He wasn’t listed on the most recent DRF Derby-bound runners earnings list, shown a few posts before, but just to be clear he is not going to the Kentucky Derby: Brethren.
Pletcher said Brethren would head home to nearby WinStar Farm for a couple of weeks rest and is definitely off the Kentucky Derby trail. He said there was no apparent problem with the half-brother to Super Saver, but some rest was in order following his run at Oaklawn Park.
Interesting snippet on Master of Hounds. I really liked his UAE Derby run, and I just added him as my final choice in my RTTR stable. I definietly don’t think he’ll win, but I think he should be a strong competitor.
I still think they should be going after Master of Hounds myself …
DRF shows Borel to work Stay Thirsty this weekend
Borel is scheduled to work Stay Thirsty for trainer Todd Pletcher on Sunday morning at Churchill Downs, but Pletcher on Friday said that did not mean Borel was going to ride Stay Thirsty in the Derby. Pletcher and Borel teamed to win last year’s Derby with Super Saver.
Among the other Derby starters still needing riders are Comma to the Top and Master of Hounds.
Does that mean they’re set on Comma to the Top for the Derby?
There’s a poll on equibase: “Will 2yo. champion Uncle Mo rebound to win the KY Derby?” 26% yes, 74% no.
These are my 3 for the Derby: Dialed In, Midnight Interlude, and Toby’s Corner.
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;5552797]
As for Animal Kingdom (#16 currently by graded earnings) his starting in the Derby will “purportedly” depend upon his work at Churchill Downs this Sat (23rd). If the synthetic runner takes to it, then its a go. Otherwise Team Valor will choose another path. IMHO short of him falling down I think they’ll say its a success and go to the Derby.
If anyone thinks a partnership is going to skip the biggest chance to promote their name you must be kidding. Keep in mind this same story of a showdown with the track surface has been going around since at least March 28th. Which makes one wonder if they really have been sitting on their hands just wondering if he can run on dirt for 3 weeks ;)[/QUOTE]
I say he’ll still go regardless of this slow as mud work, which they’ll overlook:
… they went the first-quarter-mile down the backstretch in a ridiculously slow 30 seconds, Animal Kingdom went on by himself, taking 50.40 seconds to get from the half-mile pole to the wire.
Keeneland clockers then caught the colt galloping out another 2 1/2 furlongs, back to where the work started at the six-furlong pole, in 33 seconds and change, with the first furlong after the wire coming in 12.40. The official clocking was 1:02.80 for five furlongs over the Polytrack.
Two graded stakes races today (Sat Apr 23rd) which could’ve had KY Derby implications, but neither was won by a horse going there.
In New York it was the Grade 2, $150,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct. In that race Rajiv Maragh piloted Adios Charlie in a re-rally over Justin Phillip (remember him? he was cited earlier as maybe a Derby horse)
Adios Charlie is not nominated to the Triple Crown and thus is unlikely to be pointed to the Kentucky Derby, May 7th or Preakness on May 21.
In Lexington, Kentucky at Keeneland: video - Grade 3 $200,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes went to an overlooked runner - Derby Kitten.
Derby Kitten earned $120,000 which won’t let him make the KY Derby cutoff.
PVal gets the mount for Comma To the Top in the Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby will be the first time that Valenzuela has ridden Comma to the Top.
The owner and jockey have a successful history together. Valenzuela rode Barber’s Fast Parade to victory in the Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes and Becrux to a win in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in 2006. Barber owned Becrux in partnership.
Corey Nakatani rode Comma to the Top from last November through the Santa Anita Derby. Nakatani is expected to ride Arkansas Derby runner-up Nehro in the Kentucky Derby.
PVal has ridden in 8 prior Kentucky Derby races …
In New York it was the Grade 2, $150,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct. In that race Rajiv Maragh piloted Adios Charlie in a re-rally over Justin Phillip . Adios Charlie is not nominated to the Triple Crown.
Looks like Derby fever got the best of Comma to the Top’s connections. So much for no Derby distance no matter what.
A production crew from NBC’s “Today” show was in Lexington recently to film footage for Derby week feature segments on jockey Rosie Napravnik and on the North American Riding Academy run by retired Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron.
Look for my friend and former “student” Rachel Lovelock breezing for NARA on that Today show segemnt! 
Video: TVG profile on Dialed In (Apr 21st)
This morning (Apr 26th) Uncle Mo worked at Churchill under the lights: video of the work with jockey John Velazquez up. (CDI provided the video - shot with the Flip Phone - which isn’t great. No reason for a premier track to provide formal works on cheap video IMHO)
Churchill clockers caught fractional times of :13.20, :25.40, and :37.40. The Indian Charlie colt galloped out six furlongs in 1:15.60.
