ARCADIA, Calif. – Justify, the unbeaten early-line favorite for the Kentucky Derby, will ship to Churchill Downs in peak condition after a strong seven-furlong workout Friday at Santa Anita.
Working at 6:30 over a freshly renovated surface on a cool, overcast morning, Justify broke off at the 5 1/2-furlong marker, three to four lengths behind a workmate. Justify caught his rival at the finish, completed his seven-furlong drill on the clubhouse turn, and galloped out a mile. He did it easily.
Trivia question: Who owned the winner of the 2017 Kentucky Derby, Always Dreaming?
If you guessed Anthony Bonomo and Vincent Viola, the two Brooklyn-born friends who were usually in front of the television cameras in the lead-up to the race last year, you are only partially right.
Here’s the actual list: MeB Racing Stables, Brooklyn Boyz Stables, Teresa Viola Racing Stables, St. Elias Stables, Siena Farm, and West Point Thoroughbreds.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the first time in four days, the main track was listed as fast at Churchill Downs, with the most noteworthy name on Thursday’s rather extensive work tab not that of a potential Kentucky Derby winner, but that of a past one.
The Kentucky Derby is not only a test of speed and stamina – it is a test of mental fortitude for a young horse, with the pressure cooker culminating in the “wall of sound” as the field turns for home in front of more than 160,000 at Churchill Downs. Mendelssohn has shown the speed and stamina, and his breeders think he has the mental fortitude to handle the stress of the May 5 Derby.
If the horse had been named Fish Cakes or Jabbering Jack, everything might be different.
“The curse of Fish Cakes” or “the curse of Jabbering Jack” – no one is saying that.
But no, his name was Apollo, and “the curse of Apollo,” well, that’s got a ring to it, and for decades now it’s been ringing through every Kentucky Derby that includes a starter who didn’t race at age 2.
Apollo, an unheralded underdog in the Derby of 1882, remains the only Derby winner who didn’t race as a 2-year-old. That is the factual part. “Curse” is just a matter of branding.
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Wednesday, April 25
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 55
Track: Muddy
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The weather remains the main story this week at Churchill Downs, where rain has put a damper on training hours since Sunday. The main track was listed as sloppy on Tuesday and muddy on Wednesday for the special Oaks/Derby training sessions, with no workers either morning.
WHO’S HOT
Combatant and Instilled Regard moved into the Derby Watch top 20 owing to defections that vaulted them up the points list. Both are 30-1 on the Kentucky Derby line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper.
WHO’S NOT
Combatant
Scat Daddy-Border Dispute, by Boundary
Bred in Kentucky by Blandford Stud ($320,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Winchell Thoroughbreds)
The English-based colt Gronkowski, who was declared out of the Kentucky Derby on Monday with an infection, is expected to return to training next week and point to the Belmont Stakes, according to a press release from the colt’s owner, Phoenix Thoroughbreds.
Gronkowski earned a berth in the Kentucky Derby by winning the Burradon Stakes at Newcastle on March 30, clinching the top spot on the European Road to the Kentucky Derby. But he contracted the infection and had to be treated with antibiotics, preventing him from shipping to Kentucky for the Derby.
