Weather complicates European Road to the Kentucky Derby

The 2018 portion of the European Road to the Kentucky Derby is off to a rocky start.

The Patton Stakes scheduled for March 2 at Dundalk was postponed until March 9 owing to a wintry blast sweeping across England this week. Thursday’s Road to the Kentucky Derby Conditions Stakes at Kempton hadn’t been called off as of late Wednesday morning, but a Thursday inspection of the course could lead to a postponement.

Also of note: The Kempton race attracted no final entrants that to date could be considered serious candidates to actually make a trip to Churchill Downs in May.

:: ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays

The European Road to the Kentucky Derby comprises seven races. Four of them, all on turf, were run last year, while the three races this year are on synthetic surfaces. The 2-year-old races are worth 17 points, distributed 10-4-2-1 to the first four finishers, while the first races for 3-year-olds, the two originally scheduled for this week, offer 34 points distributed 20-8-4-2.

The Burradon Stakes on March 30 at Newcastle is worth 51 points distributed 30-12-6-3. The top point earner after the series is complete whose connections want to run in the Derby is assured one of the 20 available starting spots.

Saxon Warrior currently leads the points standings with 20, but he is one of the top 3-year-olds in Europe and will be aimed at classic races in England and Ireland, not in America. But Saxon Warrior’s stablemate, Mendelssohn, is a different story. Trainer Aidan O’Brien said after Mendelsson won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf that the Scat Daddy colt would tentatively be aimed at the Kentucky Derby, but owing to the Churchill Downs points system that shapes the Derby field, O’Brien must find a way to get Mendelssohn to the race.

Mendelssohn was an early entrant in the Kempton and Dundalk races, but was not among final entries in either race. As of Wednesday, he still held an entry into the listed Red Spring Cup Stakes on March 3 at Lingfield. Unless O’Brien has changed his mind about trying a Derby prep in America, he has two options with Mendelsson: The Burradon on March 30 or a trip to Dubai for the March 31 UAE Derby. Since the UAE Derby is part of the primary Road to the Kentucky Derby program, a win (worth 100 points) assures a Kentucky Derby berth, and a second-place finish (worth 40 points) very nearly so.