December 22, 2024

Anthony’s Cross ruled out; Derby Kitten now 21st on the list

Last updated: 5/1/11 7:45 PM


Anthony’s Cross ruled out; Derby Kitten now 21st on the
list







Anthony’s Cross broke his maiden at Churchill last November, but won’t be trying the Derby
(Benoit Photos)

A D K Racing’s ANTHONY’S CROSS (Indian Charlie) had his Kentucky travel plans
scotched Sunday morning at Southern California’s Hollywood Park by trainer Eoin
Harty.

The Robert B. Lewis S. (G2) winner, who sits No. 21 on the 20-horse
Derby-eligible list, will “look to other options” according to his Irish-born
conditioner.

“We got to thinking about it and we decided it was just going to be too much
hassle,” Harty said. “You ship all the way down there and then, if you don’t get
to run, you’ve got to ship all the way back. And right now it doesn’t look good
for us running, so rather than hanging on hope, we just decided it would be best
for all if we said ‘no go.’




“We’ve got lots of other options with this colt and I’m zeroing in on one of
them, but we’ll definitely live to fight another day. We would have loved to
have come, but often these things work out for the best.”

With the defection of Anthony’s Cross, Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s DERBY KITTEN
(Kitten’s Joy) now moves up into the No. 21 spot on the graded earnings list.
The Mike Maker pupil has $120,000 in graded stakes earnings from his recent
victory in the Lexington S. (G3). He would need one defection from horses under
consideration for Derby 137 to make the field that is reserved for the top 20
graded earners that pass the entry box on Wednesday.



Derby Kitten galloped at Trackside Training Center Sunday, and Maker plans to
gallop him up to the Derby should he get in.







Brilliant Speed was well
beaten in his two prior dirt starts

(Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos)

Maker already has one definite Derby runner in Alpha Stables, Skychai Racing
and Sand Dollar Stable’s TWINSPIRED (Harlan’s Holiday). He stayed under cover at
Trackside and walked the shedrow a day after working five furlongs in 1:01 1/5.

“Everything is good here,” Maker said of the Blue Grass (G1) runner-up who
will resume galloping on Monday.

Over at Churchill Downs, Live Oak Plantation’s Blue Grass winner BRILLIANT
SPEED (Dynaformer) galloped 1 1/4 miles over the wet track under assistant
trainer Dan Blacker.

“He seemed to go over it great,” Blacker said. “Even though it was sealed,
the track seemed like it had a nice cushion on it. He felt great, strong all the
way. I couldn’t be happier. He’s doing great.”




Trainer Tom Albertrani was scheduled to arrive in Louisville, Kentucky,
Sunday and will supervise the colt’s breeze Monday morning.

Tom Walters’ Kentucky Jockey Club S. (G2) victor SANTIVA (Giant’s Causeway)
galloped 1 1/2 miles following the renovation break.

“He’s handling the track fine,” trainer Eddie Kenneally said. “It’s muddy,
but it looks like it’s going to be muddy for a few days at the beginning of the
week again. But he’s in great shape. No problems.”



Kenneally plans to breeze the colt Monday morning. He will make a decision on
when to go out based on the surface conditions and might not wait until the time
reserved for Derby and Oaks horses at 8:30 a.m.







Santiva’s only win came in the KY Jockey Club under the Twin Spires
(Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos)

“We’ll see what the track looks like early,” Kenneally said. “If it’s good
early, I may go early, when they first open. If we breeze, we’ll be out there at
5:45. We want to be the first out there if we decide we want to do it at that
time.”

Shaun Bridgmohan has the mount on Santiva in the Derby.




Arnold Zetcher’s Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner MIDNIGHT INTERLUDE (War Chant)
galloped 1 1/2 miles after the renovation break under exercise rider Dana
Barnes.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said “just use ditto” to describe the colt’s
activities on Sunday morning.

The routine of morning gallops will change Monday, though, when Midnight
Interlude has his final pre-Derby breeze following the renovation break.

Victor Espinoza has the mount in the Kentucky Derby.   



Zayat Stables LLC’s NEHRO (Mineshaft) galloped two miles in a driving rain at
6:15 a.m. (EDT) under regular exercise rider Carlos Rosas, taking two laps
around the oval, starting and finishing at the five-eighths pole. A two-mile
gallop the day before a final work has been standard procedure in trainer Steve
Asmussen’s barn “for 15 years,” he said.









Midnight Interlude surprised as the Santa Anita Derby winner at 13-1
(Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos)

The Arkansas Derby (G1) and Louisiana Derby (G2) runner-up will breeze
Monday, again as part of Asmussen’s second set of the morning at about 6:15 a.m.




After overnight thunderstorms turned the Churchill Downs racing surface to
slop, trainer Kathleen O’Connell postponed WATCH ME GO’s (West Acre) scheduled
workout Sunday morning.

“We’ll just wait until (Monday) morning and hope the track will be better,”
she said.

O’Connell is well aware that the weather forecast may not be on the side of
Gil Campbell’s homebred colt.

“I may even go earlier in the morning when the track first opens and ask for
a good strong two-minute lick,” said O’Connell, noting her colt’s dislike for
wet tracks. “I’m not worried about speed. We’re going a mile and a quarter. I
just want to get some air into him.”



O’Connell named Rafael Bejarano to ride her Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner for
the first time in the Derby.







