B.C. Juvenile: The Jinx Returns!
Well, Street Sense had been thought to erase the Breeder's Cup Juvenile Jinx for all time; but, it's baaacck!!!
Sadly, leading Derby contender
War Pass, winner of the Breeder's Cup Juvenile last year, is out of the Derby--and possibly the Triple Crown picture.
War Pass was discovered to have a fracture of his left front pastern and will need at least 60-90 days rest for the fracture to heal. The Bolton Clinic will be examining the injury to see if surgery might be an option. It is believed the injury may have occurred during the running of the grueling Wood Memorial several weeks ago.
Yesterday featured one major prep race leading up to the Derby- The Lexington Stakes run at Keeneland at a mile and a sixteenth over the all-weather polytrack. With no standout in the field, the fans bestowed lukewarm favoritism to Peruvian "wonder horse"
Tomcito. Tomcito, sent off at 3-1 and ridden by Jorge Chavez, was not a factor during the race as he ran evenly to finish 6th, just 4 lengths off the winner. Without finishing in the money,
Tomcito doesn't have the earnings he needs to draw into the Derby. Instead, it was a Todd Pletcher trainee,
Behindatthebar, ridden by David Flores, who closed from next to last to win by a length at odds of just under 6-1. The win almost guarantees
Behindatthebar a spot on May 3rd. The other two major Derby contenders ran up the track.
Atoned, sent off as the 9/2 second choice, finished 8th while
Salute The Sarge, sent off at 5-1, could do no better than 7th. Both are now in the "not enough earnings" category.
Once again, the synthetic polytrack played a role in the Lexington. Some horses just don't take to it and I'm amazed that trainers elect to race their Derby hopefuls on a surface not utilized on the first Saturday in May.
Well, just two weeks to go. May the horse be with you!
Racetrack Lenny
Even Muddier
Wow! If you were hoping that the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn would clear up the Derby picture yesterday, you came away disappointed.The Blue Grass at a mile and an eighth over the sponge-like Polytrak saw even money
Pyro (Shaun Bridgmohan up) finish 10th. He was a non-factor every step of the way. However, when you look at the fractions, there was nothing to close into. The opening quarter when just shy of 25 seconds with the half in 49 seconds--trotter-like.
Monba an 8-1 shot with Edgar Prado aboard stalked the pace and won by a long neck. He was followed by another 8-1 shot,
Cowboy Cal with John Velasquez up.
Cowboy Cal led every step of the way except at the wire. 27-1 longshot
Kentucky Bear, ridden by Jamie Theriot, got up for third. Derby hopeful
Cool Coal Man, sent off at 6-1, ran third most of the way and then tired to finish 9th.
Polytrack surfaces suck! They make mediocre horses look like the next coming of Secretariat and it takes horses like
Pyro and makes them look like maiden claimers. In my mind, you have to throw this race out for both
Pyro and
Cool Coal Man. Both have proven they are capable of much better on dirt and I was surprised that their connections decided to contest the Blue Grass over a sponge.
At Oaklawn, the race was also a mile and an eighth; but, it was run on dirt--like a real horse race should! The race was more formful as 2-1 favorite
Gayego, Mike Smith up, stalked 37-1
Tres Borrachos to take the lead at the top of the stretch and prevail by 3 parts of a lenghth over 6-1
Z Fortune and the aforementioned
Tres Borrachos who hung on for 3rd. Actually,
Tres Borrachos had dropped back to 4th and came back again late to get the show spot. The race chart states that
Tres Borrachos set a "moderate pace". Well, I don't know which race they were watching since the opening quarter went in 22-3/5ths and the half went in 46-3/5ths--that is a suicidal pace for a mile and an eighth. So, for
Tres Borrachos to still be around at the end was quite impressive. Other Derby hopefuls:
My Pal Charlie off at 7-1 finished 5th.
Blackberry Road (Calvin Bo-rail up) closed belatedly from last to land 7th place.
From here, it looks like the first Saturday in May will make for an outstanding betting race.
May the horse be with you,
Racetrack Lenny
Clear As Mud
3 major prep races yesterday and no clarity emerging from those races.
