HIGH LIMIT (Maria’s Mon) and CONSOLIDATOR (Storm Cat), second and fifth,
respectively, in Saturday’s Blue Grass S. (G1) at Keeneland, are both scheduled
to go on to the Kentucky Derby (G1), according to their respective trainers.
The Bobby Frankel-conditioned High Limit lost for the first time in his
four-race career on Saturday but came out of the nine-furlong test in good
condition. Frankel indicated he wanted his charge to have a hard race before the
Kentucky Derby and felt that was accomplished on Saturday.
“If he wins easily, it’s probably not going to be a good race for him,”
Frankel said. “It would be different if he had run three or four times this
year, so we’ll see. I don’t know whether he’s going to move forward or
backwards. But I know one thing, you can tell from him this morning that he ran
a tough race yesterday.”
High Limit, who scored in the Louisiana Derby (G2) prior to Saturday’s race,
could get an equipment change in the Derby. The bay colt had continually jumped
the tracks left by the starting gate during his career and might get blinkers
added for his May 7 engagement.
“I’m even thinking of putting a little pair of blinkers on him, because obviously
he’s not paying attention if he’s jumping tracks every time,” Frankel said.
“That’s three times he’s done that. I’m just wondering if it (the blinkers) would
get him too rank, but it might not.”
Consolidator came of his fifth-place finish well and will now point for the
Derby. The Grade 1-winning chestnut, who captured the San Felipe S. (G2) by 6
1/2-lengths while running near the lead, was taken well off the pace in the
early running of the Blue Grass by jockey Rafael Bejarano.
“He’s fine,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “We just took him completely out of
his game. Rafael, I think, was a little bit concerned about the speed and when a
couple of those horses broke kind of sharp, he just elected to take back. We’ve
never had a good race out of him taking back.
“I think it’s going to be one of those really tough ones to evaluate,” Lukas
added about the Kentucky Derby. “There might be some surprises in the Derby. We
probably won’t know it until they cross the finish line.”