ARCADIA, Calif. – After finally getting a chance to see McKinzie for the first time in a week, assessing his status, and looking at the calendar, trainer Bob Baffert on Monday morning here at Santa Anita said it was “not looking good” for McKinzie to make the Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs.
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DRF Past Performances
Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Gulfstream Park, March 31, 2018
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)
Winner: Audible, by Into Mischief
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: John Velazquez
Owner: China Horse Club, Head of Plains Partners LLC, Starlight Racing, and WinStar Farm
Beyer Speed Figure: 99
ARCADIA, Calif. – Greyvitos, the winner of the $402,400 Springboard Mile at Remington Park in December, will have a new jockey when he returns from injury in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 14.
Evin Roman, the champion apprentice jockey of 2017, will ride Greyvitos for the first time, trainer Adam Kitchingman said on Sunday. Roman replaces Victor Espinoza, who is booked to ride Accelerate in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas on the same day.
On Sunday at Del Mar, Greyvitos worked seven furlongs from the gate in 1:27.20 under Roman.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bolt d’Oro reached the finish of a five-furlong workout at Santa Anita on Sunday in 1:01.20. It was then that the talented colt decided the exercise was not complete.
“When he got to the wire, he grabbed the bit like he was coming out of the gate,” trainer Mick Ruis said.
Exercise rider Agapito Delgadillo told Ruis that Bolt d’Oro had ample energy after five furlongs. The promising workout comes just days before Bolt d’Oro starts in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday in a final prep for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher came to South Florida this winter with a bevy of unproven commodities in the 3-year-old division. He will leave here in a few weeks for Churchill Downs with a strong portfolio of contenders for the 144th Kentucky Derby.
Grade 2, $2 million United Arab Emirates Derby, about 1 3/16 miles (1,900 meters), Meydan, March 31, 2018
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)
Winner: Mendelssohn, by Scat Daddy
Trainer: Aidan O’Brien
Jockey: Ryan Moore
Owners: Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier, and Derrick Smith
Beyer Speed Figure: 106
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher continued his recent stranglehold on Gulfstream Park’s marquee event, the $1 million Florida Derby, winning the race for the fourth time in the last six years as Audible registered a popular and convincing three-length victory over the up-and-coming Hofburg in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby prep. It was nearly eight lengths farther back to third-place finisher Mississippi.
Top Kentucky Derby contender McKinzie has sustained an injury and won't start in the Santa Anita Derby, trainer Bob Baffert said a few minutes after the Dubai World Cup on Saturday night in Dubai.
Missing the Santa Anita Derby obviously would put McKinzie's status for the Kentucky Derby in doubt.
Baffert said it was unclear how McKinzie hurt himself and even what the exact nature of the injury is. McKinzie worked a strong five furlongs on Monday at Santa Anita but didn't come out to train Thursday.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Aidan O’Brien said before the UAE Derby that Mendelssohn is the horse best suited to the Kentucky Derby that he’s ever trained. He’s surely not saying anything different now.
Mendelssohn made his dirt debut in the Grade 2, $2 million UAE Derby and won almost from Dubai to Kentucky.
And Kentucky, all being well, is where Mendelssohn is headed as an intriguing horse for the Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs.