My Boy Jack lands in post 12 for Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keith Desormeaux was taken by surprise when informed by phone that My Boy Jack had drawn the outside post in a field of 12 3-year-olds for the Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.

“The 12-hole?” said Desormeaux, who trains My Boy Jack for Don’t Tell My Wife Stables and Monomoy Stables. “I thought there were only like seven running. It seems like the Derby gods are working against us, huh?”

Well, not quite yet. If My Boy Jack is good enough, he will earn his way to the May 5 Kentucky Derby – and Desormeaux wouldn’t have it any other way.

“We not only need to see a confidence-building effort for the horse, but for his ownership and his trainer,” said Desormeaux. “We don’t have to run in the Derby because the horse doesn’t owe us anything – although he is coming into his own and I really do expect him to run well.”

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My Boy Jack won the Southwest at Oaklawn Park prior to finishing third in the March 24 Louisiana Derby when being hung wide on both turns from an outer post. The Creative Cause colt will be trying to clinch a spot in the Derby in the 1 1/16-mile Lexington. He will be ridden by Keith’s younger brother, Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, .

As things stand into this final weekend of Derby preps, My Boy Jack was No. 21 on the qualifying list with 32 points. The Lexington offers a 20-8-4-2 points scale to the first four finishers, so a first- or second-place finish should allow him to make the 20-horse cutoff, even in consideration of the results of the Arkansas Derby on Saturday.

The Lexington is one of four stakes on the last multi-stakes card of the 16-day spring meet. The first of 11 races goes at 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with the Lexington going as race 9 (post, 5:34). The other stakes are the Ben Ali (race 7, 4:24), the Giant’s Causeway (race 8, 4:57), and the Jenny Wiley (race 10, 6:12).

The Grade 1, $350,000 Jenny Wiley drew a sensational field of 11 fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Chad Brown, who dominated stakes action here last weekend, has three Jenny Wiley starters in Off Limits, Sistercharlie, and Fourstar Crook. Other notable entries include Cambodia, Dona Bruja, La Coronel, and Proctor’s Ledge.

The Giant’s Causeway, a 5 1/2-furlong turf race for fillies and mares, showcases Lady Aurelia as a heavy favorite in a field of 10.