Lookin At Lucky ready for Indiana Derby

Lookin At Lucky is scheduled to be flown Wednesday on a Fed Ex flight from his Southern California base to Hoosier Park in suburban Indianapolis to run Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Indiana Derby.

Trainer Bob Baffert said Lookin At Lucky, the leading candidate for top 3-year-old honors in 2010, was to have his final pre-race workout, probably at five furlongs, Sunday morning at Hollywood Park.

Lookin At Lucky incurred a minor illness shortly after winning the Aug. 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, an emphatic four-length victory that stamped him as the leader of the division. Prior to the Haskell, Lookin At Lucky was the beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby before winning the Preakness.

Since recovering from the illness, which kept him out of serious training for nearly a month, Lookin At Lucky has had three workouts, with the fourth to come Sunday.

“He looks great,” said Baffert. “He gets caught up really quick.”

Baffert said Lookin At Lucky will be overseen at Hoosier by his longtime assistant, Jim Barnes, during the few days leading up to the Indiana Derby but that Baffert will be on hand for the race. The Baffert stable will be active on several national fronts Saturday, including with Mythical Power in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in New York, but “we’re following the franchise horse,” he said.

Baffert said Lookin At Lucky is booked on a return flight Monday to California, where the colt will resume training toward the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs.

Martin Garcia will have the mount back for the Indiana Derby. In all, 28 3-year-olds are nominated to the 1 1/8-mile race. Over the weekend, Hoosier officials were still getting the prospective field together, although the top potential opposition for Lookin At Lucky includes Pleasant Prince and Worldly, the respective one-two finishers in the Ohio Derby, and Thiskyhasnolimit, a multiple stakes winner for Steve Asmussen. Entries will be drawn Wednesday.

Hoosier Park, in Anderson, Ind., has a seven-furlong dirt surface. The 16th Indiana Derby will anchor a terrific Saturday card, with the Grade 2, $200,000 Indiana Oaks and the $100,000 Michael G. Schaefer Mile also on tap. Four $84,000 stakes for Indiana-breds also are in the Hoosier condition book. First post will be 12:35 p.m. Eastern, with the Indiana Derby, the 12th race, set for 6:02.