Hedge Fund tops Illinois Derby

STICKNEY, Ill. – The race disappeared from the schedule last year, but Todd Pletcher didn’t forget about the Illinois Derby.

Pletcher, always looking for spots to run his annual legion of talented early-season 3-yearolds, has been a steady participant in the Illinois Derby and has won it four times since 2001 with Distilled, Pollard’s Vision, Cowtown Cat, and Joe Vann.

For lack of purse money, the race was scrapped in 2016, but it is back on the calendar Saturday at Hawthorne – and so is Pletcher.

Pletcher entered Hedge Fund, whose third-place finish last out in the Sunland Derby looks good enough to make him the probable favorite over six rivals. The 1 1/8-mile Illinois Derby is worth $250,000 and is carded as race 5, with a scheduled post time of 6:17 p.m. Central.

The other six in the race are Mr. Misunderstood, Hollywood Handsome, Multiplier, It’s Your Nickel, St. Louie Guy, and Stand and Cheer.

Hedge Fund sprinted and raced without blinkers while making his career debut at Gulfstream Park in December, finishing a well-beaten fifth. But while racing with blinkers and around two turns in his second start in February, he won a Gulfstream maiden race by four lengths.

In the Sunland Derby last month, Hedge Fund set a strong early pace that he could not maintain, but he did hold on to finish third of 11, a performance that was flattered when Conquest Mo Money, who finished second to Hence, returned with a good runnerup showing last weekend in the Arkansas Derby.

Leading barn will run two

Scott Becker, the private trainer for owner William Stiritz, said he plans to start both horses he entered, St. Louie Guy and Stand and Cheer, in the Illinois Derby.

Stiritz and Becker never have won the Illinois Derby, but this spring in particular, it feels like they are winning roughly half the races at Hawthorne. From 48 starters at the meet, Becker and Stiritz have a record of 21-7-6, good for a 43 percent strike rate but only $224,376 in purse earnings. Hawthorne has no purse funding beyond money derived from handle, and before this meet, it expected to pay out only about $104,000 per card.

“I try to run mostly the Illinois-breds over there, but I end up running a few others, probably more than I should, but just kind of trying to be loyal and helping them out,” said Becker, who keeps a string at Fairmount Park year-round.

Stand and Cheer won his maiden last October at Hawthorne by more than 10 lengths in a two-turn race and more recently was second in dirt-route allowance races at Fair Grounds and Oaklawn. St. Louie Guy made his first 10 starts in sprints but tried two turns April 7 and won a firstlevel Hawthorne allowance by nine lengths.

“Stand and Cheer is doing really well and has been beaten by a couple really nice horses, but the other horse might have a little better chance of getting the mile and an eighth,” Becker said.

Geroux back to roots

After apprenticing in his native France, jockey Florent Geroux cut his North American teeth at Hawthorne, where he rode 297 winners between 2008 and 2013 before shifting his main focus to Kentucky and New Orleans. Geroux didn’t have a single mount at Hawthorne last year, but he will be back Saturday to ride Mr. Misunderstood in the Illinois Derby.

“It’s a chance for me to see all the people I used to be around all the time there,” Geroux said. “A lot of people supported me and helped me out so much, and it’s always nice to just say hello and, ‘How are you doing?’ ”

Geroux won the race in 2011 aboard Joe Vann for Pletcher, but while Pletcher has likely favorite Hedge Fund in Saturday, Geroux will get a leg up on Mr. Misunderstood for trainer Brad Cox. Mr. Misunderstood has improved considerably since being gelded. Geroux rode him to back-to-back turf victories over the winter at Fair Grounds, and under Shaun Bridgmohan, Mr. Misunderstood transferred his improved form to the main track when he won an off-the-turf allowance by nine lengths March 25 in New Orleans.