Hawkbill posted a major payday last weekend, winning the Group 1, $6 million Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan. Half-brother Free Drop Billy looks for another major score for the family – and to punch his ticket to the Kentucky Derby – in Saturday’s Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
:: KEENELAND CLOCKER REPORT: Get workout grades and comments for the spring meet
It’s rare for high-priced auction yearlings to earn their purchase price back on the racetrack. But three of the nine youngsters sold for seven figures at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale are chasing that target with solid performances against high-end competition – and even more importantly, they’re chasing priceless notoriety as Kentucky Derby candidates.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite offering a $1 million purse and a great opportunity to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct drew a modest nine-horse field topped by Enticed, a perfect-trip winner of the Grade 3 Gotham, and the Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire. There are five horses in the field who would be eligible for a first-level allowance race.
The Kentucky Derby shipping plans for Runaway Ghost, the winner of the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby, are coming together, trainer Todd Fincher said Tuesday. Owned by Joe Peacock, Runaway Ghost is based at Sunland Park in New Mexico.
“He’s tentatively scheduled to fly out April 17,” Fincher said. “He’ll fly into Lexington, and van to Louisville.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Pepe Tono, who has been 10-1 or higher in his four starts and was sixth in his only stakes appearance, was supplemented to Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on Wednesday.
The supplemental fee was $20,000. There is an additional $15,000 in entry and starting fees.
“That hurts,” said trainer Victor Garcia.
ARCADIA, Calif. – There are ebbs and flows to the Kentucky Derby and its prep season every year, but for the past few years, it is California-based runners who have had the most success on the first Saturday in May, and they have more than outpunched their weight when it comes to the Derby preps, too.
Mike Pegram once named a horse after himself – Lookin At Lucky – but you wouldn’t know it by checking the man’s record in the Santa Anita Derby.
Five times in the last 20 years Pegram has approached the Santa Anita Derby with a live round in the chamber for trainer Bob Baffert and five times he has fired a blank, most recently this time around when his classy McKinzie came up with an injury less than a week before Saturday’s running of the million-dollar event.
Enticed
Medaglia d’Oro-It’s Tricky, by Mineshaft
Bred in Kentucky by Godolphin
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Eight new names are in the lineup for the fourth and final pool of the 2018 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for the customary three-day run.
With three major Derby preps set for Saturday – the Wood Memorial, Blue Grass, and Santa Anita Derby – many bettors will be waiting until after results of those races are known to place their wagers, given that odds are not locked in until the pool closes Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern.
