Mr. Money a deserving favorite in West Virginia Derby

In April, Mr. Money wasn’t even the best 3-year-old in trainer Bret Calhoun’s barn, but come August he has emerged as the Midwest’s leading sophomore and is a deserving short-priced favorite Saturday in the Grade 3, $500,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park.

Mr. Money was to make a seven-hour van trip from Calhoun’s Churchill Downs base on Friday for the 1 1/8-mile West Virginia Derby and, if form holds, will come back home with another rich paycheck. Already this spring Mr. Money has won the Pat Day Mile by 5 1/4 lengths, the Matt Winn Stakes by 6 1/2, and the Indiana Derby on July 13 by 2 1/2, running his 2019 bankroll to more than $600,000.

“The Pat Day was extremely impressive but the race that proved to me he was more in the upper echelon was the Matt Winn,” said Calhoun, who trains Mr. Money, a son of Goldencents and the Tiznow mare, Plenty O’Toole, for the Allied Racing Stable.

Mr. Money, regular rider Gabe Saez named, drew post 9 in a 10-horse field and was installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite. He’ll probably go to post an odds-on choice while facing no more than eight foes since Grumps Little Tots starts this weekend in a Saratoga allowance race, per trainer Jason Servis.

:: Get PPs, Clocker Reports, picks, and more from DRF's Saratoga/Del Mar One-Stop Shop

Mr. Money capped his 2-year-old campaign with a decent fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile but got off to a slow 2019 start. He was scratched from the Lecomte Stakes in January after getting sick the day before the race, and a minor injury sustained a couple of days out compromised his performance in the Feb. 14 Risen Star, where he was seventh. Mr. Money improved in the Louisiana Derby but finished fifth, beaten eight lengths by the Calhoun-trained By My Standards. But while By My Standards has been sidelined this summer, Mr. Money has flourished.

Mr. Money possesses the most dangerous of racehorse attributes – rateable speed. He used it to overcome a wide draw in the Indiana Derby, taking control around the far turn and going on to a comfortable victory, and Mr. Money, who worked a fast half-mile for this start, has shown no sign of losing his edge.

“He can settle, rate, and relax off a moderate pace,” said Calhoun, who expressed no concern about his horse getting nine furlongs in his first try. “He’s matured mentally, put it together, and learned to be a racehorse now.”

The third- and fourth-place Indiana Derby finishers, Math Wizard and Chess Chief, will try Mr. Money again, and Math Wizard isn’t without a chance. Second to Travers Stakes-bound Owendale in the Ohio Derby, Math Wizard was compromised during the Indiana stretch run by a loose horse more than Mr. Money or runner-up Gray Magician. He, too, worked a fast half-mile in his final drill for Saturday’s start.

Top Line Growth was placed first through Winning Number’s disqualification in the July 5 Iowa Derby but was probably third-best in a modest renewal of that fixture.

Plus Que Parfait beat Gray Magician while winning the $2.5 million UAE Derby on March 31 and finished a respectable ninth, beaten 5 1/4 lengths, in the Kentucky Derby. He returns to dirt after trying grass in the Belmont Derby Invitational last out.

“I think he does have room to get better,” said trainer Brendan Walsh. “Physically, he’s gotten lot stronger. His last work was as good as he’s ever worked.”