FLORENCE, Ky. – Somelikeithotbrown was not error free in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park, losing focus in the stretch when on the lead and drifting away from urging from jockey Tyler Gaffalione. Regardless, his class and speed propelled him to a 3 1/4-length victory, keeping him on the Kentucky Derby trail.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has run a horse in the Kentucky Derby in three of the last four years. If he was going to be represented in this year’s Run for the Roses, he needed Haikal to step up in Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes.
“We were only able to nominate one horse to the Derby, and that’s him,” McLaughlin said.
In this new feature, Andrew Beyer and his associates will answer selected readers’ questions about Beyer Speed Figures. Questions of general interest will be preferred for publication. You may submit questions to askbeyer@drf.com or through the Beyer information page on the DRF website at drf.com/beyer.
Q: In your opinion, why have the Beyer Figures for 3-year-olds headed to the Derby dropped so far in the past decade to 15 years?
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Mike Trombetta would like nothing more than to return to Churchill Downs with a Kentucky Derby contender. He’ll have a prime opportunity to do so Saturday when he sends out Win Win Win as the favorite in the Tampa Bay Derby, the annual showcase race at Tampa Bay Downs.
“Once you’ve been to the Derby, you want to go back,” said Trombetta, whose lone starter, Sweetnorthernsaint, finished seventh as the betting favorite behind Barbaro in the 2006 Derby. “It’s a privilege and a fun time. You always want to go there with one that tells you he belongs there.”
Trainer Mark Casse already has one talented 3-year-old targeted for the Kentucky Derby in Risen Star winner War of Will. And if dreams are made this Saturday, he could have more joining that colt, with Casse starting Dream Maker and Sir Winston in the Grade 2, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby and Skywire in the Grade 3, $200,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The manner in which Instagrand won his first two starts had the racing world abuzz and observers believing they were possibly witnessing racing’s next big thing.
Instagrand won his career debut by 10 lengths in June at Los Alamitos and six weeks later he galloped by 10 1/4 lengths in the Grade 2 Best Pal at Del Mar.
However, as rapidly as Instagrand rose to prominence he was whisked away to the farm for a break, owing to nothing more than owner’s prerogative.
Among the numerous impacts of the unprecedented suspension of racing at Santa Anita is that trainers of top Kentucky Derby prospects who were scheduled to run in the Grade 2, $500,000 San Felipe Stakes on Saturday are sorting through options while flying blind as to when racing will resume at Santa Anita.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Kathleen O’Connell has been fighting a nasty cold for about a month now, but as she would readily tell you, it’s better her than one of her horses. As one of many signs of her devotion to her stable, O’Connell has refused to skip a morning or two at either of her winter bases, Gulfstream Park West or Tampa Bay Downs, despite feeling downright miserable.
“No,” she said Wednesday between sets at Tampa, where on Saturday she will saddle Well Defined as a major contender in the track’s annual showcase event, the Grade 2, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby.
Code of Honor
Noble Mission – Reunited, by Dixie Union
Bred in Kentucky by W.S. Farish