Wood Memorial: Aqueduct's (New York) premier race drew a field of 9. I was there to watch the race which had been tough to handicap because the forecast had been for heavy rain. Instead, the rains came late Friday into Friday evening and the sun was out by 9 A.M. yesterday. By the time the Wood was run, the track had been upgraded to "fast"; however, by watching the winning times all day yesterday, the track should have been listed as "good" since the surface was really dull and was producing slow winning times. The Wood, run at a mile and an eighth, provided
War Pass (Cornelio Velasquez up) a chance to atone for his dreadful finish in the Tampa Bay Derby where he finished last beaten 23 lengths. Sent off at 4/5, he got into a speed duel with
Inner Light (Chuck Lopez up) whose only reason for being in the race was to act as a rabbit for his stablemate,
Court Vision (Garrett Gomez up).
War Pass &
Inner Light raced nose to nose for 3/4 of a mile going the opening quarter in a suicidal 22-1/5 seconds. Despite that,
War Pass looked like he might just pull it off. However, by the sixteenth pole, you could see that
War Pass was getting leg-weary and was drifting out badly. That allowed 8-1
Tale of Ekati (Edgar Prado up), trained by Barclay Tagg to swing to the inside rail and close to defeat
War Pass. Court Vision managed to close from far back to get 3rd. Of the other Derby contenders, only
Giant Moon showed some interest late finishing 4th.
Texas Wildcatter (Eibar Coa up) who lost the Gotham Stakes by the slimmest of noses was sent off as the 7/2 third choice and seemed like he was making a middle move on the far turn before he sputtered in the stretch finishing 8th of 9 horses.
Santa Anita Derby: My choice turned out to be the 9/5 favorite
El Gato Malo (David Flores up). In a race that featured a lot of bumping,
El Gato Malo never really fired and he struggled home a sorry 5th. Instead, it was 5/2 second choice
Colonel John (Corey Nakatani up) who got the prize winning by a half-length at the very last jump. Jockey Richard Migliore almost pulled off the "wire to wire" upset with 6-1
Bob Black Jack. Illinois Derby: This race was run at a mile and an eighth at Hawthorne and was billed as a horse race. Instead, a parade broke out. Favored
Denis of Cork (Julian Leparoux up) was sent off as the even money favorite and proceeded to run 5th all the way through. In fact, from the start, the first 5 finishers never changed position--a truly unusual thing in racing. The race went to the unheralded
Recapture The Glory (E.T. Baird up) at 15-1. The other 2 Derby hopefuls
Z Humor at 9/2 and
Atoned at 7/2 finished 3rd and 4th respectively in a rather dull effort.
So, no clear cut favorite for the Derby in my mind.
May the horse be with you,
Racetrack Lenny
Florida Derby
I got so busy last week between jobs that I didn't get to make a post last week; but, here goes.
The buzz at Gulfstream was that no horse entered in a mile and an eighth race or longer had never been won from an outside post. That fact pertains to Gulfstreams new track. In the Florida Derby last week,
Big Brown (Kent Desormeaux up) drew the unfavorable post 12 yet was sent off as the 3/2 favorite. He beat the jinx and ran true to his odds with a commanding win in which he was drawing away with authority at the end. The race went in 1:48 flat which is pretty darn good. Peruvian wonder horse
Tomcito (Jorge Chavez up) was dead last to the head of the stretch and closed well to get a non-threatening third. Not bad for his first U.S. showing; but, is he Derby caliber? I don't think so. Other Derby hopefuls in the Florida Derby included the 5/2
Elysium Fields (Eibar Coa up) who was racing 5th to the 3/4 pole and proceeded to steadily back-pedal finishing 11th--beating one horse- 59-1 longshot
B.B. Frank. Majestic Warrior (Rene Douglas up) was sent off at 13-1 and raced near the back of the pack most of the way closing belatedly finishing 6th while passing tiring rivals. The buzz is that
Big Brown will be the Derby favorite based off the Florida Derby; but, this has been an inconsistent year at best. Stay tuned.
May the horse be with you!
Racetrack Lenny
