Bird’s exit:
guard Isaiah Thomas sat out practice so he could visit the dentist and have the tooth he lost in Game 1 repaired, but he intends to play Game 2 tonight. So does Washington forward Markieff Morris, who left Game 1 early with a sprained ankle and is listed as day-to-day.
Larry Bird made official his resignation as president of the Indiana Pacers, but he said he decided last summer. He informed owner Herb Simon at the time, then called into his office general manager Kevin Pritchard and Peter Dinwiddie, vice president of basketball operations, and repeated the message. Bird, 60, ceded the job to Pritchard but will stay for another year as a consultant.
The colt won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on his way to earning 2-year-old male champion honors. Then again, only three other colts have won year-end honors since 2000 and gone on to win the Derby the following season. Classic Empire has the highest earnings, at $2.1 million, among the horses expected to make the field, with five wins in seven career starts. He’s coming off a win in the Arkansas Derby. Trainer Mark Casse has never won the Derby, and neither has jockey Julien Leparoux. His sire Pioneerof the Nile was second in the 2009 Derby, and he also sired 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah.
The colt topped the Derby leaderboard with 152 points earned in prep races. But the Louisiana Derby winner has a crack in his right front hoof that has compromised his training in the last week. Trainer Joe Sharp has used a special shoe, a hyperbaric chamber and therapeutic waters to get Girvin in shape to run Saturday. Girvin has won three of four starts, with his only loss on turf. His jockey is Hall of Famer Mike Smith, who has a reputation for winning big-money races.
The chestnut colt is a closer ready to pounce if he gets set up by a strong early pace. His earnings of $1.1 million are second-most on the Derby leaderboard. This is the first Derby starter for trainer Antonio Sano, who survived two kidnappings in his native Venezuela before moving to Miami. Jockey Javier Castellano, also from Venezuela, was just elected to racing’s Hall of Fame and is in search of his first Derby win. His best finish was fourth in 2013. The colt has four wins in nine career starts and finished third in the Florida Derby. His sire, Dialed In, won the 2011 Florida Derby and finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby.
Had solid victories in Holy Bull and Wood Memorial, making it seem like the Fountain of Youth was an off day for him. The colt is a son of twotime Horse of the Year Curlin, who finished third in the 2007 Derby. Has four wins in five career starts. The chestnut colt likes to press the pace. Trainer Graham Motion won the Derby with Animal Kingdom in 2011; jockey Rajiv Maragh has never won it.