Measured Time brings short resume but lots of promise, pedigree into Jockey Club Derby
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OZONE PARK, N.Y – A few hours after Rebel’s Romance attempts to regain his winning form in the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Stakes, his 3-year-old half-brother, Measured Time, will look to stay unbeaten when he makes his North American debut in the Grade 3, $500,000 Jockey Club Derby Invitational at Aqueduct.
Measured Time has only run three times, none in a group event. Yet when asked to compare Measured Time to Rebel’s Romance at the same stage of their careers, trainer Charlie Appleby said, “He’s a sleeker model.”
Measured Time, by the undefeated European star Frankel, won his first two races over the synthetic surface at Kempton. He made his turf debut in a Class 3 race at Newmarket in August and toyed with four rivals, winning by five lengths. That race was at 1 1/4 miles; the Jockey Club Derby Invitational is at 1 3/8 miles.
“He’s stepping up a furlong, but that will be well within him,” Appleby said.
Appleby knows the type of horse it takes to win the Jockey Club Derby as he won the 2021 edition with Yibir and last year’s running with Nations Pride. Yibir went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2021, while Nations Pride finished fifth last year behind Rebel’s Romance.
William Buick will ride Measured Time from the rail.
There is rain in the forecast Saturday, which could create a good to yielding course.
Webslinger, with two stakes wins from seven tries, returns from a two-month layoff for trainer Mark Casse. Following a head defeat to Program Trading in the Saratoga Derby on Aug. 5, Casse thought about sending him to Kentucky Downs, but opted to give him a freshening instead.
“I felt like his last race was a little harder on him, so we let him rebound and I think it’s paid dividends,” Casse said. “He’s training extremely well right now. [Assistant trainer] Shane Tripp has just been bragging on how well he’s been training and he knows him better than any of us.”
Faraday, trained by Chad Brown, debuted last October with a sixth-place finish over the Aqueduct turf course. He was gelded, given time off to get over some minor issues, and has come back to win his first two starts this year.
“Behaviorally, he was a bit backwards, unfocused, a bit unmanageable,” Brown said. “He’s really come around as a gelding, with maturity, and we found what he wants to do.”
Trainer Todd Pletcher has entered the trio of Fearless Solider, Classic Catch, and Lost Ark. Fearless Soldier comes off a four-length allowance win going 1 5/16 miles at Kentucky Downs, while Lost Ark, in his turf debut, was third in the Saranac. Classic Catch has yet to try turf.
“All three horses are looking for added distance,” Pletcher said.
Anglophile upset the Pletcher-trained Far Bridge in the Grade 3 Dueling Grounds Derby. Anglophile has run his two best races since trainer Brian Lynch added blinkers to his equipment.
In their most recent starts, Mondego, trained by Christophe Clement, and Dataman, trained by Graham Motion, finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Grade 3 Virginia Derby.
The Jockey Club Derby goes as race 9 and is the last of six stakes on an 11-race program that begins at 12:05 p.m.
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