Scratch drops Derby field to 17; rain ending

The only thing that’s slowed down Tiz the Law lately is the weather. Even that’s supposed to change in favor of one of the shortest Kentucky Derby program favorites in recent years.

Along with others in the race, trainer Barclay Tagg has been waiting for the rain to stop. Unlike in some recent Derbies held on wet tracks, conditions are expected to improve with sunny skies today for the Kentucky Oaks and Saturday for the Run for the Roses, the 146th running of each.

Other than the weather, the major announcement Thursday concerned the Derby field losing a starter. King Guillermo, last seen running second to Nadal in the second division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby May 2 at Oaklawn Park, is out of the race with a fever. That reduces the field to 17 3-year-olds scheduled to meet the starter shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday.

Announcing the decision, trainer Juan Carlos Avila said “to race in the Derby we need him at 100%. We aren’t going to be able to demonstrate how good he is like this. I think we are going to have plenty of time to show his quality. He’s going to be a great horse and everybody knows we have to take care of the horse first. The next step is to try to get him ready for the Preakness (Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore) and go from there.”

A team of veterinarians discovered that King Guillermo was running a fever Wednesday afternoon. The Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby winner was 20-1 in the morning line and considered a longshot win candidate and certainly a pace factor going a mile and a quarter. Samy Camacho Jr. had the raceday mount, evoking memories of the surprise 1971 Kentucky Derby winner, Venezuelan Canonero II.

“The sad part is that Juan said yesterday was his best day here,” said Victor Martinez, the former Major League Baseball All-Star whose Victoria’s Ranch races the Uncle Mo colt. “When we left the track in the morning following training and came back in the afternoon for feed time, we discovered he had a fever. It’s just the sad part of this game.”

Art Collector, the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes winner, was removed from consideration at entry time Tuesday because of a hoof problem.

The news about an expected weather change on Derby Week is another check mark in favor of Tiz the Law, whose 6-for-7 record with four Grade 1 victories makes him formidable. The colt’s only defeat came last November in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs over a sloppy track. The second-place finisher from that race, Finnick the Fierce, is in the Derby field.

Other than to say “he’s more experienced, of course,” Tagg said “he’s the same horse” as last year. One that has Grade 1 victories in the Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes and Florida Derby after a breakthrough win last fall in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes.

“I don’t think it was a lack of experience that got him beat last year,” Tagg said. “It was an off track, and he came out a bit slow. The pace cooked him. He’s been pretty nice ever since.”

Tagg’s only misgiving this week concerns the weather. “I wish I could have done more with him, but couldn’t because we’ve had two days of hard rain. He’ll gallop tomorrow, and he’ll school in the paddock (Thursday) during the fourth race.”

• Finnick the Fierce has a fan club this week just by being there. Such is the case for any one-eyed starter like himself. Patch garnered the same attention in the 2017 Derby, going on to finish third in the Belmont Stakes.

The stakes-winning Cassaleria, blind in the left eye and afflicted with claustrophobia, placed 13th in the

1982 Derby after owner Tom Gentry printed buttons and T-shirts reading “Thine eye hath seen the glory.”

Despite his handicap, Finnick the Fierce became eligible for the Derby with 25 points from a series of prep races. His second to Tiz the Law at Churchill gets the most attention, but the record includes a third in Nadal’s division of the Arkansas Derby. Shipping from New Orleans, the Dialed In gelding scored an Oaklawn victory upon the disqualification of Winning Impression (the latter also returning in Saturday’s race).

For Finnick the Fierce to make headlines, he must outrun his 50-1 program odds and win from the dreaded rail post, which no Derby winner since Ferdinand in 1986 has pulled off. What’s more, Finnick the Fierce, who lost his right eye at an early age, will not be able to see any of his rivals in the starting gate. It’s the fifth Derby mount for jockey Martin Garcia, whose best finish in the race is third in 2015 on Dortmund (stablemate of winner American Pharoah).

It’s the first Derby starter for co-owner and trainer Rey Hernandez Jr., who galloped Finnick the Fierce over a sloppy track Thursday. This will be the fourth Churchill Downs start for the gelding, giving his connections confidence.

“He always showed a lot of talent; he was very smart,” said Hernandez, who races Finnick the Fierce with Arnaldo Monge. “When we ran in the Kentucky Jockey Club, it was pretty much the eventual top

3-year-olds in that race. And when you run second over the same track you run the Derby, it gives you a good feeling.”

• Oaklawn Stakes winner Mr. Big News, an eleventh-hour addition to the field, is rolling the dice, owner Chester Thomas admits, but, hey, it’s Derby time and a horse only gets one chance to win the roses.

Thomas and trainer Bret Calhoun finished 11th in last year’s Derby with By My Standards, who returned in his 4-year-old season to win the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap. Gabriel Saez, 0 for 3 in the Derby with a second on the ill-fated filly Eight Belles in 2008, has the mount on the Kentucky-bred bay sired by Giant’s Causeway.

“We’re taking a shot, but I’ve never won a race I haven’t entered,” Thomas said.

• Not since Bob Baffert scored with Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet in 1998 has a trainer won the Derby back-to-back. Following last year’s decision with Country House, second under the wire at 65-1 but declared the winner upon the disqualification of Maximum Security, Bill Mott can become the seventh to pull it off.

Formerly trained by Stanley Hough, South Bend makes his second start for Mott after placing fourth in Tiz the Law’s Aug. 8 Travers victory at the Derby distance. Sired by the undefeated stakes winner Algorithms, South Bend is sure to rock the toteboard again with a victory over the surface that last fall he won the one-mile Street Sense in near-stakes record time. In another strong effort, South Bend placed second to Oaklawn-raced Dean Martini in the Grade 2 Ohio Derby. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione has the mount

“This horse, he’s a very consistent horse if you look at all his races and he tries hard every time,” said Mott assistant Kenny McCarthy. “His Travers race was certainly not a bad race. He obviously needs to move forward off that race but he seems to like this track here. We’ve seen over the years that some horses look like a cinch coming in but they couldn’t get it done.”