Tampa Bay Derby starter Promise Keeper back in overnight ranks
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Todd Pletcher spent much of the winter throwing stuff against the wall, but very little stuck. Promise Keeper was one of the 3-year-olds he tried on the Kentucky Derby trail, but the colt eliminated himself from contention when finishing last of 12 in the Tampa Bay Derby on March 6, leaving Pletcher still without a single horse on the Daily Racing Form Derby Watch Top 20.
Funny how things can change in a month. Pletcher was expected to have four of the Derby Watch Top 20 this week after running one-two in the Wood Memorial on Saturday at Aqueduct with longshots Bourbonic and Dynamic One as they joined two other colts who ran themselves into the May 1 Derby the previous Saturday, those being Florida Derby winner Known Agenda and Jeff Ruby Steaks runner-up Sainthood.
Meanwhile, life goes on under the Derby radar for Promise Keeper, who resurfaces in the Thursday entries at Keeneland in the first of back-to-back allowances that anchor a nine-race card. Luis Saez has the call from Pletcher on a chestnut Constitution colt whose two-back maiden romp going a one-turn mile over sloppy going Feb. 6 at Gulfstream Park helped make him a mere 6-1 in the Tampa Derby.
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Promise Keeper will break from post 1 in a field of six in race 7, an $81,000, first-level race at 1 1/8 miles. Like most of the others in here, he’d probably prefer that the local meteorologists nail the Thursday forecast, which calls for a 60 percent chance of rain, the first such precipitation in this region in about 10 days.
Not only did Promise Keeper relish the going in his only off-track attempt, but so too did Good Culture (post 6, Joel Rosario) in winning his Feb. 20 career debut at Aqueduct, rolling from far back to win going away over a muddy surface. In a similar vein, Kinetic Sky (post 2, Tyler Gaffalione) and Plamen (post 3, James Graham) both got through their maiden conditions by winning main-track races moved off the turf because of weather.
The second Thursday allowance (race 8) is scheduled for the turf, and assuming the rain actually moves into this area but isn’t heavy enough to cancel grass racing for the day, this would hold together as arguably the deepest race of the card. It’s an $83,000, second-level race going 1 1/16 miles, with Chad Brown having a top contender in Vintage Print (post 12, Gaffalione). Thirteen are entered, with only as many as 12 being allowed to start.
First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern. Some of the earlier action features a maiden-special dash for 2-year-olds (race 2) and a starter-optional sprint for fillies and mares (race 4).