The Kentucky Derby preps are to the Kentucky Derby as the National Hockey League regular season is to the NHL playoffs. It is a months-long grind that began last fall, it ends on Saturday, and it involves quite a bit of scoreboard watching to see who’s in and who’s out.
A maximum of 20 horses can start in the Derby. If it overfills, then the points earned in the prep races will determine who gets to run. For those on or near the bubble right now, it’s nervous time.
Let’s make this an annual event. I am sitting on press row at the Final Four. The Santa Anita Derby appears on my laptop during the first half of the first game of semifinals. The horse I have been touting for a month is favored. And nearly runs off my screen.
Last year, it was California Chrome; this year, Dortmund.
AMERICAN PHAROAH, last year’s champion 2-year-old, could meet seven others in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. He will be a strong favorite off his dominant win in the track’s Grade 2, $750,000 Rebel. Trainer Bob Baffert said American Pharoah is scheduled to fly to town Wednesday.
Top 3-year-old males
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Far Right has a diverse cast of people working behind the scenes to bring out the best in the multiple stakes winner, who could start as the second choice to Southern California shipper American Pharoah in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday.
Far Right has wintered at Oaklawn, where twice he’s rolled up the rail to win stakes, taking the $150,000 Smarty Jones in his 3-year-old debut in January and the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest Stakes in his most recent out Feb. 22.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After running second to Carpe Diem in Saturday’s Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, Danzig Moon was shipped to Churchill Downs on Monday morning to join trainer Mark Casse’s string in Louisville.
Danzig Moon earned 40 Kentucky Derby qualification points by finishing second in the Blue Grass. He now sits 12th in the Kentucky Derby points standings, with 45 points. There are two points races remaining in the Kentucky Derby Championship Series.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though disappointed in El Kabeir’s third-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial, owner Ahmed Zayat said Monday he is leaning toward running the horse in the Kentucky Derby.
“If you ask me today, I’d say 80 percent we should go,” Zayat said by phone Monday afternoon. “For the trainer, for the horse, they deserve a chance.”
El Kabeir, trained by John Terranova, certainly has enough qualifying points to get into the Kentucky Derby based on his victories in the Kentucky Jockey Club last fall and the Jerome and Gotham this year.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Both Dortmund and One Lucky Dane, the top two finishers from the Santa Anita Derby, came out of the race well, and both are set to move on to the Kentucky Derby on May 2, giving trainer Bob Baffert, who also trains American Pharoah, three potential starters in the Derby.
Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial, 1 1/8 miles, Aqueduct, April 4, 2015
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)
Winner: Frosted
Trainer: Kiaran McLaughlin
Jockey: Joel Rosario
Owner: Godolphin Racing LLC
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Mr. Z breezed a half-mile Monday at Oaklawn Park in preparation for a possible start in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said conversations are being held with owner Ahmed Zayat and his family concerning a potential start in Saturday’s race. Entries for the Arkansas Derby will be taken on Wednesday.
“I’m hoping that Mr. Z will let us run Mr. Z,” Lukas said Monday.
