Rainy Oaks Day likely at Downs
Lyrics of Stephen Collins Foster’s most famous ballad, one sure to stir the souls of natives and visitors alike, may need some tweaking today.
Unless the weatherman is playing tricks, the sun is unlikely to shine on the old Kentucky home today at Churchill Downs in Louisville. But, things might improve by Derby time Saturday.
Rain was expected Thursday afternoon and to continue into Saturday morning with thunderstorms likely all through the 13-race Kentucky Oaks Day card that begins at 10:30 a.m. Eastern. Better conditions were expected Saturday in time for the Kentucky Derby with a 60% chance of showers, but mainly before 9 a.m. Eastern.
The Oaks, for which city schools are dismissed in honor of what the track calls Louisville’s Day at the Races, will be run for the 148th time under the iconic Twin Spires of Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Derby, first won in 1875 by Artistides, is the same age. So is the Clark Handicap, for older horses, which anchors the meet-ending fall racing season in Louisville.
Meanwhile, Oaklawn concludes its longest racing season, one that began Dec. 3, with early-bird cards today, Saturday and Sunday all in the noon hour Central time. Arkansas-bred horses occupy the spotlight today with the $150,000 Natural State Breeders’ for fillies and mares and Saturday’s $200,000 Arkansas Breeders’ Championship for males. They are the last two of 31 stakes races with four offering a $1 million purse or higher. In order, Newgrange won the $1 million Grade 2 Rebel Feb. 26, Cyberknife the $1.25 million Grade 1 Arkansas Derby April 2, Letruska the $1 million Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap April 16 and Last Samurai the $1 million Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap April 16.
Though Oaklawn does not vote publicly on such matters, arguably the horse of the meeting is an expected major contender in the Kentucky Oaks.
Secret Oath won her first three starts, two graded stakes included, before placing third as the favorite against males in the Arkansas Derby. Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas elected to save Secret Oath for the Oaks, for which she had earned 60 qualifying points, with hopes of running Oaklawn maiden winner Ethereal Road in the Derby. The 85-yearold Lukas was feted with a 50th Derby starter this week after a foot injury sidelined Rebel winner Un Ojo, to whom Ethereal Road was second in the Rebel.
Secret Road, with the rail post going nine furlongs, is 6-1 with Luis Saez up. Yuugiri, the Grade 3 Fantasy winner April 2 at Oaklawn for trainer Rodolphe Brisset, is 30-1 from post six with Florent Geroux in the saddle. Fantasy runner-up Beguine (30-1, Ricardo Santana Jr.) was on the Oaks bubble Thursday, needing a defection to make the field. Nest, last-out Grade 1 Ashland winner at Keeneland for Hall of Famer Todd Pltetcher, is the 5-2 program pick from post four with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard.
Of Lukas’ 49 starters, four have won the race, starting with the filly Winning Colots in 1998 although his last Derby victory came with Charismatic in 1999. Ethereal Road, like most of the Oaklawn-based horses entered, is an expetcted longshot in the 20-hose field. He enters Ethereal Road (sired by Quality Road) for owners Aaron Sones and Julie Gilbert; the late Paul Pompa Jr., who won the 2008 Kentucky Derby with Big Brown from outside post 20, bred Ethereal Road in Kentucky.
“There are two things that will happen if you are in position I’ve learned after all
these years,” Lukas said. “If you can make a sustained long run, you have a chance to hit the board or even win the thing. The other thing is the stretch. There are longer stretches in the country, but this stretch (at Churchill) seems to work against them. Maybe it’s the energy. The crowd seems to take a little something out of these horses. The 20-horse field definitely takes a lot out of them. This stretch right here, it’s a gut check for these horses. But, this is why I have some confidence we could get a piece of it. He has the right style.”
Ethereal Road is tasked with winning from the No. 20 post position going a mile and a quarter. Luis Contreras’, Lukasgo-to guy rider at Oakalwn this year, has the mount.
The most consistent Oaklawn 3-year-old, Barber Road, also is 30-1 with Reylu Gutierrez riding for trainer John Alexander Ortiz from post 14. Former Walmart executive William Sparks has watched the Race Day colt place second or third in four Oaklawn stakes, runner-up last out in the Arkansas Derby. Barber Road won a starter allowance and placed second in the track’s Lively Shively Stakes during Churchill’s November season.
Arkansas Derby winner Cyberknife is one of three Derby starters for Louisville native Brad Cox, whose Mandaloun finished second to Medina Spirit in the 2021 race but was later credited with the victory after the Bob Baffert-trained winner failed a drug test. (Churchill Downs banned Baffert, a sixtime Derby winner, from the grounds through the 2023 Derby. Former Baffert aide sends out Messier (8-1, John Velazquez) and Taiba (12-1, Mike Smith) in the Run for the Roses.)
Cox also has Oaklawn maiden winner Zozos, second next out in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. Tawny Port earned a Derby slot with a Grade 3 second at Turfway Park and a Grade 3 victory at Keeneland in the last Derby qualifier.
Zandon is the early 3-1 favorite from post 10 for trainer Chad Brown, whose Upstart colt (bred by former Kentucky Gov. Brereton C. Jones), won the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland April 9. Flavien Prat rides Zandon, whose five-furlong drill Saturday in 1:00.40 at Churchill earned Brown’s acclaim.
Epicenter, trained by 23time Derby bridesmaid Steve Asmussen, goes from post three with Joel Rosario aboard. Despite leading Derby qualifiers in points, the Gun Runner colt was made second choice on the morning line Monday. North America’s leading trainer in races won, Asmussen’s best Derby finishes are two seconds and two thirds.
Post time for the Derby is 5:57 p.m. on NBC (Resort Channel 4).