Take the Points withdrawn; Atomic Rain now in
It now appears trainer Todd Pletcher will start three horses in Saturday’s
Kentucky Derby 135 — ADVICE (Chapel Royal), DUNKIRK (Unbridled’s Song) and JOIN
IN THE DANCE (Sky Mesa).
After consulting with the various owners of his four potential Derby
starters, the five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer decided to go with three
and drop one — that horse being Take the Points (Even the Score), who is owned
by the Starlight Partners stable of Jack and Laurie Wolf. Runner-up in the Sham
S. (G3) two starts back, the Take the Points exits a fourth in the Santa Anita
Derby (G1).
“Around noon (EDT) today Mr. Wolf and I had a discussion in which we weighed
all the factors,” Pletcher said. “When we looked at it from all angles, we
decided the best way to go with Take the Points was the (May 16) Preakness (S.
[G1]). That race gives him two extra weeks, a shorter distance to work with and
a track where we think his tactical style will work to best advantage. In the
end, we just thought it was the right choice.”
The trainer also noted that he had finalized riding assignments for his three
Derby horses, with Edgar Prado on Dunkirk, Rene Douglas on Advice and Chris
DeCarlo on Join in the Dance.
Tuesday morning Pletcher had sent his three workers from Monday — Advice,
Join in the Dance and Take the Points — back to the track for easy jogs of a
mile around the big oval.
Dunkirk, the $3.7 million yearling who flew in from Florida on Tuesday
morning to bed down in Pletcher’s Barn 38, was once considered a possible
outside-looking-in type on the graded stakes earnings list. But now he is
assured a spot in the starting field for the 10-furlong race, and is likely to
be one of the solid betting interests.
The absence of Take the Points opened up a spot in the Derby field for ATOMIC
RAIN (Smart Strike). The minute trainer Kelly Breen heard Atomic Rain was a
likely Kentucky Derby starter, he had the colt put on a van at Monmouth Park in
New Jersey and had him headed for Churchill Downs.
The Kelly Breen-trained colt breezed four furlongs at Monmouth Tuesday
morning in a bullet :47 1/5, and he boarded the van a few hours later.
“They left Monmouth at 12:30, and it’s about a 13-hour trip,” Breen said, “so
they should get here about 2 in the morning.”
If another horse drops out, Wood Memorial (G1) third-placer JUST A
COINCIDENCE (Forestry) will move into 20th on the graded earnings list.
Atomic Rain is owned by George and Lori Hall, who already have a Derby
starter in WEST SIDE BERNIE (Bernstein). Atomic Rain finished fourth when West
Side Bernie was second to I WANT REVENGE (Stephen Got Even) in the Wood Memorial
(G1) last out.
Atomic Rain has yet to win since breaking his maiden at Monmouth last June,
but finished second to Old Fashioned in the Remsen S. (G2) at Aqueduct last
November. This season, he was second, beaten a neck, in an allowance race at
Gulfstream Park, ran seventh in the Sam F. Davis S. (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs, and
then third in a Gulfstream allowance test before his Wood Memorial outing.
Breen said that Joe Bravo, who has been aboard Atomic Rain his past two
starts, will have the mount in the Derby. Bravo had his first and only previous
Derby mount in 2005, when he finished 16th aboard Spanish Chestnut.
West Side Bernie was out early Tuesday morning, taking a 1 1/2-mile gallop
around the Churchill Downs oval with Breen aboard.
“We thought we’d beat the weather,” Breen said, “so we got him out early
today. He’s doing fine, coming up to the race the right way.”
This will be Breen’s first Kentucky Derby, but his rider for West Side
Bernie, Stewart Elliott, won the race aboard Smarty Jones in 2004. Elliott rode
West Side Bernie for the first time in the Wood Memorial.
“Bernie ran really well that day,” Breen said. “He kicked it in late, maybe a
little too late. The extra eighth of a mile in the Derby should be what he
needs.”
All was well with the CHOCOLATE CANDY (Candy Ride [Arg]) crew at Barn 42
Tuesday morning. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, assistant trainer Galen May and
exercise rider Lindsey Molina had nothing but good things to say about their
colt, who had turned in a nifty :59 1/5 prep Monday morning in his final major
exercise for Kentucky Derby 135.
“He came out of it good, ate up and just walked the shedrow this morning,”
Hollendorfer said. “We’re all good.”
The veteran trainer, currently the nation’s sixth-leading conditioner with
more than $2.2 million in earnings, will have his colt jog Wednesday, gallop
Thursday and Friday, then walk him the morning of Kentucky Derby 135.
Shortly before dawn and well before rain arrived, trainer Saeed bin Suroor
sent the two Godolphin colts, DESERT PARTY (Street Cry [Ire]) and REGAL RANSOM
(Distorted Humor) out to gallop 1 1/4 miles.
Bin Suroor said the colts are happy, healthy and in good form.
After starting their careers in the United States last summer, the colts were
sent to Dubai for the winter racing season. Desert Party beat Regal Ransom in
the first two of the preps for the $2 million U.A.E. Derby (UAE-G2), but Regal
Ransom won the main event by a half-length.
