Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Geroux will have close eye on Timberlake from overseas
Jockey Florent Geroux, who has played an important role in the development of Timberlake, will be watching the horse closely in the Arkansas Derby – from Dubai.
Geroux is traveling overseas to ride Saudi Crown in the Godolphin Mile. He was overseas last month for the $20 million Saudi Cup when Timberlake won the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel at Oaklawn Park.
“I thought it was probably one of his best races,” Geroux said of the Rebel. “I liked how well he relaxed. I feel like he’s more mature. I’ve been working him in the morning at Fair Grounds. He listens a little more to the rider.”
Geroux has been the regular rider of Timberlake and last year won the Grade 1 Champagne aboard the son of Into Mischief. Flavien Prat will ride Timberlake in the Arkansas Derby.
“He’s always been a nice horse,” Geroux said. “Everyone’s had high expectations since he’s started. I think he has a great chance in the Arkansas Derby.”
Saudi Crown is a top contender in the Godolphin Mile off his third-place finish in the Saudi Cup. Geroux said he will be back in the U.S. for opening weekend at Keeneland.
Timberlake races for Siena Farm and WinStar Farm.
– Mary Rampellini
Stronghold impresses
Stronghold’s impressive team work this week at Santa Anita solidified the Grade 3 Sunland Park Derby winner as a contender April 6 in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.
Stronghold and jockey Antonio Fresu broke off behind graded turf stakes winners Gold Phoenix and Motorious in the March 25 drill, took dirt, angled outside, and ran past his older workmates in a blazing 58.40 seconds, the fastest five furlongs of the day.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” trainer Phil D’Amato said afterward. “I loved how professional he was, took a lot of dirt in his face, was nice and relaxed . . . and ran down two very nice graded stakes horses. Granted, they’re turf horses, but they are good breeze horses on dirt.”
Stronghold has finished first or second in all five starts for owner-breeders Eric and Sharon Waller, who campaigned the colt’s Grade 2-winning dam, Spectator.
The Santa Anita Derby field may include Tapalo, runner-up in the El Camino Real Derby; Tessuto, a last-out maiden winner; and E J Won the Cup, winner of the Turf Paradise Derby. Bob Baffert trains a handful of Santa Anita Derby candidates, including Maymun, Imagination, Wine Me Up, Coach Prime, and Wynstock.
McVay, a maiden with 19 Kentucky Derby points, is being aimed to a maiden race.
Endlessly headed back to turf
Endlessly is not technically out of the Kentucky Derby, but trainer Michael McCarthy reiterated this week the colt will return to turf. Endlessly won the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on synthetic at Turfway Park by four lengths, earning 100 Derby qualifying points.
“He’s on schedule for the [Grade 2] American Turf,” McCarthy said, referring to the turf race for 3-year-olds on the Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby undercard. Endlessly has never started on dirt; his dirt workouts have been average.
Scatify possible for Lafayette
Scatify, the Grade 3-placed colt eliminated by severe trouble on the first turn of the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis on March 3 at Santa Anita, has recovered from his last-place finish and is training forwardly. Trainer John Sadler said the colt’s legs were “cut up.” Scatify healed from the superficial cuts and has worked twice since.
“I don’t think he has enough time to catch up for the Santa Anita Derby,” Sadler said. “We might go over to Keeneland for the Lafayette, shorten him up a little bit.”
The $400,000 Lafayette is a seven-furlong race for 3-yearolds on April 5.
– Brad Free
Just a Touch to Blue Grass
Just a Touch, who finished second as the favorite in the Grade 3 Gotham on March 2 at Aqueduct, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes on April 6 at Keeneland, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Wednesday.
“It’s a Grade 1 and we just think it’s a very good spot for him,” Cox communicated via text.
Just a Touch, a son of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, was a 4 1/4-length winner of a six-furlong maiden race in the slop on Jan. 27 at Fair Grounds. He shipped to Aqueduct for the Gotham, where he was sent off the 8-5 favorite in an 11-horse field.
After stalking the pace while wide over the sloppy track, Just a Touch fought on to finish second, two lengths behind Deterministic, who, like Just a Touch, had made just one previous start.
At the time, Cox said he was pleased with Just a Touch’s effort, adding that he was looking forward to running him
over a dry, fast track.
Cox also plans on running Encino in the Blue Grass. Encino, a son of Nyquist, is 2 for 3, including a victory in the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park in March.
The Blue Grass also is expected to attract Sierra Leone, winner of the Risen Star Stakes, and Dornoch, the Fountain of Youth winner. Last December at Aqueduct, Dornoch beat Sierra Leone by a nose.
– David Grening
Japan’s T O Password will run
It does not take long to review the race record of T O Password, the Japan-based colt scheduled to start in the Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs.
Unbeaten in two starts, T O Password will be the least experienced runner in what is expected to be a field of 20.
T O Password earned a berth in the Kentucky Derby with a narrow win in his stakes debut in the $228,100 Fukuryu Stakes at about 1 1/8 miles at Nakayama Racecourse last Saturday.
Earlier this week, T O Password was confirmed as a probable starter for the Kentucky Derby by Churchill Downs.
The Fukuryu Stakes was the last of four races in Japan’s Kentucky Derby qualifying series. T O Password earned 40 points for the win, outranking Ramjet, a two-time stakes winner who won the Hyacinth Stakes at a mile on Feb. 18 at Tokyo Racecourse.
The Hyacinth Stakes was the third race in the qualifying series. Ramjet did not start in the Fukuryu Stakes.
T O Password, a colt by Copano Rickey, won his debut in a maiden race for first-time starters at about 1 1/8 miles on Jan. 8 at Kyoto Racecourse. In the Fukuryu Stakes, T O Password set the pace, drew clear briefly, and was fully extended to win by a neck over a fast-closing Arare Tabushiru.
T O Password will be a longshot in the Kentucky Derby, and may not be the only runner from Japan in the field.
Forever Young, unbeaten in four starts, will be favored in Saturday’s Group 2 United Arab Emirates Derby at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. The winner receives 100 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, a sufficient amount to gain a berth in the field.
Forever Young won the Group 3 Saudi Derby, a $1.5 million race at about a mile, on Feb. 24 in his 3-year-old debut and first start outside of Japan.
While T O Password lacks experience, he does have a Kentucky Derby angle in his pedigree. Copano Rickey is by Gold Allure, who is by Sunday Silence, winner of the 1989 Kentucky Derby.
Six Japanese-based horses have run in the Kentucky Derby, including Master Fencer (2019) and Derma Sotogake (2023), who both finished sixth. Derma Sotogake was later second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita last November and starts in Saturday’s $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan.
– Steve Andersen