Mr. Misunderstood on the rise for Illinois Derby

There are but seven horses entered, and so far, none is the cream of crop, but it is good to have the Grade 3, $250,000 Illinois Derby back after a one-year hiatus, and the field entered to race Saturday at Hawthorne is solid and substantive.

The Illinois Derby, contested over 1 1/8 miles on dirt, goes as race 5 at 6:17 p.m. Central. The track should be fast, though the high temperature Saturday is not even supposed to hit 50 degrees.

Mr. Misunderstood, however, has been hot all winter, and if his recent form on turf and over slop transfers to a dry main track, he can win his stakes debut.

Trained by Brad Cox and to be ridden by Florent Geroux, Mr. Misunderstood is a son of Archarcharch whose auction price at a yearling sale, $130,000, was high for a horse with his pedigree. As a colt last year, he managed to win an Indiana Grand maiden turf race but generally disappointed.

Mr. Misunderstood was gelded last November, and the most radical equipment change in racing worked wonders.

Mr. Misunderstood easily won a $30,000 turf claimer at Fair Grounds in his first start after being gelded, and he was even better racing for a $50,000 tag on Feb. 27. Mr. Misunderstood was bumped up to a first-level allowance race March 25, stayed in the off-the-turf race run over the sloppiest of surfaces, and came from far back to win by nine lengths, albeit over just three foes.

Mr. Misunderstood’s three-race winning streak has come against modest competition, but the way he won has impressed. In his second Fair Grounds turf win, Mr. Misunderstood went his last quarter-mile in 22.95 seconds and his final half in a strikingly fast 45.94 – and he did it with Geroux never resorting to the crop.

In the sloppy-track start, Mr. Misunderstood was last by several lengths three furlongs out before inhaling the trio in front of him before the quarter pole, drawing steadily clear with another strong come-home time. At something close to his 7-2 morning-line odds, it will be worth betting that Mr. Misunderstood can run the same way against better competition and on a fast track.

Hedge Fund, trainer Todd Pletcher’s entrant, could be favored after setting the pace and fading to third in the Sunland Derby. That race’s fourth-place finisher, Irap, returned to win the Blue Grass Stakes, while runner-up Conquest Mo Money came back with a good second in the Arkansas Derby.

Hedge Fund set a strong pace in the Sunland Derby, and though he quickly was passed before the quarter pole by the victorious Hence and Conquest Mo Money, he actually ran the race’s second-fastest final furlong, 12.69 seconds, and galloped out in front. Perhaps it was more a case of the colt being caught flatfooted than tiring while trying nine furlongs and winners for the first time.

“He might be a horse that’s a little one-paced who could be more comfortable settling into something like a 24, 48 pace and getting into a rhythm that way,” Pletcher said. “From seeing him train, we’ve always thought he’d be a horse who would improve with racing.”

Hedge Fund is one of three pace players, along with St. Louie Guy and Stand and Cheer, who are stablemates. His lone win came over Gulfstream maidens in a two-turn race that ended at the sixteenth pole.

Multiplier won his maiden March 18 at Fair Grounds while making his third start, all at two turns, and has improved steadily since debuting in January. He got a favorable trip in that victory but won with something left and galloped out nicely.

“He was rolling at the end,” said trainer Brendan Walsh. “I’m expecting him to improve again. His last work was a very nice, solid work with good energy. He’s as laid-back as they come; to watch him in the morning, you wouldn’t think a whole lot.”

Hollywood Handsome, who beat Multiplier when that horse was making his first start, enters following a close fourth-place finish in the $1 million Louisiana Derby. That performance alone gives him a chance, but Hollywood Handsome did get a favorable pace setup and didn’t display the same late acceleration as Mr. Misunderstood.

Stand and Cheer has been decent in his last two starts but looks suspect at the distance, as does his Scott Becker-trained stablemate, St. Louie Guy, who won his two-turn debut by nine lengths at this meet but was very hard ridden at the top of the stretch to open his lead.

It’s Your Nickel scored his big win over Turfway’s synthetic surface in the John Battaglia Memorial, though he was second on the track by a neck at Fair Grounds to stablemate Senior Investment. Senior Investment, who was disqualified in that race, won the Lexington Stakes last weekend.

◗ Recount, one of the better Illinois-breds of recent seasons, is difficult to oppose at a short price in the $40,000 Robert S. Molaro Handicap later on the card. Recount is 2 for 2 at Hawthorne and faced good open sprinters this winter at Oaklawn.

The $40,000 Third Chance Handicap for Illinois-bred fillies looks more contentious, with Dandy Gal, a winner in 4 of her 6 Hawthorne starts, the mild choice.