“One week before the race, I told the boys in the stable ‘Listen, there might
be a surprise in the U.A.E Derby,'” bin Suroor said. “I was right.
“At the same time, Desert Party, who is always happy and does everything you
ask him in a professional way, wasn’t really happy when I saddled him for the
race. He was really quiet before the race. I thought that wasn’t his day. I
checked him for two days after the race and he was very quiet, but later it
seemed that he was coming back really good to his form. Now he’s really a
different animal.”
The Godolphin conditioner said his colts have flourished in the month since
their most recent race.
“When they were in Dubai they improved all the time, but since the last race
they look much better than ever,” bin Suroor said. “We come here with some
confidence. We’re looking to see our horses run a big race.”
This is the fifth time that Godolphin — the racing operation headed by the
ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum — sent horses to
Louisville for America’s biggest race. Their best finish was a sixth by China
Visit in 2000.
“This is the hardest race in the world,” bin Suroor said, “and the best race
in the world, a mile and a quarter for three-year-olds. It’s hard to win. You
need a special horse. Tough. Class. Speed. Everything in one horse.
“We tried coming from Dubai four times. Now, I think we have better horses
than what we saw in Dubai. We’re trying this year and it looks to me that our
horses are doing much, much better than ever.”
FLYING PRIVATE (Fusaichi Pegasus) walked the shedrow at D. Wayne Lukas’ Barn
44 a day after working a half mile in :47 2/5. Robby Albarado, who has the mount
for Derby 135, had been aboard for the work.
“Flying Private’s strength is his pedigree and he’s truly a
mile-and-a-quarter horse,” said Lukas, who has won the Derby four times.
It wasn’t Derby Fever that had the attention of FRIESAN FIRE (A.P. Indy) on
Tuesday morning at Barn 45.
“He was on his toes before he knew Zenyatta (Street Cry [Ire]) was here,”
trainer Larry Jones said referring to the arrival of the undefeated champion
mare who is housed seven stalls down from Friesan Fire. “He is quite taken with
her.”
Friesan Fire, worked five furlongs in :57 4/5 on Monday under jockey Gabriel
Saez, walked the shedrow Tuesday and will return to the track Wednesday.
“Wednesday will be a goof-off day,” Jones said. “He will go to the gate,
paddock, jog and maybe ‘lope’ around there, whatever he wants to do for about 20
minutes.”
Jones said that the Vinery Stables and Fox Hill Farm colt never has had
problems with either the gate or paddock.
“I just want to stand him in the gate,” Jones said. “At the Fair Grounds (for
the Louisiana Derby [G2]), he was on the outside and loaded last and they sprung
the latch. I just don’t want him to think it is like that all the time.”
In the Louisiana Derby, Friesan Fire romped by 7 1/4 lengths on a sealed,
sloppy track. With rain in the forecast for the rest of the week, the chance for
an off track remains a possibility.
“We are not hoping for rain. We want a fast track,” Jones said. “We know we
are OK because he ran well at the Fair Grounds in the Louisiana Derby. Churchill
Downs gets very good when it is wet. If it rains, we won’t spend the day
panicking.”
Owner/trainer Tom McCarthy sent Blue Grass S. (G1) winner GENERAL QUARTERS
(Sky Mesa) out for a 1 1/2-mile gallop under regular exercise rider Julie Sheets
before the renovation break Tuesday morning.
“He’s doing good, couldn’t be any better,” McCarthy said as a steady rain
beat down on Barn 37.
General Quarters never has raced on an off track, but McCarthy does not think
it will be a problem.
“Whenever he gallops on an off track, Julie says he just floats over it,”
McCarthy said. “He was here all last summer when there was a lot of rain and
handled it fine.”
Blue Grass runner-up HOLD ME BACK (Giant’s Causeway) jogged a mile Tuesday
morning. He turned in his final breeze Sunday.
Hold Me Back has picked up all three of his career victories on synthetic
surfaces and his only off-the-board result was on the dirt in the Remsen at
Aqueduct. Trainer Bill Mott said the colt moves beautifully over the dirt in
training and that it is too early to say he prefers one surface to another.
“We’re not about to say our horse can’t run on the dirt just off one race,”
Mott said. “We’re going to give him the chance on Saturday and then we’ll see.”
Trainer Chip Woolley was feeling philosophical at Barn 42. His Kentucky Derby
colt, MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone), had come out of his final work for the race
Monday in good fashion and had merely walked the shedrow Tuesday. The colt had
“eaten up” and was a happy camper, and so was his conditioner.
“It’s down to racin’ luck and what happens,” the 45-year-old native of New
Mexico said, sounding like a man who realized he’d done all the heavy lifting
and that much of what would happen next would be in the hands of the racing
gods.
“I’m just so tickled that me and my horse and my owners are now going to be
part of the history of the Kentucky Derby,” he said. “We’re going to do it and
they won’t ever be able to take that away from us.
“I just wanted my horse to be ready to give the best effort of his life, and
I believe we’re there. He’s never been better and now we’re going to see just
what he can do. When the race is done we’ll know where we’re at with him. But
we’re going in ready to give it our best and we can’t ask for more than that.”
