An unusual quiet before Derby storm at Churchill
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With final pre-race workouts and new arrivals for the 145th Kentucky Derby still to come, things were inordinately quiet Thursday morning in the Churchill Downs stable area.
“It’ll pick up soon, right?” Jimmy Barnes, the longtime Bob Baffert assistant, asked rhetorically.
Be careful what you wish for. A crush of locals and tourists invariably finds its way onto the backside every morning as the Derby draws nearer, and with Churchill opening its 2019 spring meet Saturday night, the crowds – both on the backstretch and in the stands – will grow ever larger as the days unfold.
The 10-race Downs After Dark card set for Saturday at 6 p.m. Eastern marks the unofficial start to Derby week, with some 20,000 expected to revel under the lights. They’ll be treated to a mere sampling of what’s to come: the eighth-race feature, the $125,000 William Walker, is the first of 18 stakes ending with the 145th Kentucky Derby on May 4. In all, 34 stakes worth some $12 million will be held at a 38-day meet that runs through June 29.
The new meet will dovetail with increased and more meaningful activity among the Derby hopefuls. While the gallops were routine Thursday, and the latest news cycles trumpeted the recent arrivals of War of Will and Code of Honor (both from Keeneland) and Win Win Win (from Maryland), undertakings of greater interest lay straight ahead.
Omaha Beach, who’s expected to contend for favoritism in the 1 1/4-mile classic, was tentatively scheduled to breeze Friday with Mike Smith in town, but that was in doubt because of a rainy forecast for overnight Thursday into Friday. Trainer Richard Mandella said he might reschedule the work for Saturday, when conditions were forecast to be drier.
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Meanwhile, in California, there were no such weather concerns for Friday, when Baffert expected to get in serious works for Game Winner and Roadster prior to a cross-country charter flight that’s scheduled to land here Saturday. Gray Magician was to work Saturday at San Luis Rey Downs and is booked on the Monday charter that will transport the Kentucky Oaks favorite Bellafina.
Friday works at Palm Beach Downs in Florida also were scheduled for Vekoma and the Todd Pletcher pair of Spinoff and Cutting Humor, with all arriving here Tuesday in the company of Florida Derby winner Maximum Security, who also was to breeze at Palm Meadows before departure.
Among other upcoming works on the local scene, Code of Honor and Win Win Win both will have their first Churchill breezes Sunday with their respective trainers, Shug McGaughey and Mike Trombetta, on hand.
The Japanese longshot Master Fencer was en route Thursday afternoon to Keeneland from Chicago, where he had cleared quarantine. His arrival at Churchill is expected Monday evening.
Live streaming of the Derby/Oaks training period is available every morning through May 2 on kentuckyderby.com and Churchill’s social media platforms.
Derby entries will be drawn Tuesday at 11 a.m. Eastern in the Aristides Lounge on the second-floor clubhouse.
Haikal, Tax work at home
While trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has successfully used Aqueduct’s series of stakes for 3-year-olds to get horses to the Kentucky Derby, rarely has he kept those horses in New York full time to train. Horses like Alpha and Enticed raced multiple times at Aqueduct during the winter but trained in South Florida.
Haikal has been stabled at Belmont Park since late August and the farthest he’s traveled is the eight miles between there and Aqueduct for all five of his starts. That included victories in the Jimmy Winkfield going seven furlongs in February, the Grade 3 Gotham at a mile in March, and a third in the Wood going 1 1/8 miles April 6. It was the last two results that earned Haikal enough points to qualify for the Derby,
McLaughlin, who keeps the bulk of his stable in Florida during the winter, said leaving Haikal in New York all winter was due in large part to the horse not winning his maiden until Dec. 15 at six furlongs.
“The timing of the races worked out, the progression was good, we didn’t need to go down there,” McLaughlin said Thursday at Belmont Park.
While his victory in the Gotham earned Haikal enough points to get into the Kentucky Derby, it was his late-running third in the Wood Memorial that convinced McLaughlin he belongs in the race.
“He finished very well, was running at the end,” said McLaughlin, who trains Haikal for Sheikh Hamdan’s Shadwell Stable. “That was key and he handled two turns well. You want the horse to take you there. He’s taken us there and deserves a chance.”
Since the Wood, Haikal has worked twice over Belmont Park’s main track. On April 19, he worked a half-mile in 47.59 seconds. On Thursday, Haikal went five furlongs in 1:01.54, again in company with the unraced 3-year-old Taamer. McLaughlin moved the work up a day due to impending rain and said he wasn’t looking for as fast a move as last week.
“It was a touch slower than last week, but I loved the way he did it and the way he was moving,” McLaughlin said.
Like Haikal, Tax was stabled at Belmont and raced at Aqueduct all winter despite the fact trainer Danny Gargan had horses in South Florida.
Tax, claimed for $50,000 at Keeneland last October, ran third in the Remsen at Aqueduct in December, won the Grade 3 Withers in February, and then finished second to Tacitus in the Wood on April 6, which earned him enough points to qualify for the Derby.
Gargan said he kept the horse in New York in part to keep him racing at 1 1/8 miles.
Gargan said he missed a work with Tax owing to track condition two Saturdays before the Wood.
“I think last time he came up just a touch short,” Gargan said.
With only four weeks between the Wood and the Derby, Gargan elected to work Tax once, and on Thursday he gave him a stiff half-mile move in 47.80 seconds over the training track. Tax, under exercise rider Rolando Quevedo, started four lengths behind a workmate, Follow the Signs, and finished three in front, getting his final quarter in 24.38 seconds. He proceeded to gallop out five furlongs in 1:01.11 and six furlongs in 1:14.03.
“I wanted a real work and I thought he worked great,” Gargan said. “He looks good.”
Haikal and Tax are scheduled to leave Belmont on the same van Sunday afternoon and arrive at Churchill Downs early Monday morning.
– additional reporting by David Grening
| Kentucky Derby Field | ||
|---|---|---|
| Horse | Jockey | Trainer |
| Tacitus | Jose Ortiz | Bill Mott |
| Omaha Beach | Mike Smith | Richard Mandella |
| Vekoma | Javier Castellano | George Weaver |
| Plus Que Parfait | Ricardo Santana, Jr. | Brendan Walsh |
| Roadster | Florent Geroux | Bob Baffert |
| By My Standards | Gabriel Saez | Bret Calhoun |
| Maximum Security | Luis Saez | Jason Servis |
| Game Winner | Joel Rosario | Bob Baffert |
| Code of Honor | John Velazquez | Shug McGaughey |
| Haikal | Rajiv Maragh | Kiaran McLaughlin |
| Improbable | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | Bob Baffert |
| War of Will | Tyler Gaffalione | Mark Casse |
| Long Range Toddy | Jon Court | Steve Asmussen |
| Tax | Junior Alvarado | Danny Gargan |
| Cutting Humor | undecided | Todd Pletcher |
| Win Win Win | Julian Pimentel | Mike Trombetta |
| Country House | Flavien Prat | Bill Mott |
| Gray Magician | undecided | Peter Miller |
| Spinoff | Manny Franco | Todd Pletcher |
| Master Fencer | Julien Leparoux | Koichi Tsunoda |
| Also eligible: | ||
| Bodexpress | Nik Juarez | Gustavo Delgado |
| Signalman | Brian Hernandez, Jr. | Kenneth McPeek |
| Sueno | Corey Lanerie | Keith Desormeux |
| Bourbon War | undecided | Mark Henning |
