Kentucky Derby odds and ends
With his off- the- pace victory Saturday in the Louisiana Derby (G2), Girvin shot to the top of the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 150 qualifying points. The son of Tale of Ekati is also the first likely Derby starter to win two graded races as a 3-year- old. El Areeb had previously won a pair of Grade 3 stakes at Aqueduct (the Jerome and Withers), but has since been injured and taken off the Derby trail.
In Saturday’s other prep, Always Dreaming ran off with the Grade 1 Florida Derby, winning by five widening lengths in his first gradedstakes start. Always Dreaming is one of a remarkable number of this year’s Derby contenders by young sires.
Nine of the current 20 top qualifiers are by stallions who have had only one or two crops of 3-year- olds to race. The six stallions with 3-year- olds from their initial crop competing in this year‘ s Derby are Bodemeister, Dialed In, To Honor and Serve, Shackleford, Hansen and Union Rags.
Not surprisingly, the vast majority ( 19 of 20) of current leaders in qualifying points descend tail- male from either Northern Dancer (8), Mr. Prospector (4) or A. P. Indy ( 7).
The lone “outlier” is Conquest Mo Money, a son of Uncle Mo, who descends from the Grey Sovereign branch of Nasrullah.
Of course, with four million- dollar preps worth a combined 680 qualifying points yet to be run (Santa Anita Derby, Blue Grass Stakes, Wood Memorial and Arkansas Derby), the Derby field is bound to look a whole lot different by the time May 6 rolls around.
In recent years, the Santa Anita Derby has had more inf luence on the Triple Crown than any other prep race. Winners during the past five years have included eventual dualClassic winners California Chrome and I’ll Have Another; Exaggerator, last year’s Preakness winner; and Grade 1 standouts Goldencents and Dortmund. Favorites for this year’s Santa Anita Derby will likely be Grade 3 winners Gormley and Iliad, both of whom are coming off losing efforts.
As of Monday, it looked like the Blue Grass will probably have the strongest field of any of this year’s preps, despite the fact that it (and the Wood Memorial) have been dropped to Grade 2. The last Blue Grass winner to go on to win the Derby was Strike the Gold in 1991.
Prospective starters in this year’s race include Tapwrit, recent winner of the Tampa Bay Derby (G2); J Boys Echo, who is coming off a score in the Gotham Stakes (G3); Practical Joke; and the unbeaten McCraken.
The latter, who is at or near the top of most Derby lists, is the almost certain favorite.
The possible field for the Wood Memorial includes graded winners Irish War Cry ( Holy Bull) and Mo Town ( Remsen), as well as much- hyped allowance winner Battalion Runner, who will be making his first stakes start.
The Santa Anita Derby, Blue Grass and Wood Memorial are all scheduled for this Saturday.
Jeff Scott writes about horse racing Tuesday for The Saratogian. He may be reached at utahpine1@aol. com.