by Jeff Lowe

With his victory in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3), Street Sense already has succeeded in bucking a few trends for winners of the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).

Street Sense became the first Juvenile winner to begin his three-year-old campaign with a victory since Favorite Trick took the Swale Stakes (G2) in March 1998.

Street Sense and Favorite Trick also are in exclusive company, along with Macho Uno, as the only Juvenile winners in the past decade who won a stakes race after their two-year-old season.

Macho Uno had been the most recent Juvenile winner with a subsequent victory of any kind.

Of course, still in front of Street Sense is the streak of futility for Juvenile winners in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum Brands (G1).

Street Sense returned in spectacular fashion, combining with Any Given Saturday on one of the most memorable finishes in a Triple Crown prep race in recent years. 

In winning by a nose, Street Sense set a track record by completing 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.11.

Trainer Carl Nafzger said Street Sense’s effort was ideal for a schedule that has little room for error leading up to the Kentucky Derby. The only other prep race on Street Sense’s agenda is the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) on April 14 at Keeneland Race Course.

“He needed this race,” Nafzger said on Monday. “If you’re going to go [to the Derby] on two races, you’ve got to be ready. I think we needed a race like that if we were going to be ready for the Blue Grass because we’re going to have to step up. Every horse from now on has got to step up every race if you’re going to hit the Derby right. That’s what I think we can do out of this race.”

Street Sense will have four weeks to prepare for a rematch with Any Given Saturday in the Blue Grass. Street Sense came into the Tampa Bay Derby off a 133-day layoff.

“He just ran a great race to even be in the hunt,” Nafzger said. “Now we just put a lid on it and head for the next one. I hear Any Given Saturday is going to the Blue Grass. I wish to hell he’d go somewhere else.”

The Blue Grass has been on Any Given Saturday’s schedule for several months. 

“Street Sense is a formidable foe, but at the same time we feel like we were in the realm of beating him, so we’ll take him on again,” said Elliott Walden, vice president and racing manager for WinStar Farms, which co-owns Any Given Saturday with Padua Stables.

The Tampa Bay Derby has not been kind to horses associated with Walden. Last year, WinStar’s Bluegrass Cat finished second as the 2-to-5 favorite. In 1999, Walden trained Menifee, who finished second at 2-to-5.

Menifee went on to win the Blue Grass. Bluegrass Cat finished fourth in the Blue Grass but was the runner-up in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes (G1).

“The timing of the race and everything else still works out great for where we’re trying to get to,” Walden said.

Great Hunter, who beat Circular Quay and Street Sense in the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (G1) last fall at Keeneland, also is targeting the Blue Grass.

Padua also is a co-owner of Curlin, who delivered a 5 1/4-length victory in the Rebel Stakes (G3) about an hour after the Tampa Bay Derby in just his second career start.

The Smart Strike colt is slated for the $1-million Arkansas Derby (G2) on April 14 at Oaklawn Park.

San Felipe Stakes (G2) winner Cobalt Blue will head to Hawthorne Race Course for the Illinois Derby (G2) on April 7.

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer