NEWS
Porter buys Biker Boy, picks Fantasy for Eight Belles
Posted: Friday, March 28, 2008 12:57 PM
EIGHT BELLES
Will Kenser/Coady Photography
by Jeff Lowe
Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms has purchased a 51% interest in Biker Boy, a three-year-old colt who won a seven-furlong maiden race on February 16 at Gulfstream Park.
Richard Brand retained a minority share in the Came Home colt out of Pledge the Fifth, by Danzig.
Nick Zito will continue to train Biker Boy, who scored by five lengths after finishing third on October 31 at Churchill Downs in his only other start.
Porter said Biker Boy registered a 3 on the Ragozin Sheets, one of the faster figures for a three-year-old so far this year, but he will not be among the late nominees for the Triple Crown.
“I think his best distance is going to be seven [furlongs] to a mile, maybe a mile-and-a-sixteenth,” Porter said.
Porter did put up the $6,000 late nomination fee for his filly Eight Belles, the winner in all three of her starts this year, including the Martha Washington Stakes and Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park for trainer Larry Jones.
Porter said he is “99% certain” that Eight Belles will start next in the Fantasy Stakes (G2) on April 6 at Oaklawn rather than the Arkansas Derby (G2) against males on April 12.
“They’re definitely going to have 14 entries in the Arkansas Derby, and if you draw one of those outside posts, you’re in trouble,” Porter said. “Larry and I thought it was a lot wiser decision to go to the Fantasy.”
If Eight Belles were to win the Fantasy, Porter said he would compare her speed figures with the top three-year-old colts and decide whether she would logically fit in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1).
“The only way I’d consider going is if she’d be one of the top three picks,” Porter said.
Porter said Kodiak Kowboy, Canada’s champion two-year-old male of 2007, is slated for the Lafayette Stakes on April 6 at Keeneland Race Course.
Kodiak Kowboy won a six-furlong allowance/optional claiming race by six lengths on March 14 at Oaklawn in his first start of the year for trainer Steve Asmussen. Porter owns the Posse colt in partnership with Vinery Stables.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
