Rushie gets perfect post for cutback in Pat Day Mile

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For 3-year-olds found wanting at the longer Kentucky Derby distance of 1 1/4 miles, the Pat Day Mile has become a popular means to still horn in on the Derby Day action.

Indeed, the connections of Rushie, No Parole, and Cezanne entertained Derby dreams for various lengths of time before deciding that yes, a shorter race against easier company is a more realistic way for their horses to maximize their potential. And so it is that those three figure among the major contenders in a field of nine when the Grade 2, $500,000 Pat Day Mile is renewed Saturday on a loaded undercard at Churchill Downs.

Rushie remained in the Derby discussion the longest, having finally been diverted to the Pat Day Mile only last weekend. Perhaps as a karmic reward for his decision, trainer Michael McCarthy will get to watch the colt break from the favorable outside post, from where jockey Javier Castellano should have tactical options aplenty.

“The one-turn mile is something new for him, but we got a good post and Javier knows him well,” McCarthy said.

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Rushie finished third in the Santa Anita Derby on June 6 and Blue Grass on July 11 in his two prior starts. McCarthy said he believes the Blue Grass trip was not ideal, given how Rushie moved toward the leaders “down the backside and kind of got stuck in no-man’s land.”

“I don’t think we got a true reading on him that day, and I think you’ll see a much better horse Saturday,” McCarthy said. “I’m certainly pleased with the way he’s trained out of the Blue Grass.”

No Parole (post 7, James Graham) has been alternately brilliant and dismal in his seven starts, winning five races by a combined 40-plus lengths while losing his other two by a combined 64 lengths. His last race, the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens last month at Saratoga, was one of the clunkers, although trainer Tom Amoss said he knew some 20 minutes beforehand that a top effort might not be forthcoming.

“He was uncharacteristically wound up in the paddock,” Amoss said. “He is the most laid-back, chilled horse I’ve got, so that really caught me off guard. He brought that to his race, unfortunately. But I’d be absolutely stunned if he did that again. He’s trained really well up to this race.”

Cezanne (post 1, Florent Geroux) eliminated himself from Derby contention when finishing last of four at Del Mar in the Shared Belief, an Aug. 1 race that trainer Bob Baffert had framed as a final exam toward making the Derby. A bay Curlin colt who cost a whopping $3.65 million as a 2-year-old, Cezanne won his only two prior starts, albeit in weak company.

Other major threats in the Pat Day Mile include Echo Town (post 2, Ricardo Santana Jr.) and Tap It to Win (post 6, John Velazquez), neither of whom were ever considered serious Derby candidates. They were the respective one-two finishers in the seven-furlong Jerkens, with Echo Town getting a terrific ride from Santana before pulling away late. Tap It to Win began his season with sharp back-to-back allowance wins before faltering to finish a well-beaten fifth in the 1 1/8-mile Belmont Stakes in June.

Rounding out the lineup are a couple of fringe players, Vertical Threat and Digital, along with two longshots, Shashashakemeup and Sonneman.

The Pat Day Mile, the ninth of 14 Saturday races (post, 3:35 p.m. Eastern), honors the Hall of Fame jockey who retired in 2005 and still holds numerous riding records here and at other major Midwest tracks. Day won 8,803 races, including 2,481 at Churchill. He continues to reside in Louisville at age 66.

The Pat Day Mile effectively replaced the Derby Trial on the 2015 spring stakes schedule when moved to Derby Day. The Derby Trial, first run in 1924, had become an anachronism as it aged.