Sunland Park: The Grade III, $800,000 Sunland Derby at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points: 50-20-10-5) [Image: 2014 Sunland Derby winner Chitu and jockey Joel Rosario at Santa Anita. Benoit photo] With a boatload of money and 85 Kentucky Derby qualifying points up for grabs, the Sunland Derby has become en vogue in recent…
Turfway Park: The Grade III, $550,000 Spiral at 1 1/8 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points: 50-20-10-5) While the Spiral runs the risk of being racing’s version of the Edsel, it did draw a solid field this year with runners from name barns like Amoss, Casse, Maker and Pletcher, so there’s some potential here, no doubt.…
Oaklawn Park: The Grade II, $750,000 Rebel at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 50-20-10-5) #1 The Truth or Else (4-1): Tricky read woke up in a big way when he added Lasix and was second in the local prep, the GIII Southwest last month, and certainly seems as if he’s turned the corner…
Saturday saw Kentucky Derby Championship Series prep races coast to coast, with 85 points each available in races in New York, Florida, and California, and a Kentucky Oaks prep in Arkansas thrown in for good measure. Under the Kentucky Derby points system instituted in 2012, the 20 horses who earn the most points in a…
Santa Anita: The Grade II, $400,000 San Felipe at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 50-20-10-5) #1 Lord Nelson (4-1): The first of two from Baffert has long been rumored to be a runner and finally showed it last time, when he won the local GII San Vicente last month to secure his first…
Tampa Bay Downs: The Grade II, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 50-20-10-5) #1 Divining Rod (6-1): The wildcard added Lasix, stretched to two turns, and gave one of today’s heavyweights, Ocean Knight, one heck of a tussle in the local prep, the GIII Sam Davis last time, and…
Aqueduct: The Grade III, $400,000 Gotham at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 50-20-10-5) #2 Combat Diver (12-1): Price player kicked off his campaign in a minor stakes at Laurel and closed nicely to just miss going a one-turn mile, in an effort that should set him up nicely for a return to two…
On this first weekend of 2015 without a scheduled Derby prep race, Mike Dorr and I want to thank everyone who has pledged in our Kentucky Derby charity league. Entries closed last week with 42 stables and $2,430 in pledges, not counting various bonuses/incentives, which are detailed in the comments on our original post. One…
The weekend’s Kentucky Derby preps, the first in this year’s Champion Series, saw familiar faces get their pictures taken in New Orleans and Hot Springs, but an upstart in Florida knocked the horse of the same name out of the winner’s circle at Gulfstream Park, via a controversial disqualification. In the oddly-run Grade II Besilu…
Oaklawn Park: The Grade III, $300,000 Southwest at 1 1/16 miles (Kentucky Derby qualifying points 10-4-2-1) by Brian Nadeau #1 Bayerd (5-1): Tricky read was a solid second in the local prep, the Smarty Jones last month, in his first two-turn start on dry land and goes for a powerful Asmussen barn that knows how…
Brooklyn Backstretch 