Really good racing today
I haven’t been in a long time. Stayed thru the 9th, left ahead on money. Lots of good racing and riding today.
Can’t wait for the Derby.
Govenor Charlie (Baffert trained, Mike Pegram owned) cruised to a five-length victory on Sunday in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby and snatched 50-Derby points. It was a track record time albeit a largely intentionally made fast surface. Personally I look at ‘Charlie’ and Black Onyx yesterday without a lot of enthusiasm. ‘Onyx’ won’t run again until the KY Derby.
Video replay - G3 Sunland Derby from the high altitude New Mexico track
From the winner’s owner an interesting comment …
Pegram was far more bullish about running Midnight Lucky(f) in the Kentucky Oaks than he was Govenor Charlie in the Derby.
Aside, Midnight Lucky making her second lifetime start looked rather impressive again in the Sunland Oaks today [video replay here].
Timing being everything - Bill Finley 3/19/13: “The Derby name game. What’s in a name?”
There’s a Bambazonki nominated to the Derby. Weewinnin is more like Welosin. The poorly named Derby nominee was eighth out of 10 in his last start. Whoever named the horse Govenor Charlie must have flunked his or her fourth-grade spelling class.
Fortunately, none of these horses are serious Kentucky Derby contenders, …
Zing! With a horse now tied for 2nd in the Derby points and presumably guaranteed a starting gate.
You’d think people could come up with something better than Dipsy Drew, but too often they don’t. The Kentucky Derby has had its share of horses whose names make you wince. There have been horses named Dunce, Ishkoodah, Shut Up and The Nut. Then there were Degenerate Jon, Paulrus, Tonka Wakham, Tragniew and the immortal Mr. Mutt. What’s an Elooto, other than a really bad name given to a 1938 starter who finished ninth at 122-1?
One fellow thought so little of his 1882 Derby starter that he named him Lost Cause. Is it any wonder he ran next to last? Lost Cause ran like a dog, and so did St. Bernard, who was eighth in 1919. Not to be outdone, another owner came back with a horse named St. Bernard. This was another one who dogged it around the track. He was 17th in 1935.
Govenor Charlie received a Beyer Speed Figure of 95 for his victory in the Sunland Derby. Not exactly stellar considering it “set the track record” there 
March 25 - Kentucky Derby points standings with 55 horses active, having points, and nominated to the TC. Another 16 horses having points but not TC nominated. Another 8 having points but formally off the trail with injury.
Capo Bastone (which is the #2 person in a Mafia crime family) clearly had a bad break from this picture - gate 12 with JV up - at the start of the Spiral Stakes. Already starting on a far outside the break didn’t help and he finished 9th. He has 4-Derby Points but its unclear where he’d race next to accumulate more points.
The list of Derby eligible and points holding horses actually fattened up a slight bit: Mar 25, 2013 - ‘13’ late nominations for the Triple Crown
Giant Finish, third in the Spiral; Undrafted, who finished third in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 3 Swale Stakes; Departing, the recent winner of the Texas Heritage Stakes at Sam Houston; and Are You Kidding Me and Narvaez, who are scheduled to run Saturday in the $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.
Black Onyx’s owner, Sam Herzberg, made the $6,000 late-nomination payment prior to Saturday night’s deadline.
The other late Triple Crown nominees are Brazilian Court, trained by Mike Maker, Erik the Red (Linda Rice), Hip Four Sixtynine (Bobby Barnett), Infinite Magic (Graham Motion), Storm Fighter (Bruce Headley), Sunbean (Al Stall Jr.), and Wings of Fortune (Maker).
Govenor Charlie rocks. Second dam is Silverbulletday.
An aside here but it was a bit optimistic by Middleburg Life (newspaper) with their March 2013 cover: the Mr/Mrs. Bert Firestone owned 3-yr “Middleburg” being a maybe Derby contender.
Perhaps he’ll be entered into a Derby points awarding race but unlikely.
Interesting with D. Wayne Lukas switching from Mike Smith (having other commitments) now to Gary Stevens for the mount on Calumet’s Oxbow in the Arkansas Derby April 13.
Jon Court who had the mount on Oxbow originally, but was redirected to Will Take Charge retains that mount. He doesn’t get back back on Oxbow due to a conflict with the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass at Keeneland the same day and expected to be Will Take Charge’s last prep race.
