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.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The unpredictable spring weather at Churchill Downs that has prompted the connections of many of the top contenders for this year’s Kentucky Derby to complete most if not all of their final preparations for the race at home reared its ugly head on Monday. Moderate to heavy morning rain turned the main track to a sea of slop from the time the course opened for training at 5:15 a.m.
Quip, who won the Tampa Bay Derby and most recently was second in the Arkansas Derby, will bypass the Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs and instead be pointed to the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, on May 19 at Pimlico, Elliott Walden, the chief executive officer of co-owner WinStar Farm, said Monday.
“We’re not going to run him,” Walden said from the 2-year-olds in training sale in Ocala, Fla. “We wanted a little more time with him.”
Gronkowski’s trip to the Kentucky Derby has been spiked.
According to a press release put out by his majority owner, Phoenix Thoroughbreds, Gronkowski has a slight infection and will miss the May 5 Kentucky Derby. Combined with news on Monday that Arkansas Derby runner-up Quip will bypass the Derby, that allows both Combatant and Instilled Regard into the Derby field.
The press release said Gronkowski spiked a fever over the weekend and had to be treated with antibiotics, preventing him from traveling from England to Churchill Downs for the Derby.
