LOUISVILLE, Ky. – American Pharoah floats like a butterfly. Dortmund stings like a bee. They might be the greatest one-two punch in this city since Muhammad Ali.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – El Kabeir made it through the harsh New York winter to get to Churchill Downs, but he won’t make the starting gate for Saturday’s 141st Kentucky Derby.
Due to a bruise of his left front foot – the extent of which is not yet completely known – El Kabeir was officially scratched Friday afternoon from Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
Let’s say you have $50 that you would like to wager on the best two minutes in sports. How should you break up that money? You could just pick your favorite horse and put all $50 on win, place, or show. In a 20-horse field that’s a fair strategy, since the odds will be good with so many options to bet. However, in a race like the Kentucky Derby it’s fun to mix things up and use that money to play a few different wagers.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – El Kabeir’s status for Saturday’s 141st Kentucky Derby might be in doubt after the colt showed tenderness in his left front foot Friday morning, forcing the gray colt to remain in the barn rather than train.
His connections said they would work on the foot Friday and hope to train him Saturday morning, at which time they would decide whether to run.
“If he is not sound, he will be scratched,” said Justin Zayat, the son of and racing manager for his father, Ahmed Zayat.
For horseplayers who crave large fields, they don’t get much bigger than those offered in the Kentucky Oaks-Woodford Reserve-Kentucky Derby pick three that straddles the Friday and Saturday cards at Churchill Downs. The races could average 15 starters each, with the Oaks capped at 14, the Woodford drawing 12, and the Derby cutoff 20.
FRIDAY
How do you find a Kentucky Derby longshot worth tossing onto tickets?
The simple answer would be to sidle on over to the Dallas Stewart barn.
Stewart, defying astronomical odds, has two years in a row sent out a bomber who finished second and lit up the Derby tote board. Commanding Curve hit at 37-1 last year, paying $31.80 to place and partnering with race favorite California Chrome for a $340 exacta. And in 2013, it was Golden Soul chugging home second to the favored Orb at 34-1, paying $38.60 to place and keying an exacta that paid $981.60.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has gotten a good look at Bob Baffert’s one-two punch for the Kentucky Derby. Lukas longshot Mr. Z tangled with both halves of the juggernaut, finishing third, less than a neck behind Dortmund, in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity last December, and third, 8 3/4 lengths behind American Pharoah, in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby three weeks ago.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If Coffee Clique got as much out of her comeback race as trainer Brian Lynch thinks she did, there’s a very good chance she could repeat in Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile.
Sidelined by bone bruising after winning the Grade 1 Just a Game at Belmont Park last June 7, Coffee Clique didn’t run again until March 28, when she finished third as the 2-1 favorite in the Grade 2 Honey Fox Handicap at Gulfstream Park. That day, she finished behind Lady Lara and Sandiva, both of whom are in this 13-horse field.