Saturday 3/30 will kick off the first two of the “powerball”-esq Derby points awarding races and they’ll be aired live on NBC Sports Network. Each will award 170 total Derby points (100-40-20-10, for finishers 1,2,3 and 4 respectively)
100th running of the $1 million Louisiana Derby - Grade 2
Race 9, off at approx 6:44 p.m. EST
Distance 1 1/8 Miles
PP. Horse, Jockey, ML odds
- Hip Four Sixtynine, Jamie Theriot, 30-1
- Palace Malice, Edgar Prado, 5-1
- Revolutionary, Javier Castellano, 3-1
- Golden Soul, Calvin Borel, 20-1
- Whiskey Bravo, James Graham, 30-1
- Sunbean, Colby Hernandez, 12-1
- Departing, Brian Hernandez Jr., 8-1
- Code West, Martin Garcia, 9-2
- Proud Strike, Corey Nakatani, 10-1
- Titletown Five, Jon Court, 8-1
- Mylute, Shaun Bridgmohan, 12-1
12.Brazilian Court, Miguel Mena, 30-1 - Ground Transport, Mark Guidry, 20-1
- Nina’s Dragon, Julien Couton, 30-1
All carry 122 pounds
$1 Million Besilu Stables Florida Derby Grade 1
Race 12, off at approx 6:19 p.m. EST
Distance 1 1/8 Miles
PP. Horse, Jockey, Trainer, ML Odds
- Shanghai Bobby (KY), R Napravnik, T A Pletcher, 5/2
- Pick of the Litter (KY), J L Castanon, D L Romans, 6/1
- Itsmyluckyday (KY), E Trujillo, E Plesa Jr., 2/1
- Pontiff (KY), A Garcia, D L Romans, 30/1
- Frac Daddy (KY), C J Lanerie, K G McPeek, 20/1
- Orb (KY), J R Velazquez, C R McGaughey III, 3/1
- Indy’s Illusion (KY), R Maragh, B Tagg, 20/1
- Merit Man (FL), K J Desormeaux, R B Hess Jr., 15/1
- Are You Kidding Me (KY), J Lezcano, R L Attfield, 15/1
- Narvaez (KY), P Lopez, A C Bezara, 20/1
All carry 122 pounds.
Video: NBC Sports Network’s promo advert - 6pm Eastern on Saturday.
An aside - I wasn’t aware Tampa Bay Downs had a pony mascot named mouse
For this weekend’s two big Derby prep races
PDF: PPs for the Florida Derby (G1) $1M - Race 12, off 6:19pm EST
PDF: PPs for the Louisiana Derby (G2) $1M - Race 9, off 6:44pm EST
From Dubai and UAE Derby it wasn’t a miracle win by ‘He’s Had Enough’ (instead his name is most fitting) finishing 11th, but rather Aidan O’Brien trained Lines of Battle taking it - and going to the Kentucky Derby.
Victory in the Group Two event earned Lines Of Battle significant points under the qualification criteria for the Kentucky Derby, and O’Brien confirmed that race as the target.
“We are very pleased with him and we’ll go to the Kentucky Derby with him. We wanted the race to be a true test but it wasn’t because of the slow pace, which made it a good win in the circumstances.”
Rut-ro! I think Shanghai Bobby - finishing 5th in the FL Derby might not make the Derby points cut-off …
Almost guaranteed that Shug McGaughey and Dinny Phipps/Stuart Janney III will be there with Orb after that very strong victory and tie at the leader board top with Derby points!
Gutsy win by Revolutionary! Looked about to be passed in the stretch, pulled it out to win by a half length!
Agreed that it was an earned win by Revolutionary in the 100th running of the Louisiana Derby: Video replay: Grade 2 $1M 100th Louisiana Derby
Finishers - with Derby Points earned today
- Revolutionary [100-points]
- My Lute [40-points]
- Departing [20-points]
- Golden Soul (Calvin Borel, up) [10-points]
Video replay - $1M Grade 1 64th edition of the Florida Derby; the top four
Finishers - with Derby Points earned today
- Orb [100-points]
- Itsmyluckyday[40-points]
- Merit Man [20-points]
- Narvaez - who went off at 103-1 odds [10-points]
http://www.drf.com/news/kentucky-derby-2013-point-standings
Looks like the 20 entries plus 4 AE’s - if the Debry was held today - would mean a cut off at 20-points. With 4 fatty races still to be run that means likely 8 more horses either move up or new horses enter the list. I suspect that 30+ points will be the cutoff.
I wonder if Brit jockey Ryan Moore will get the call (again) aboard Lines of Battle in the Kentucky Derby. The Aidan O’Brien colt improved to 3-1-0 in six starts with his victory in the $2 million UAE Derby. He’s owned by the familiar partnership and silks of Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith plus Joseph Allen who bred the horse in Kentucky.
From USA Today (with Courier-Journal’s Jennie Rees) Sun 3-31-13 on Shanghai Bobby
Shanghai Bobby, finished fifth in the Florida Derby, losing by a total of 10¾ lengths to likely derail his Kentucky Derby aspirations.
It’s possible that Shanghai Bobby’s 24 points could get him in the Derby. But his owners have suggested that if last year’s champion couldn’t finish in the top four then he didn’t need to be in the race.
“It was a little bit of a rough trip, going into the first turn, everybody looking for the same spot,” Pletcher said. “I don’t think he really settled great in that scenario. And then he flattened out.”
As expected after the FL Derby flop Bobby is off the Derby trail - getting some rest
“Shanghai Bobby has been at the track for 13 months and his energy level and level of performance has never suggested he needed any time off until now,” Starlight’s other managing partner, Jack Wolf, added. “It’s time to freshen him up and, if all goes well, point for a late summer, early fall campaign.”
I wonder who Rosie will be a potential jockey for now …
Ouch - ‘Hear The Ghost’ off the Derby trail with minor injury (4/4/13) … looks like almost no West Coast runners are leading contenders for the ‘First Saturday in May’
For those who have read the books by Josh Ponds (“Merryland/Country Life Farm”) in Maryland you’ll get a smile from this: B’More Sun “Orb, son of Pons family’s stallion Malibu Moon, wins Florida Derby, headed to Louisville”
For all of the tough ups and downs of that stable - exceedingly well documented in the heart breaking at times journals/books - this is a nice smile.
