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.
Shared Sense wanted the Indiana Derby prize all to himself.
Bulling his way to the outside at the quarter pole, Shared Sense got up a full head of steam into the homestretch and drew clear to win the Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby by three lengths.
Major Fed finished a tough-luck second and a claim of foul lodged by his jockey, James Graham, against Florent Geroux on Shared Sense for interference at the quarter pole was disallowed. Shared Sense bumped Major Fed as the eventual winner angled to his right, briefly pushing Major Fed off stride.
Danon Pharaoh, a Japanese-bred colt by American Pharoah, had an ideal trip to win Wednesday’s $711,694 Japan Dirt Derby at Oi Racecourse in Tokyo, the final race in the Kentucky Derby qualifying series in that country.
Danon Pharaoh ($73 in American pools) easily beat the strongly favored Cafe Pharoah, the previously unbeaten Kentucky-bred colt who faded from contention in the final three furlongs and finished seventh, beaten more than 12 lengths.
Churchill has released the balance of the stakes schedule for Kentucky Derby week (Sept. 1-5) with the Grade 1 Churchill Downs being the most notable absentee from the traditional slate. Grade 1 races such as the Old Forester Turf Classic, the La Troienne, and the newly named Derby City (formerly Humana) Distaff will be run as usual on the Oaks and Derby undercards.
Kenny McPeek sang a familiar refrain when revealing Wednesday that Swiss Skydiver will run against males Saturday in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
“This has already been one of the weirdest years ever,” said McPeek, referring to the far-reaching repercussions of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “Might as well add to it.”
WHO’S HOT
Uncle Chuck has raced just twice, but has impressed to the extent in those races – including his victory last Saturday in the Los Alamitos Derby – that he is now the fifth choice, at 12-1, on the line of Daily Racing Form’s Marty McGee for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5. He was 20-1 a week ago. Fellow late developer Creed, who won an allowance race last week at Belmont for his second straight victory, was lowered from 50-1 to 30-1.
