Nearly three weeks after the June 27 Ohio Derby became his first meaningful victory, Dean Martini has cracked both Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch Top 20 and the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 6 roster of 22 individual betting interests.
Don’t read too deep into that, said trainer Tom Amoss. “He’s going to have to run extremely well in his next race for us to consider moving on to the Derby.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Michael Stidham was far from discouraged by Mystic Guide’s second-place finish as the favorite in a first-level allowance race June 4 at Belmont Park. Instead of looking to run him back in the same condition, Stidham has opted to run Mystic Guide in Thursday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Peter Pan Stakes on Saratoga’s 10-race opening-day card.
DEL MAR, Calif. – Uncle Chuck has bounced out of his Los Alamitos Derby win in good order and is preparing for his crucial next race, which will determine whether he goes on to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
He’s 2 for 2, and now will run in either the Shared Belief Stakes on Aug. 1 at Del Mar or, more likely, the Travers Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga as a final prep for the Derby.
Art Collector is back in the quiet environs of the Skylight training center just east of Louisville, Ky., as his hometown connections ponder what will come next for a colt whose emphatic triumph Saturday in the Blue Grass Stakes has made him a major contender for the 146th Kentucky Derby.
It appears unlikely that a horse representing Japan will be in this year’s Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
Neither Cafe Pharoah, the points leader on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby series, nor Danon Pharaoh, who was second on the list, will travel to Churchill Downs for the Derby, according to Kate Hunter, a Japanese-based racing journalist who is a liaison between Japanese racing and Churchill Downs.
Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Indiana Grand, July 8, 2020
(20 Derby qualifying points for a win, 8 for second, 4 for third, 2 for fourth)
Winner: Shared Sense, by Street Sense
Trainer: Brad Cox
Jockey: Florent Geroux
Owner: Godolphin LLC
Beyer Speed Figure: 92
Grade 2, $600,000 Blue Grass Stakes, 1 1/8 miles, Keeneland, July 11, 2020
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)
Winner: Art Collector, by Bernardini
Trainer: Tom Drury Jr.
Jockey: Brian Hernandez Jr.
Owner: Bruce Lunsford
Beyer Speed Figure: 103
One of the many changes to this year’s Saratoga summer is the addition of the Grade 3, $100,000 Peter Pan to the stakes schedule.
Nine 3-year-olds were entered Saturday for the Peter Pan, which will offer 85 qualifying points to the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby to its top four finishers. The Peter Pan, run at 1 1/8 miles, shares billing with the Grade 3, $100,000 Schuylerville Stakes - a traditional Saratoga race - on Thursday’s 10-race opening-day card.
A filly is favored in the Blue Grass Stakes in July while sniffing around for a berth in the Kentucky Derby in September. Wait, what planet is this?
And so goes the racing world during a pandemic.
Swiss Skydiver, already safely in the Kentucky Oaks, will be looking to make the Kentucky Derby a tempting alternative for her connections as the 3-1 morning-line favorite Saturday in the 96th Blue Grass Stakes at spectator-free Keeneland in sultry Lexington, Ky.
