public Enemy No. 1. But is he a poster boy or just a convenient target?