O Besos, fifth in Kentucky Derby, returns off layoff
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O Besos is ready to kiss his extended vacation goodbye.
The fifth-place finisher in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, he is one of six horses entered in the seventh race on Sunday at Fair Grounds. His rivals in the 1 1/16-mile allowance race include the Grade 1 winner Math Wizard and Intrepid Heart, who was beaten only five lengths in the Belmont Stakes. But in their present form, those two won’t have much chance if O Besos returns from a long layoff in solid form.
O Besos last started May 29, when he finished second behind Fulsome in the Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs. That race came just 28 days after O Besos made a nice run to be beaten 5 1/2 lengths in the Derby.
“He couldn’t be training any better,” said Greg Foley, who trains O Besos, a son of Orb. “He looks great and he had a good little rest.”
O Besos won two sprint races, a maiden and a first-level allowance, last season at Fair Grounds. He was a soundly beaten fourth in the Risen Star, his stakes and two-turn debut, before finishing with interest to nab third in the Louisiana Derby. Foley said the colt has filled out to some extent but isn’t a radically changed horse from the colt last seen in May.
“He’s not a great big heavy horse or anything,” Foley said. “He’s got good size, plenty of leg. This looks like a good spot to bring him back.”
Math Wizard, just the second runner of the meet for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who has Fair Grounds stalls for the first time, is on a 10-race losing streak since he won the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby in September 2019. Intrepid Heart finished eighth in the 2019 Belmont.