Hidden Scroll has a few prep options

Hidden Scroll remains on the Kentucky Derby trail, Mucho is off it, and Country House will make his next start in the Louisiana Derby, trainer Bill Mott said Monday as he evaluated a weekend where two of those horses ran and one worked.

Hidden Scroll, the beaten favorite after setting a wicked pace in the Fountain of Youth on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, will be considered for the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on March 30 or races the following week, including the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass at Keeneland.

“Those are all our options,” said Mott, who said he was impressed with how well Hidden Scroll ran under the circumstances, and how well he seems to have come out of the race.

“He came out of it well,” Mott said. “He doesn’t seem to be knocked out. Acts pretty darn good. It hasn’t affected his appetite. He seems bright, looking over the stall door.”

Mott said the Florida Derby seemed to make the most sense for a next start, being as Hidden Scroll had run well in both his starts and both were at Gulfstream. But he said he’d wait a couple of weeks before deciding exactly where to go. He said owner Juddmonte Farms was leaving the decision over a next start up to him.

Hidden Scroll was making only his second start in the Fountain of Youth, but was favored following a dazzling debut win five weeks earlier against maidens. On Saturday, he was sent along by jockey Joel Rosario to outsprint the 132-1 shot Gladiator King for the early lead through fractions of 22.80 seconds for the opening quarter and 45.69 for a half before tiring to finish fourth, beaten three lengths by the victorious Code of Honor.

Mott said the jockey for his next race was “undecided.”

Mott said that Mucho, who returned from a nearly sixmonth layoff to win a sixfurlong allowance Friday at Gulfstream, would remain around one turn for now and would make his next start going seven furlongs in the Grade 3, $250,000 Bay Shore at Aqueduct on the undercard of the Wood Memorial.

Asked if that takes Mucho off the Derby trail, Mott replied, “That’s a fair assessment.”

“Right now, the plan is to go in the Bay Shore on Wood Day,” he said. “I’m getting no pressure from the ownership group to go to the Derby. We’ve discussed it, and the Bay Shore is definitely the first option.”

Country House, second last time out in the Risen Star, will return to Fair Grounds for the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 23. He also had been under consideration for the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at 1 1/16 miles on March 16 at Oaklawn Park. He worked four furlongs in 49.20 on Sunday at Payson Park.

“The Louisiana Derby is a mile and an eighth. I want him to go a mile and an eighth,” Mott said. “And with this particular horse, if I felt I needed to run him again because he needed points, he could run back. He’s a big, strong horse.”