McCraken ends layoff with Derby Day allowance
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - On the first Saturday of May 2017, McCraken was in the Kentucky Derby spotlight, ultimately finishing eighth as the 6-1 fourth choice in the 20-horse field.
On the first Saturday of May 2018, McCraken will be one of three graduates of the 2017 Kentucky Derby to run in allowance races at Churchill Downs. McCraken will compete in a multi-conditioned one-mile allowance that goes as race 5.
It will be McCraken’s first start since he finished third in the Grade 2 Fayette Stakes last October at Keeneland. McCraken had been under consideration for Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Churchill Downs Stakes, but trainer Ian Wilkes preferred not to bring the 4-year-old back in such a difficult spot.
“This is not my main goal, this is a race I want to use to build on,” said Wilkes, who is hoping to get McCraken to the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 9.
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In last year’s Derby, McCraken suffered a deep cut to a hind ankle. He recovered in time to win the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes here June 17. He was beaten a nose by Girvin in the Grade 1 Haskell and then finished seventh in the Travers at Saratoga before the Fayette.
McCraken wintered at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida, but it took him a while to show Wilkes he was back to his former self.
“I had him down there since the middle of January, his works were good, but just not the old horse, he wasn’t back to the horse I wanted,” Wilkes said. “I just kept waiting on him until he started to come around."
Wilkes said it wasn’t until a March 30 workout at Palm Meadow did he feel convinced his horse was back.
“His works up here have been tremendous since,” Wilkes said.
McCraken drew post 8 in a 10-horse field that includes the talented Petrov, Cool Arrow, and Behavioral Bias.
Earlier on Saturday’s card, Lookin at Lee, the runner-up in last year’s Kentucky Derby at 33-1, and Sonneteer, 16th in the Derby at 39-1, meet in a second-level allowance race at 1 1/16 miles.
