Both Kiaran McLaughlin and Todd Pletcher came up under D. Wayne Lukas, the trainer who has the most starters in the history of the Kentucky Derby. But the approaches McLaughlin and Pletcher have taken toward the Derby have differed sharply.
Pletcher is now up to second, behind only Lukas, in overall number of Derby starters, 47-40. McLaughlin has had just five starters.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Upstart, who stamped himself as a leading Kentucky Derby contender with his impressive victory in the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes, blew out an easy half-mile in 50 seconds at Palm Meadows on Wednesday. The work was his first since the Holy Bull 10 days earlier.
Trainer Rick Violette said he was hoping to wait for the weekend to breeze Upstart, but “he was getting more and more full of himself, so we just let him blow off some steam this morning.”
American Pharoah, the Eclipse Award winner for top 2-year-old male, is the top individually listed wagering interest behind the heavily favored mutuel field in Pool 2 of the 2015 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for a three-day run.
The field, the 24th or “all others” entry, closed as the 3-5 favorite in Pool 1, followed by Dortmund at 9-1 and American Pharoah at 12-1. Combined handle for that pool was $232,204, the fourth-lowest since Churchill Downs first offered pari-mutuel futures in 1999.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Wesley Ward sent out a pair of 3-year-olds, Asia and City of Vengeance, to win their career debuts on turf here last weekend. But it was a performance by another 3-year-old in his barn, The Great War, on Saturday night at Turfway Park that has the former rider most excited.
ARCADIA, Calif. – After Lord Nelson turned in a disappointing effort to end his 2-year-old campaign, trainer Bob Baffert decided to regroup and start anew, and Lord Nelson took a positive first step on his 3-year-old journey by holding off Texas Red to capture the Grade 2, $200,250 San Vicente Stakes over seven furlongs on Sunday at Santa Anita.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Calculator, the winner of last month’s Sham Stakes at Santa Anita, emerged from a workout at San Luis Rey Downs on Saturday with an injury that will sideline him six months and takes him off the Triple Crown trail, trainer Peter Miller said Sunday.
Miller declined to reveal the injury. He said Calculator worked well on Saturday under jockey Elvis Trujillo – he went five furlongs in 1:00.40 – but “was off after the work.”
“We’re hoping for a full recovery, hoping for a fall campaign,” Miller said.
Led by Eclipse Award winners American Pharoah and Take Charge Brandi, along with Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red, a total of 429 3-year-olds were announced on Saturday by Churchill Downs as the early nominations to this year’s Triple Crown.
Because it’s a rare Kentucky Derby prep race still contested on a synthetic surface, the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on March 21 seems likely to attract “niche” horses with success on such types of tracks. Some will be locals, while others may ship in after having run well on synthetic surfaces in California or at Woodbine in Canada.
Another horse, Firespike, is Spiral-bound by way of another direction – from Ocala, Fla., where he won the OBS Championship Stakes on Tuesday by 2 1/4 lengths.
Leave the Light On, the winner of the Remsen Stakes in his last start, injured a hind ankle in a workout last weekend, needs surgery, and is off the Triple Crown trail, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday.
“He needs a couple of months off,” Brown said from Florida, where Leave the Light On has been training at the Palm Meadows training center. “It’s obviously very disappointing, but the long-term prognosis is good. We’re doing the right thing and stopping now.”
Santa Anita has a strong card Saturday with three graded stakes – the Grade 1, $300,000 Las Virgenes; the Grade 2, $200,000 Arcadia; and the Grade 2, $200,000 Palos Verdes. In Florida, the stakes focus shifts to Tampa Bay Downs, which has the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis; the Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour; and the $100,000 Suncoast.
In one other stakes of note, champion 2-year-old filly Take Charge Brandi makes her 3-year-old debut in Oaklawn’s $100,000 Martha Washington.
Sam F. Davis Stakes