Calvin Borel, who won the 2007 Derby on Street Sense, worked Mine That Bird
Monday in 1:02 and has the call on Saturday.
MR. HOT STUFF (Tiznow) made his first appearance on the Churchill Downs
racing strip Tuesday morning at 7 a.m., beating the rains that hit the area by
getting in both a leg-stretching of a mile and a half under exercise rider Paul
Turner and a quick bath back at Barn 41 before the skies opened.
MUSKET MAN (Yonaguska) was out early Tuesday morning. With exercise rider
Salvador Dominguez aboard, Musket Man schooled at the gate and then galloped a
mile and a half around the fast main track.
“He just stood in the gate a while,” trainer Derek Ryan said after bicycling
back to Barn 41 behind Musket Man. “He’ll gallop up to the race now.”
There have been questions about Musket Man getting the Derby distance with
what is essentially sprint breeding, but his half-sister, whom Ryan also
trained, won short and long on dry and muddy tracks, on turf and synthetics.
“She just liked to win, and he’s the same,” Ryan said. “I’ve been hearing
about his distance ‘limitations’ since his first start last October. Well, so
far he’s won at six and seven furlongs, a mile and a sixteenth, and a mile and
an eighth. I think he’ll handle another furlong.”
PAPA CLEM (Smart Strike) galloped a mile and a half under exercise rider
Mundo Gonzalez before the renovation break and before the rain Tuesday morning.
“He will gallop Wednesday and Thursday I’ll breeze him,” trainer Gary Stute
said. “(Jockey) Rafael (Bejarano) is supposed to be here to work him. He’ll
blowout a good quarter down the lane and out to the seven-eighths.”
Papa Clem’s lone race on an off track was a runner-up finish to Friesan Fire
in the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds and Stute would prefer not to see an off
track on Saturday.
“I’d rather not see an off track because Friesan Fire beat me so easy,” Stute
said of Papa Clem finishing 7 1/4 lengths back. “The first time he sees
something, he is a little hesitant. It should help him for this time if it
rains.”
Trainer Bob Baffert said PIONEEROF THE NILE (Empire Maker) came out of his
Monday work in fine shape. Pioneerof the Nile breezed five furlongs in 1:01 but
Tuesday was a quiet morning.
“He walked the shedrow today and will jog tomorrow,” Baffert said. “He looks
fantastic.”
Trainer Tim Ice braved the approaching storm Tuesday morning and took SUMMER
BIRD (Birdstone) to the track when the track reopened at 8:30 a.m. The colt was
still galloping under jockey Chris Rosier when the rain came pelting down.
“It didn’t bother him a bit,” Ice said. “He trained all winter down at
Oaklawn and it rained a lot there, too. I thought he trained well here today,
and I’m very happy with the way he’s coming up to the race.”
Summer Bird, who has had just three career starts — all on fast tracks —
has a pedigree that says he’ll run on any surface.
“He trained as good on wet tracks as dry tracks in Arkansas,” Ice said,
“maybe even better. I don’t think track condition will affect him at all.”
Summer Bird made his first start March 1, broke his maiden March 19, and then
ran third behind Papa Clem in the Arkansas Derby (G2) on April 11. The money he
earned in that race, shot him right into the top 20 on the earnings list and
guaranteed him a Derby berth.
This will be the 34-year-old trainer’s first Derby. A former assistant to
Morris Nicks, Cole Norman and Keith Desormeaux, Ice went out on his own less
than a year ago, in late May of 2008. But he’s been around the track most of his
life.
“I first went to the track when I was 13, with my stepfather Frank Rapp,” Ice
said. “He took me to Waterford Park (now Mountaineer Park) where he trained a
couple of horses. Not long after that, we moved to Louisiana where I grew up
near Louisiana Downs.”
Ice still lives in Bossier City, Louisiana, with his wife Heather.
One day after his final Kentucky Derby breeze, WIN WILLY (Monarchos) just
walked under the shedrow in Barn 45 for trainer Mac Robertson.
The colt was credited with a five-furlong breeze in 1:02 2/5 on Monday with
exercise rider Eli Lopez aboard.
“I’m not certain the time is right,” Robertson said, “because he was out
there with a bunch of other Derby horses when the accident happened and there
was a lot of confusion. But the time doesn’t really matter.
“He went along nice and even the whole way, and I was very happy with the way
he finished up the work, he looked really strong galloping out. I was very happy
with the way he came back and cooled out. He’s doing great today.”
Robertson, one of several first-time Derby trainers, said he’ll be leading
the rain dance party this week.
“I hope it rains and keeps on raining,” the trainer said. “I hope it rains so
much they think about canceling the races, but they can’t because it’s Derby
Day.”
Win Willy, whose pedigree drips with off-track form, shows just one start
over a track other than fast. That was the Rebel S. (G2) at Oaklawn on March 14,
a race he won by more than two lengths going away. The track was officially
listed as “good” that day.
“I don’t know what they called it, but I called it muddy,” Robertson said.
“Deep muddy. And my horse just loved it. That’s why I’m hoping for a wet track,
because I know some of the others won’t like it a bit.”