Lane’s End Stakes (G2) winner Adriano is likely to contest the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 3 after breezing a half-mile in :50 on Sunday at Churchill Downs for trainer Graham Motion.
“I’m pretty sure we’re going to go for it after this—I don’t know why we wouldn’t,” Motion said. “Believe me, I want to win the Derby as much as anybody else does, but I don’t think it’s engraved in my mind that I’ve got to get there. I want to get there for the right reasons, and I think when we analyze it and we talk with [owner] Mr. [Don] Adam and with [jockey] Edgar [Prado], I think it is the right thing to do at this point. That was depending upon what happened today, and I think it went well.”
A Courtlandt Farms homebred, the A.P. Indy colt breezed under Prado in company with stablemate Longley on a fast track in intermittent rain. Longley broke in front of Adriano, but the duo raced beside each other through the turn and into upper stretch before Adriano pushed past his stablemate in the final furlong. Adriano finished a length in front of Longley.
Churchill Downs clockers caught Adriano in fractions of :13, :25.40, and :37.80. The chestnut colt galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.40. Longley completed the half-mile in :50.40.
“He went nice,” Prado said of Adriano. “He started nice and easy, and he finished good. When I called on him, he was there. He galloped out really good, and it seemed like he handled it very well. Graham was happy and I was very happy with him.”
In Adriano’s only start on a conventional dirt surface, he finished ninth in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) on February 24 at Gulfstream Park. He subsequently won the Lane’s End Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths on the all-weather Polytrack surface at Turfway Park on March 22. Prior to the Fountain of Youth, Adriano had raced on either grass or an all-weather surface in his five previous starts.
“He seemed to handle [the surface] fine,” Motion said of the breeze at Churchill. “I thought he looked good. I don’t think the time was real flashy, but, to be honest, I really wasn’t asking him to do that. And it was kind of cuppy—I’m guessing they didn’t put a lot of water on the track because of the rain, so it just looked like it was a little loose.
“I pretty much told Edgar he had a free rein to do what he wanted, within reason. He kind of smooched to him at the eighth pole and he really lengthened his stride. He just seemed to accelerate like he would on any surface. I couldn’t say he went a lot differently than he would have gone on the turf or the Polytrack.”
Motion said Prado would need to make a decision on whether he would ride Adriano in the Derby within 24 hours. Prado won the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) aboard Monba on Saturday at Keeneland Race Course and the Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) aboard Tale of Ekati on April 5 at Aqueduct.