Keith Crupper purchased the stakes-placed Louisiana-bred Halo Humor for $130,000 at the 2008 Keeneland January sale of horses of all ages – a pricey investment for the Whispering Oaks Farm operation he owns and operates with brother Allen in Paris, Ky. The Thoroughbred business can be fickle, and for a while, it looked like the mare was playing a good joke on the Cruppers. From her first five foals, she produced just one winner.

“We kept thinking there was a good horse in her,” Keith Crupper said. “We just needed to find it.”

Who’s laughing now?

Iliad

Ghostzapper-Little Swoon, by You and I

($285,000 purchase by Bob Baffert, agent, at 2016 OBS March sale of 2-year-olds in training)

A quarter of the way into 2017, Ghostzapper is having a career year, sitting near the top of the North American sire list. Ghostzapper has two prominent sons on the Kentucky Derby trail, with Iliad running in Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby and McCraken putting his unbeaten record on the line in the Blue Grass Stakes.

Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Gulfstream Park, April 1, 2017
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: Always Dreaming, by Bodemeister
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: John Velazquez
Owner: Brooklyn Boyz Stables, Teresa Viola Racing Stables, et al
Beyer Speed Figure: 97

A field of seven 3-year-olds has been entered for the Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes, a critical Kentucky Derby prep race to be run Saturday as the annual spring showcase at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

McCraken, who closed as a lukewarm favorite in Pool 4 of the Derby Future Wager conducted last weekend by Churchill Downs, was assigned post 2 as the 7-5 morning-line favorite for the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass. Among the other top contenders are Tapwrit (post 4, 5-2), Practical Joke (post 7, 7-2), and J Boys Echo (post 3, 4-1).

Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby; 1 1/8 miles; Fair Grounds; April 1, 2017
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: Girvin, by Tale of Ekati
Trainer: Joe Sharp
Jockey: Brian Hernandez Jr.
Owner: Brad Grady
Beyer Speed Figure: 91

When Empire Maker was exported to Japan in 2010, the chances of him establishing his own branch of the Fappiano male line looked extremely remote. Seven years later, with a Triple Crown winner, a champion 2-year-old male, and the possible favorite for the 2017 Kentucky Derby among his grandsons, the son of Unbridled is well on his way to living up to his name by building his own sire empire.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – McCraken was a lukewarm favorite amid a scrambled outlook when the fourth and final pool of the 2017 Kentucky Derby Future Wager closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Each week, TimeformUS Chief Figure Maker Craig Milkowski takes a look back at the weekend’s graded stakes and releases the TimeformUS Speed Figures for these races.

Stakes races for week ending April 3, 2017

Gulfstream

Grade 1 Florida Derby

1/2    123

3/4    121

:: Learn How to Use TimeformUS Speed Figures

Fin    124

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - As expected, the first three finishers from Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby - Always Dreaming, State of Honor, and Gunnevera - will all be heading to Churchill Downs, where they will meet again on May 6 in the Kentucky Derby.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Todd Pletcher’s strong hand on the road to the 2017 Kentucky Derby suddenly got a lot stronger late Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream Park after Always Dreaming powered to a convincing five-length victory over State of Honor in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby.