Louisiana Derby winner Girvin, troubled by a quarter crack in his right front hoof during the early part of last week, galloped Tuesday at Keeneland and remains on track to start in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, trainer Joe Sharp said.
The Tuesday gallop came under Sharp’s wife, former jokey Rosie Napravnik, and followed a five-furlong workout in 59.60 seconds Saturday at Keeneland. Girvin had a walk day on Sunday, and then a day of swimming at the KESMARC rehabilitation facility near Keeneland on Monday.
Irish War Cry, a multiple Grade 2 winner and Kentucky Derby hopeful, will stand at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Lexington, Ky., upon his retirement from racing.
The breeding rights for the 3-year-old son of Curlin were purchased by a diverse group including John G. Sikura of Hill ‘n’ Dale, Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm, SF Bloodstock, Colts Neck Stables, China Horse Club, Bobby Flay, Sol Kumin, and Vincent Viola.
When Victor Espinoza rides Gormley in the post parade of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, he will sneak a glance at the jammed grandstand at Churchill Downs.
“The thing you see are the colors,” Espinoza recalled last weekend. “It never gets old. This is what we work for.”
There will be little time for sightseeing. Gormley will need a warm-up.
“Everybody is having fun, and I have to work,” Espinoza said with a laugh.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Girls against boys – the trainer Mark Casse sees nothing wrong with it.
The recently retired Tepin made her mark beating males in major turf races, and the Casse-trained turf filly Catch a Glimpse has done the same. Now, it’s La Coronel’s turn.
It’s a very lucky racetracker who can hold dear the memory of winning a Kentucky Derby. Then there is Yvonne Azeff, who is lucky to have any memory at all.
As chief assistant to trainer John Ward, Azeff was deeply involved in the development of 2001 Derby winner Monarchos. The son of Maria’s Mon carried the colors of Oklahoma oilman John Oxley, who owns this year’s likely Derby favorite, Classic Empire.
The partnership formed to buy Grade 2 winner and Kentucky Derby contender Tapwrit for $1.2 million was at the same time relatively spur of the moment and years in the making.
The catalyst for the joint venture between Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, and Robert LaPenta was a passing conversation between barns prior to the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale, where Eclipse president Aron Wellman asked Bridlewood general manager George Isaacs if he’d seen the buzzed-about Tapit colt in the Denali Stud consignment.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Hence won the Grade 3 Sunland Derby in his last race and has started to feel like a live horse in the Kentucky Derby here on Saturday, but if for some reason things don’t work out on the racetrack, Hence can always turn to a career as a cutting horse.
Making his 3-year-old debut over a sloppy track in a Jan. 16 maiden race at Oaklawn Park, Hence rallied from midpack, was going best with a quarter-mile to run, made the lead a furlong out, and was on his way to an easy victory. Then, suddenly, he was not.
CHURCHILL DOWNS Weather: Cloudy
Track: Sloppy/good
Temp.: 57
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Steve Asmussen was a busy man Monday morning at Churchill Downs, where all his hard work was rewarded by spot-on breezes from his three Kentucky Derby contenders, highlighted by a razor-sharp half-mile drill by Hence during the Oaks-Derby training session.
The average cost at public auction for a Kentucky Derby contender in this year’s field was $274,043.
Of the 24 horses still publicly in Derby contention through Monday, 16 of them changed hands at public auction a combined 22 times. Six of the hopefuls are campaigned as homebreds, and one horse, Santa Anita Derby winner Gormley, was acquired through a private purchase.
