Zito plays waiting game with Frammento

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Nick Zito is still ruing the fact that Frammento finished fourth in the Blue Grass Stakes instead of third or better. His state of mind would be much healthier if the colt had run just a little better.

As of Thursday, Frammento was No. 22 on the list of eligible horses to run next Saturday, May 2, in the 141st Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Only 20 can start, although Churchill will maintain an also-eligibles list of up to four horses until official scratch time at 9 a.m. Eastern on May 1. Frammento earned 10 qualifying points in the Blue Grass; a third-place finish would have netted 20 and gotten the Midshipman colt securely into the field.

“It’s very frustrating for me and [owner] Nena Moss and my help,” said Zito. “People keep asking if we’re going to get in, and I keep saying you never wish anything bad on anybody else or their horse, but we sure would like to run because this is a true mile-and-a-quarter horse. I’ve become a broken record.”

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Zito, a Hall of Fame trainer with two Derby wins, is hoping Frammento won’t be on the also-eligibles list, from where draw-ins automatically will start from the outside posts.

Neither of the Todd Pletcher duo of Stanford (16th) and Madefromlucky (20th) is a sure thing to run. Both were scheduled to breeze Saturday at Churchill, with their Derby status to be decided soon thereafter, although the possibility of rain had Pletcher contemplating moving the works up to Friday.

“I’m probably better off not saying anything to Todd,” Zito said, before adding as a joke, “although he does owe me a favor with Ice Box not catching Super Saver” in the 2010 Derby.

Zito has not committed to a Derby jockey “in case somebody comes open.” Gary Stevens rode Frammento in the April 4 Blue Grass but is committed to Firing Line for the Derby.

Zito was scheduled to send out Frammento for a Saturday breeze at Keeneland but said he, like Pletcher, might move the work up to Friday.

“We’re up here at Keeneland just waiting for something to happen,” he said. “We’ll ship down to Churchill on Tuesday and keep waiting if we have to.”

◗ Donegal Racing and trainer Dale Romans have teamed with Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux in the Kentucky Derby twice before, and both horses finished third: Paddy O’Prado in 2010 and Dullahan in 2012.

For 2015, they’ll be a team again with longshot Keen Ice, even though relations between Romans and Desormeaux had gotten pretty frosty in the last couple of years. Keen Ice sat at No. 21 on the eligibility list, and Romans was optimistic the son of Curlin would be in the main body by Wednesday.

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“Bygones are bygones,” said Romans. “All I know is Kent sure knows how to win the Derby, and he’s hungry right now. Maybe the third time will be a charm for us.”

Keen Ice’s lone victory in his seven starts came in a Churchill maiden race last September. Although based in Florida all winter, his last two races came at Fair Grounds, where he was third in the Risen Star and fourth in the Louisiana Derby.

Desormeaux is one of just nine jockeys with as many as three wins in the Kentucky Derby, having prevailed in 1998 with Real Quiet, in 2000 with Fusaichi Pegasus, and 2008 with Big Brown.