Tim Ritchey settled in to watch the Tampa Bay Derby last Saturday, and as the race unfolded, he had a chilling flashback to three years ago. Same weekend, seven weeks out from the Kentucky Derby. Same setup, an odds-on favorite against a handful of seemingly overmatched rivals going 1 1/16 miles in the second of three scheduled preps for the Derby. And the same shocking result, a last-place finish.
"I was thinking about Afleet Alex in the Rebel when I watched War Pass," Ritchey said.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Being on the backstretch, training horses, it's the life Kathy Walsh was born into, the life she once walked away from, and the life to which she came running back. It's where she belongs. To those who have not come across her while she was based at Longacres, the San Francisco Bay area, Canterbury Downs, and now Hollywood Park, it might be hard to imagine the impact Walsh has had on countless women on the racetrack. Though she sloughs it off, Walsh is an icon, a trailblazer, much like Billie Jean King in tennis.
Pyro and Visionaire, who won the biggest Kentucky Derby prep races of this past weekend, are both headed to the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes on April 12 at Keeneland, their connections said Monday. And the Blue Grass took on added significance on Monday when trainer Nick Zito said that it was likely going to be the final Kentucky Derby prep for Cool Coal Man, the winner of the Fountain of Youth Stakes.
The Blue Grass was used last year by Street Sense as his final tune-up before his victory in the Derby. He finished second in the Blue Grass.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Pyro closed Sunday as the 4-1 favorite in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which drew its smallest handle in eight years.
After hovering at 6-1 for the first 2 1/2 days of the four-day wager, Pyro drew solid action after his three-length victory in Saturday's Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds, closing as a slight choice over War Pass (9-2) and the mutuel field (6-1), the 24th or "all others" option.
Rounding out the top choices were Denis of Cork (12-1), El Gato Malo (15-1), Court Vision (16-1), Colonel John (17-1), and Elysium Fields (17-1).
Defending divisional champion War Pass was the lukewarm favorite following light wagering in the opening hours of Pool 2 of the 2008 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which began Thursday at noon Eastern at wagering outlets throughout North America.
As of 4 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, War Pass was the 3-1 choice, followed by Pyro at 6-1. The mutuel field, the 24th or "all others" option, was the third choice at 8-1, followed by Court Vision (9-1), Denis of Cork (11-1), and Georgie Boy (15-1). Handle to that point was $15,016.
NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Steve Asmussen stood outside Pyro's stall at his Fair Grounds barn on Wednesday morning, admiring the best of his three prospects for this year's Kentucky Derby. Asmussen probably was a little envious, too. There was Pyro, the buzz horse of this year's Derby preps, getting heavy lidded as he prepared to doze off following his morning routine. Asmussen, only days removed from a trip halfway around the world and back, and with his top assistant remaining in Dubai, had no such time to lay about.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The trainers of 3-year-olds based in California this winter are hoping their Kentucky Derby prospects are not as artificial as the surfaces over which they have been racing.
The current crop of 3-year-olds is the first of locally based horses who - unless they sneak in a race at Bay Meadows or leave the state in the next two months - will head to the Kentucky Derby on May 5 without ever having raced on conventional dirt, which is still in place at Churchill Downs.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. - The deck appeared stacked for trainer Todd Pletcher last year. In the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby, he won the Fountain of Youth Stakes, Florida Derby, Illinois Derby, and Louisiana Derby. He sent out five horses in the Kentucky Derby - Any Given Saturday, Circular Quay, Cowtown Cat, Sam P., and Scat Daddy - then watched the deck turn into a crumbling house of cards, leaving Pletcher 0 for 19 in the Derby.
That whole thing about strength in numbers, Todd Pletcher and Nick Zito can tell you, when it comes to the Kentucky Derby, it's a damn lie. Twice in the last three years, a trainer has saddled 25 percent of the final Derby field, five of the 20 runners. Zito did it in 2005, Pletcher last year. And of those 10 horses, the best any of them could finish was sixth.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A new calendar is one sign, and the running of the first few prep races is another. Still another sign that the Kentucky Derby chase has begun is the first of three pools in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Thursday at racetracks and wagering outlets throughout North America.
