Mr. Wireless tries to follow Mr. Money's lead in West Virginia Derby

What’s in a name? The key, evidently, to winning the West Virginia Derby.

Mr Freeze won the 2018 West Virginia Derby and in 2019 it was Mr. Money’s turn. Now, back after a 2020 COVID-19 hiatus, the Grade 3, $500,000 West Virginia on Saturday at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort has drawn Mr. Wireless, the 9-5 morning-line favorite.

Bret Calhoun trained Mr. Money and ships Mr. Wireless to Mountaineer from Colonial Downs, where Calhoun brought a significant part of his stable this summer because of Churchill Downs’s backstretch closure.

“I guess as long as we can keep coming up with horses named “Mr.” we might be okay,” said Calhoun.

The 1 1/8-mile West Virginia Derby drew seven runners when entries were taken Monday. From the rail out, the field is composed of Bourbonic, Kinetic Sky, Bourbon Thunder, Mr. Wireless, Warrant, Channel Fury, and 50-1 morning-line shot Americainaed. Brad Cox trains Kinetic Sky and Warrant and said, as of Wednesday, both horses were scheduled to run.

Warrant beat Mr. Wireless by three-quarters of a length in the Texas Derby, run over a sloppy track May 31 at Lone Star, but Mr. Wireless might have run just as well as Warrant that day. Mr. Wireless didn’t break especially well, and as he exchanged bumps with eventual third-place finisher Rightandjust in upper stretch, Warrant sailed home to victory, closing on the outside.

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“I don’t think he ever saw that horse on the outside,” said Calhoun.

Mr. Wireless returned with a decisive victory July 7 in the Indiana Derby, where he showed good positional pace and drew away to win by nearly four lengths, leaving the Cox-trained favorite Fulsome in his wake.

“It seemed like he bounced out of that race very well,” Calhoun said. “He’s a horse that carries a lot of flesh, a good-doing horse. I haven’t done a tremendous amount with him in between. He’s fit and ready.”

Mr. Wireless, by Dialed In, tries a distance as long as 1 1/8 miles for the first time, but Calhoun said that “stamina seems like one of his strong points.”

Ramon Vazquez, aboard Mr. Wireless in his last five starts, has the mount.

Warrant hasn’t raced since beating Mr. Wireless in Texas, but Cox and owner Twin Creeks Racing have aimed the colt toward this race since shortly after the Texas Derby.

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“He’d run often enough in the spring, so we let him rebound from the Texas race and the ship back,” Cox said. “He really responded well and trained well over the last month. I like the mile and an eighth for him.”

Warrant, by Constitution, debuted in January and has made steady progress through the season, especially since being stretched to two-turn racing. Florent Geroux rides Warrant while Joe Talamo has the mount on Kinetic Sky.

Kinetic Sky comes into this start after the best race of his career, a Churchill Downs first-level allowance in which he tracked a strong pace and drew away easily to win in the clear.

Bourbonic won the Wood Memorial at odds of 72-1 and so far has done little to suggest that result wasn’t fluky. He finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby and never came close to reaching contention when beaten 15 lengths in the Belmont Stakes, his most recent race.

Bourbon Thunder exits a third-place finish facing older horses over nine furlongs in a first-level Saratoga allowance race. Channel Fury’s lone foray into stakes competition produced a sixth-place Ohio Derby finish.

The West Virginia Derby, post time set for 5:35 p.m. Eastern, is the eighth of nine races on a seven-stakes program. First post is 2 p.m. and there’s a chance of thunderstorms throughout the afternoon.