Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Road to Arkansas Derby
Many turns lead horses to Oaklawn’s crown jewel.
HOT SPRINGS — Shortly after Quip won the Tampa Bay Derby on March 10, his trainer Rodolphe Brisset began to consider the colt’s next step toward the Kentucky Derby.
Brisset quickly narrowed his choices to the Grade II Blue Grass Stakes, run at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., on April 7, and Oaklawn Park’s Grade I $1 million 11/8-mile Arkansas Derby for 3-year-old horses, scheduled to start at 6:18 p.m. today.
At first, the Blue Grass looked like Brisset’s choice, primarily because current Kentucky Derby future-book favorite Justify — owned in part by Quip’s owners Winstar Farm and China Horse Club — was targeted for the Arkansas Derby, but Justify was rerouted to Louisville through the Santa Anita Derby on April 7 in Southern California. As a result, Brisset said he and Quip’s team chose the Arkansas Derby.
Their choice involved more than Justify’s new route.
“It’s one or the other,” Brisset said. “The Blue Grass is a Grade II, but you have four weeks before the Derby, and we all know that’s not the easiest one to win. It’s either that or you go for the Grade I, but you only have three weeks. If you do that, maybe you’re already a Grade I winner. It makes a big difference.
“When you only go three weeks, it’s more of a day-today training effort. You have to take a bigger look and make sure you don’t do too much, because you only have three weeks.”
Four weeks would provide more time for a Kentucky Derby qualifier to recover from injuries or ailments.
“You don’t think of that, because you always hope that everyone always comes back fine,” Brisset said. “If it does happen, and it’s a small thing, four weeks will help to heal it, but at the end of the day, you don’t want to deal with all that. There are pros and cons to everything, but you have to just look at the horse and try to do what’s best for the horse.”
Magnum Moon, winner of Oaklawn’s Rebel Stakes on March 17, is the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the expected Arkansas Derby field of nine. From the rail out, the field is 30-1 Beautiful Shot, with jockey Richard Eramia and trained by Keith Desormeaux; 20-1 Machismo, with Scott Spieth and trained by Anthony Quartarolo; 10-1 Tenfold, with Victor Espinoza and trained by Steve Asmussen; 15-1 Dream Baby Dream, with Luis Contreras and trained by Asmussen; 2-1 Solomini, with Flavien Prat and trained by Bob Baffert; Magnum Moon, with Luis Saez and trained by Todd Pletcher; 30-1 Plainsman, with C.J. McMahon and trained by William Van Meter; 9-2 Quip, with Florent Geroux and trained by Brisset; and 6-1 Combatant, with Ricardo Santana Jr. and trained by Asmussen.
With the 50 Road to the Derby points Quip earned from his victory in the Tampa Bay Derby, he has likely assured himself a spot in the Kentucky Derby starting gate.
Asmussen, a lock to win his ninth Oaklawn training title, has three in the Arkansas Derby with a shot at Kentucky Derby qualification, led by Combatant, who finished second in Oaklawn’s Smarty Jones and Southwest Stakes, and third in the Rebel Stakes.
“I feel good about Combatant,” Santana said. “He keeps getting better. I think he’s going
to have a good chance in there.”
“He’s looking better than ever, and he’ll have to be with
the company,” Asmussen said. “It’s a great race. The competition is good, but he’s doing wonderful.”