We the People avoids the heavies in West Virginia Derby

Seven 3-year-olds, even the best of them not up to races like the Haskell Stakes or the Travers Stakes, chase a hefty $500,000 purse Saturday in the West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort.

With Epicenter and Zandon, one-two in the Jim Dandy, and Haskell winner Cyberknife headed for the Travers, and Haskell runner-up Taiba back in California, the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby field is headed by Triple Crown also-rans Simplification, Skippylongstocking, and We the People, and late-developing Home Brew. King Ottoman, trained, like Epicenter, by Steve Asmussen, also is within hailing distance of win contention in the 1 1/8-mile West Virginia Derby. Courvoisier and Jr’s Gift are strictly longshots.

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Skippylongstocking has the only top-three Triple Crown finish among the West Virginia Derby crew, having been third in the Belmont after a wide-trip fifth in the Preakness. Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Saturday’s race “has been the main target” for Skippylongstocking, but the Saratoga-based colt, by Exaggerator, would need a career-best to win.

We the People finished fourth in the Belmont but is the most likely winner of the West Virginia Derby if he can produce his peak performance. We the People won his first two races, Oaklawn dirt routes, in sharp fashion before washing out in the Arkansas Derby. He rebounded with a 10 1/4-length romp in the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile Peter Pan but failed to stay 1 1/2 miles after contesting the pace in the Belmont at a well-bet 7-2.

“That’s definitely it. We don’t have any other excuse – he just didn’t stay,” said trainer Rodolphe Brisset. Since the Belmont, Brisset has become the semi-private trainer for WinStar Farm, We the People’s part-owner, and has moved half his stable to the training facilities at the farm. There, Brisset has been working We the People himself, and the strong times the colt has posted through a tightly packed work pattern reflect what Brisset has felt astride the colt. “He’s doing very, very good. Last week I went way too fast, but he was so happy. I just tried to slow him down galloping out.”

We the People starts on Lasix for the first time since Arkansas. Brisset said the anti-bleeder medication in the past has helped We the People, who can get wound up, stay calm before he races.

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Simplification races on Lasix for the first time in his career and ships from trainer Antonio Sano’s base at Gulfstream Park following a well-deserved freshening. Simplification went without a break making nine starts between Oct. 1 and May 21, his high points a win in the Fountain of Youth and his fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, where he was beaten just 3 1/2 lengths, albeit after racing with the Derby’s closing flow. Two weeks later in the Preakness, Simplification was very hard held traveling inside and behind a tepid tempo, and when taken out and asked for run, he came up empty. Jose Lezcano gets his first chance on Simplification and seems to have picked up a live mount.

Home Brew, a Gary and Mary West homebred by Street Sense, gets four pounds (118 to 122) from Simplification while making his graded stakes debut. The colt was a solid winner of the April 23 Oaklawn Stakes over 1 1/8 miles, but hit a new level capturing the Pegasus on June 18 at Monmouth by more than six lengths, raising his career-best Beyer from 84 to 97.

“He’s not a flashy horse,” said trainer Brad Cox. “Just a solid mile-and-an-eighth horse that stays on, puts himself in good position. He’s been steady and consistent with his works since the Pegasus. He needs to take another step forward, and if he does, he’ll be tough.”

The West Virginia Derby, post time 5:35 Eastern, is the last of seven stakes Saturday at Mountaineer. It goes as race 8, immediately after the supporting feature, the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s. First post for the nine-race card is 2 p.m. The local forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of rain.