Uncle Mo worked in company with stablemate and stakes winner Calibrachoa.
Velazquez said Uncle Mo sprinted away from his workmate in the final sixteenth of a mile and galloped out strong.
Not really shocked but a couple more dropouts from being Derby starters:
The Factor withdrawn from Kentucky Derby contention
J P’s Gusto ruled out and shipping back to NY.
Out with those two means others move up: adding Shackleford and Twinspired into the Derby field, since both now are in the top 20 in terms of graded stakes earnings.
Still outside looking in? Silver Medallion and Anthony’s Cross, in that order.
No Calvin Borel on Mike Repole’s other horse: Stay Thirsty to have Ramon Dominguez aboard
[i]Still to be determined are Derby riding assignments for expected starters Master of Hounds and Twinspired.
Still without a confirmed mount is jockey Calvin Borel, winner of the Derby three of the last four years and a finalist on the ballot this year for the Hall of Fame.[/i]
Some interesting elements with the last TC jockey, “The Kid” aboard Affirmed, Steve Cauthen back in his heyday: Cincinnati Enquirer 4-25-11 “10 things about Steve Cauthen … you might not know”
excerpt
#4 At the height of his celebrity in the U.S., he released an album, “… And Steve Cauthen Sings too!” The record’s producers told People magazine Cauthen sounded like a cross between Gilbert O’Sullivan (“Alone Again, Naturally”) and Crosby, Stills and Nash. “I knew I couldn’t sing, but it was fun doing it,” Cauthen told The Enquirer in 2003.
#7 After Cauthen attended a Linda Ronstadt concert, the singer and some of her road crew followed him back to the barn. Ronstadt got to pet Affirmed.
#8 When Cauthen left the U.S. to ride in Europe in 1979, he became a celebrity there. He dined with the Queen Mother, went pheasant hunting with Princess Anne and had Elton John sing at a party at his country cottage.
If you have that LP it’s worth about $20 or someone on Amazon.com has a brand “new” version for $34 Oh and the song list?
Local Hoedown; Riding High; Brother Dear; Love Down in Georgia; One Mile to Go; For You; Win, Place, or Show;I Feel Like Thanking Everyone
There was was a single 45 with one side “Local Hoedown” the other “I Feel Like Thanking Everyone”
I wonder if Barnfairy might have a copy up in Maine!
An 11th thing not known: per Sports Illustrated in July 4, 1977 they said "Cauthen also becomes the subject of a TV pilot."
Just in his teens and a music recording, tv pilot, biography book, millions in purses, hanging out with British royals plus top musicians and eventually four covers of Sports Illustrated … he was the original reality star!
New Voice of the Triple Crown (NBC Sports)
NYRA’s Tom Durkin has decided not to renew as the “voice” for calling the Derby and Preakness for NBC Sports - due to stress - and will thus lose calling nationally the Belmont Stakes, too.
The replacement voice? It’s has not been announced, but its unlikely to be Trevor but rather instead suggestions are it will be Monmouth’s Larry Collmus!
[Durkin decided] not to seek a renewal of his contract with NBC Sports, with whom he has been affiliated for 27 years. Durkin, who has called the last 30 Triple Crown races on network television, will continue to work as the announcer at the New York Racing Association’s three tracks – Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. Durkin is under contract with NYRA through the fall of 2015.
Durkin, who called the first 22 runnings of the Breeders’ Cup for NBC, had called all three legs of the Triple Crown on television – albeit for different networks – since 2001. From 1997-2000, he called the three races on radio. Durkin will still call the Belmont at his home track of Belmont Park, but that call will only be heard by ontrack patrons.
Between radio and television, Durkin has called seven Triple Crown attempts, the last being Big Brown’s failed bid in 2008. Perhaps his most memorable Triple Crown came in the 1998 Belmont, when Victory Gallop denied Real Quiet’s Triple Crown bid by a nose. After the horses hit the wire, Durkin said, “A picture is worth a thousand words, this photo is worth $5 million . . . history in the waiting.”
While Durkin said he has never truly felt that he has made the perfect call, he does regret spotting Mine That Bird so late after he took the lead in winning the 2009 Kentucky Derby.
“You wish you could get that call back,” Durkin said. “You do your best and you don’t beat yourself up over it. If I didn’t prepare, I could beat myself up. I walk in there ready.”
Given that I’m just 30, Durkin has been the voice of the triple crown to me for my entire life. I know he’s not very well loved but I am sad to see him leave.
In happier news, the defection of The Factor and Jaycito has moved my horse of the moment, Shackleford, into the gate, along with Twinspired. Rumor is that Twinspired will get some help from Borel on the big day.
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