Watch Me Go is one of the more well-campaigned Derby runners
(Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos)

“I’ve always liked Bejarano. He’s a good, strong finisher; he’s a good judge
of pace; and he knows Churchill Downs,” O’Connell said of the jockey who started
his career at Churchill Downs before moving on to the Southern California
circuit.




Robert and Loval Yagos’ ARCHARCHARCH (Arch) galloped 1 1/2 miles after the
renovation break over a sloppy track under exercise rider Carlos Vasquez.

The Arkansas Derby winner had worked a bullet five-eighths in :59 2/5 on
Friday and had light exercise Saturday morning.

“We just walked him and jogged him a little yesterday and he got mad because
he wanted to gallop,” trainer Jinks Fires said.



Vasquez was in the saddle this morning in place of jockey Jon Court, who
opened the Spring Meet last night with two victories on the card.







Archarcharch could continue the tradition of Oaklawn runners factoring in the Derby
(Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos)

“We didn’t have much this morning, so Carlos got on him,” Fires said.
“(Brother) Manny (Fires) and Carlos got on him at Oaklawn.”

Fires said that Archarcharch may visit the paddock once in the afternoon
during the week and may go to the gate one more time.




“He has always been good at the gate,” Fires said of Archarcharch, who was
kicked by another horse in the gate before the Rebel (G2). “Maybe if we take him
over there enough, he won’t think about that.”




Trainer Juan Arias hopped aboard DECISIVE MOMENT (With Distinction) Sunday
morning for a 1 1/4-mile gallop over the sloppy Churchill Downs track.

The South Florida-based trainer runs a hands-on operation.



“I tell people, ‘When I win a race, there are four people in the winner’s
circle.’ I’m like four people, the trainer, the exercise rider, the groom, the
hotwalker,” said Arias, a former jockey in South Florida.







Decisive Moment will enter the Derby seeking his first graded win
(Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos)

Decisive Moment, who’ll be ridden by Kerwin Clark in the Derby, walked the
shedow on Saturday after working five furlongs in 1:01 2/5 on Friday.

After working five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 Saturday morning, MUCHO MACHO MAN
(Macho Uno) walked the shedrow of Barn 41 on the Churchill Downs backstretch.

“Everything’s good. He came out of the work great,” said trainer Kathy Ritvo,
who had moved up the work to Saturday because of the on-the-money forecasts for
rain on Sunday morning. “I’m just glad he got to work on a fast track.”

James Culver, whose Dream Team Racing Stable purchased the Risen Star (G2)
winner as a yearling on the recommendation of Ocala breeders John and Carole
Rio, was on hand as the colt was standing quietly and obviously content as his
long legs were being hosed in the grassy area behind Barn 41.

South Florida-based Dream Team Racing Stable, managed by Culver and partner
Kostas Hatzikoutelis, subsequently sold a 70-percent interest in Mucho Macho Man
to Dean and Patti Reeves of Atlanta after finishing a strong second in his debut
behind Gourmet Dinner (Trippi) at Calder last July.

“It’s hard to make a profit in this business. After his first race, I got 12
offers to buy him. The partners all wanted to stay in on him to some degree. No
one wanted to get out completely. We figured out the most we could sell was 70
percent, and Mr. Reeves was willing to accept that, so we took a profit and sold
him 70 percent,” said Culver, whose ownership group with Mucho Macho Man numbers
13 investors.



“People are going to sales paying $300,000 and $400,000 for yearlings, and
they don’t even know what they have,” he added. “But you see a race and a horse
runs good, at least you know you have a horse that can run.”

Culver said his group has no regrets about taking a sizable profit on Mucho
Macho Man, expressing satisfaction and appreciation that the Reeves agreed to
the 70-30 deal while the other offers were all for 100 percent of the colt who
would go on to become a prominent Kentucky Derby contender.




Florida Derby (G1) runner-up SHACKLEFORD (Forestry) walked the shedrow at
trainer Dale Romans’ barn a day after working a bullet five furlongs in :58 4/5.

Owned by Michael Lauffer and W.D. Cubbedge, Shackleford is scheduled to
return to the track Monday. Jesus Castanon has the Derby mount on Shackleford.







Animal Kingdom powered his
way to an impressive win in the Spiral

(Jordan Strickler)

Trainer Graham Motion said Team Valor International’s ANIMAL KINGDOM
(Leroidesanimaux [Brz]) came out of Saturday’s work in good order. The colt
worked six furlongs Saturday morning in 1:13 and walked the shedrow Sunday
morning.

Trainer Jeff Bonde reported Sunday morning that his two potential Kentucky
Derby colts — TWICE THE APPEAL (Successful Appeal) and SWAY AWAY (Afleet Alex)
— came out of their six-furlong drills from Saturday morning at Churchill Downs
in good order and had spent a quiet morning walking the shedrow the day after.

“They’re both doing fine,” the Northern California-based conditioner said at
Barn 42. “Ate up and no problems.”

Twice the Appeal, winner of the Sunland Derby (G3) and assured a spot in the
Derby 137 lineup Saturday because of it, drilled his six furlongs in 1:15 3/5
under his Derby partner Calvin Borel.



Stablemate Sway Away, who will need some help to run Saturday as he now sits
at No. 22 on the Derby eligible list, had accomplished his workout in 1:14. If
he gets to run, he’ll be partnered by Southern California ace Martin Garcia.

Bonde said he wasn’t sure when he’d send the two colts back to the track.




“We’ll have to see how it goes with the weather and the track condition,” the
trainer said. “That will tell me when I want to go back (to the track) with
them.”