‘Extraordinary’ weather may force scratch of Line of David

Line of David, working here on Tuesday, could bypass the Derby if the weather takes a turn for the worse (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com)

Trainer John Sadler had both his Kentucky Derby (G1) colts —
SIDNEY’S CANDY (Candy Ride [Arg]) and
LINE OF DAVID (Lion Heart) — out early for gallops of about 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Lupillo Alferez at Churchill Downs on
Friday morning.

“We’re all good,” the trainer said. “I’d like to put them back out on the
track (Saturday) morning for a jog, but I don’t know with the weather. If it is
pouring rain and the track is soaked, they probably won’t go.”

The Churchill Downs track is scheduled to be open from 6-8 a.m.
(EDT) for training on
Derby morning, but inclement weather — which is forecast for Saturday and on the
thoughts of everyone with a Derby interest — might make Sadler’s concerns moot.
Track officials will make a call on whether the track opens at all in the
morning.

Sidney’s Candy, seen here skipping over the mud last Saturday, has shown a liking for off conditions (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com)

“Yes, I might consider not running him if it were to get really bad here
tomorrow,” Sadler said. “But it would have to be something extraordinary. My
owners want to run and I want to run him. And I know this track can change
drastically from morning to afternoon, so anything I might do in that regard
would have to be right up on the race. We’d wait until the last minute.”

According to Churchill Downs stewards, the “last minute” for a Kentucky Derby
scratch is normally four hours before the race.

“But in a case of serious weather conditions, we could give a trainer more
time,” steward Brooks Becraft III said. “If a trainer would contact us and
say he wants another hour or so to look at the situation before taking his horse
out, I’m sure we’d work with him on that.”

Post time for Kentucky Derby 136 is scheduled for 6:28 p.m. (ET).