Perhaps it’s time to give By My Standards his due. All he’s done this year is win four times in six starts, his only defeats runner-up efforts behind two of the best older horses in the country, Tom’s d’Etat and Improbable. Neither of those horses were in the Grade 2, $400,000 Alysheba Stakes on Friday at Churchill Downs, yet By My Standards still went off the second choice to McKinzie, whose form seemed in question. By My Standards prevailed in the Alysheba under his favorite rider, Gabe Saez, who rode him to three wins earlier this year but was not aboard for his last two starts. Racing against Tom’s d’Etat and Improbable likely had more to do with those defeats, but he clearly responds to Saez, who put By My Standards in an ideal position early outside of pacesetter Mr Freeze before turning back Owendale through the lane to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Owendale was second by a head from Silver Dust, who, like By My Standards, is trained by Bret Calhoun, giving Calhoun a one-three finish in the race. Silver Dust in the closing yards got past McKinzie, who saved ground early behind the slow pace, had a seam through which to run in upper stretch, but was flat, marking the third time in four starts this year he’s finished out of the money. Title Ready and Mr Freeze completed the field. Bodexpress and Hence were scratched, leaving a field of six. By My Standards was timed in 1:42.24 for 1 1/16 miles on a fast main track. They went off slow, and came home fast, with the final five-sixteenths in less than 30 seconds. :: Become a DRF Bets member and get DRF's Kentucky Derby VIP Package for free The pace probably didn’t help McKinzie, but it might not have let By My Standards show his best, too. He’s a free-running horse who might be more effective when allowed to show off his high-cruising speed. This time, though, he sat off of Mr Freeze through a dawdling opening quarter in 25.71 and half in 49.93. Despite the soft pace, Mr Freeze retreated nearing the top of the lane as By My Standards and Owendale hooked up. By My Standards, under aggressive handling by Saez, proved best. They are 4 for 4 this year. “I guess we get along real well,” Saez said to Donna Brothers on NBCSN’s telecast. Calhoun had said prior to the race that By My Standards, though beaten by top horses in his previous two tries, was compromised by the way those races unfolded. This was a better scenario. “We were finally in a spot where we could get up in position,” Calhoun told the pool reporters at Churchill Downs. “I think we got a little unlucky the last two, stuck behind a slow pace. Today, Gabe got him away sharp. We got a good position, and the rest is history.” Calhoun said the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Nov. 7 at Keeneland, is the year-end goal and will be the next start for By My Standards. “I think the farther the better for him,” he said. “I think the mile and a sixteenth might have been a tad short with some of these horses in here who are fast, like McKinzie. I think a little farther is better for him.” By My Standards, 4, a colt by Goldencents, has now won six times in 12 starts. He earned $245,520 on Friday and now has career earnings of more than $1.7 million for the Allied Racing Stable of Chester Thomas. Calhoun, Saez, and Thomas team up with the longshot Mr. Big News in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday. By My Standards was 12th in last year’s Derby, then didn’t run again for nine months. McKinzie, sent off the 6-5 favorite, won last year’s Alysheba, when it was run in May 2019. But this year he was 11th in the Saudi Cup, beat a soft field in the Triple Bend, then was fifth in the Met Mile, in which he lost two shoes. “I was hoping that once he got in the pocket and settled, that once there was a place to go, that he would really turn it on like he did last year,” said his rider, Mike Smith. “I had the whole length of the stretch to turn it on. I had a big ol’ hole down on the inside, and he didn’t seem to want to go through it. Last year he would have exploded. He would have cut right through there and won drawing away.”