SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Dr Post, runner-up to Tiz the Law in the Belmont Stakes and third to Authentic in the Haskell, is likely to bypass the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 and could run either in the Jim Dandy that same day at Saratoga or perhaps wait for the Preakness on Oct. 3.
Todd Pletcher trains Dr Post for Vinnie and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable. Pletcher said Viola seems to be leaning more toward Dr Post taking his next shot against Tiz the Law in the Preakness.
Storm the Court
Court Vision – My Tejana Storm, by Tejano Run
Bred in Kentucky by Stepping Stone Farm ($5,000 Fasig-Tipton February weanling purchase by Bryan Rice; $60,000 OBS spring 2-year-old purchase by Exline-Border Racing)
WHO’S HOT
There have been no adjustments to the Derby Watch top 20 lineup or the odds penned by Daily Racing Form’s Marty McGee since last week. Tiz the Law remains the 6-5 favorite. Assuming his starting price will be no higher than 9-5, he will be the first horse to go off at less than 2-1 in the Derby since Point Given in 2001. The last odds-on favorite was Arazi in 1992. Entries for the Derby are to be taken Tuesday morning, and posts drawn later that morning.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As contenders for the 146th Kentucky Derby continue to settle into the stable area at Churchill Downs, the final round of breezes for the Sept. 5 race are set for a busy coming weekend – both at Churchill and elsewhere.
Tiz the Law, expected to be the heaviest Derby favorite since Arazi was 9-10 in 1992, is scheduled to work Sunday at Saratoga before being flown Monday to Louisville via equine charter. The New York-bred colt, winner of the Belmont Stakes and Runhappy Travers, will be bedded down in Barn 20 upon his arrival at Churchill.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Take two.
One day after Authentic had to have a work aborted through no fault of his own, he motored around Del Mar’s track early Tuesday morning in a demanding drill designed to have him on edge for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs.
Authentic was given an official time of 1:38.60 for one mile under exercise rider Juan Ochoa, and he continued a bit farther on the gallop-out.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — There’s a lot of “speight” in trainer Roger Attfield’s barn, but in a good way.
The unbeaten Kentucky Derby prospect, Shirl’s Speight, recorded his second fast work over the dirt training track at Woodbine last Friday. He went an old-school mile in 1:39.20 in company with five others, starting off slowly under jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson and then finishing well under a drive.
“He came out of the work really, really well,” Attfield said. “It didn’t quite go the way I wanted it to. Right now, we’re still on the Derby thing.”
DEL MAR, Calif. – After going off form earlier this year, Thousand Words seemed invigorated once relocating here to Del Mar, where he trained sharply heading into the Shared Belief, in which he scored a 9-1 upset over Santa Anita Derby winner Honor A. P.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Barclay Tagg is not babying Tiz the Law into the Kentucky Derby.
Fifteen days after Tiz the Law won the Runhappy Travers emphatically and 13 days before he runs in the Derby as the favorite on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs, Tagg sent Tiz the Law out early Sunday morning for a rigorous five-furlong workout that he completed in 59.47 seconds, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch’s watch, over Saratoga’s main track.
DEL MAR, Calif. – The second of the three afternoon workouts for Honor A. P. at Del Mar leading up to the Kentucky Derby was supposed to be the most serious of them, and the intent was evident on Saturday, as jockey Mike Smith had the long-striding colt continue out strongly, turning what was listed officially as a five-furlong drill into what was more like a seven-furlong move.
