Bourbon Courage could be headed for the Derby Trial after scoring a second-straight flashy six-furlong win at Fair Grounds on Saturday, trainer Kellyn Gorder said Sunday.
In his career debut on Feb. 3, Bourbon Courage won a maiden race by 4 ¼ lengths, running six furlongs in 1:09.28 and earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 103. Saturday, facing other winners for the first time, he scored by 6 ½ lengths, running six furlongs in 1:09.42 and earning an initial Beyer of 101.
Cigar Street, a blowout two-turn Fair Grounds maiden winner in his most recent race, green-lighted his entry into next Sunday’s $1 million Louisiana Derby with a good five-furlong workout in 1:01.20 Sunday morning.
“Our main question was how was he going to look doing it, and I think the question was answered,” trainer Steve Margolis said Sunday morning. “Right now, all systems are go. We’re going to enter tomorrow.”
FLORENCE, Ky. – The 3 1/2-length victory by Went the Day Well in the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park certainly has his connections pumped for the 138th Kentucky Derby on May 5. What remains to be answered in the coming weeks, however, is whether the colt will have another race in the interim before proceeding to Churchill Downs.
FLORENCE, Ky. – Team Valor International president Barry Irwin was enjoying a heavy dose of déjà vu in the immediate aftermath of the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park.
“That wasn’t horrible, was it?” a giddy Irwin asked rhetorically after watching Went the Day Well carry the Team Valor silks to a 3 1/2-length triumph in the Grade 3, $500,000 Turfway showcase.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Five of the seven prospective starters for next Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby worked at three different venues on Saturday morning, including division leader Union Rags, who went an easy but visually impressive half-mile in 49.10 seconds shortly after sunrise at Palm Meadows.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While many of his colleagues were at Palm Meadows in Florida on Friday morning watching 2-year-olds breeze for an upcoming auction, trainer Kelly Breen was at Belmont Park watching a breeze show of his own.
Breen flew in from south Florida to watch My Adonis, runner-up in the Gotham Stakes three weeks ago, work five furlongs over the Belmont Park training track in preparation for a start in the $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 7.
Longview Drive, sixth in a division of the Grade 2 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 20, is an intended starter in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said.
Owned by Steve Beneto, Longview Drive is winless in three graded stakes since recording his second stakes win in the Charlie Palmer Futurity at Fresno last October. Longview Drive was third in the Grade 3 Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes last November and third in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita in January.
Sunday’s Grade 3 Sunland Derby isn’t officially labeled a “Win and You’re In” race for the Kentucky Derby, but it might as well be. The winner’s share of the $800,000 purse is $400,000, which should easily guarantee him a place in the starting gate in Louisville. It’s easy to overlook, but the second finisher will receive a healthy $176,000 boost to his graded stakes earnings, which might be enough to make him a starter too.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Reveron already has one derby victory on his r é sum é . A Calder-based 3-year-old prospect, Reveron will try for a second derby win here at Gulfstream Park next weekend as one of the outsiders in the $1 million Florida Derby.
Reveron, a son of Songandaprayer, launched his 3-year-old campaign with a game half-length decision over Casual Trick in the inaugural Gulfstream Park Derby. He has made just one start since, finishing a wide-running third after taking the lead in early stretch of Grade 3 Sam Davis at Tampa Bay Downs.
