Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas is navigating this year’s Triple Crown trail with some of the more serious contenders he’s had in several years.
Will Take Charge, who won the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel at Oaklawn Park in his last start March 16, will train up to the Kentucky Derby, his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, said on Tuesday.
Jockey John Velazquez, who suffered a fractured rib in a spill Sunday at Aqueduct, will not ride for the next three weeks, but he plans to return in time to ride the Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs.
The field for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby was starting to grow Monday, with Falling Sky and Frac Daddy committing to the 1 1/8-mile race and Demonic’s connections debating a start in the Saturday stakes, which closes out the Oaklawn meet.
Two more Grade 1 3-year-old prep races were showcased on Saturday, April 6 as contenders continued to rise and fall one month away from the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby.
There are less than four weeks until the Kentucky Derby, do you know who’s riding your horse? For the connections of many of the top contenders, the answer as of Monday afternoon was no.
West Hills Giant drilled five furlongs in 1:00.47 on the Belmont training track under exercise rider Simon Harris on Monday, and later that afternoon was put on a van bound for Lexington, Ky., and Saturday’s Blue Grass Stakes.
The first three finishers from the Wood Memorial all are set to head to Kentucky, and quite soon, but the Santa Anita Derby might have the victorious Goldencents as its lone representative in the May 4 Kentucky Derby.
Chad Brown is swapping out Noble Tune in favor of Balance the Books for the Blue Grass Stakes, a move that changes up things in his own stable – but not the bulkiness of the field for the 89th running of the Keeneland showcase Saturday.
It’s possible the clock has already struck midnight for Footbridge’s Kentucky Derby dreams as the Darley homebred’s last-minute blitz on Saturday’s Blue Grass Stakes may be denied because of the possibility of an overflow field. If that’s the case, this “Under the Radar” article comes with an asterisk, one that may apply for a potential Preakness Stakes spoiler.
