NEWS
Road to Triple Crown: WinStar
poised with record chance
Posted: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 7:27 PM
SUPER SAVER
Reed Palmer/Churchill Downs photo
by Jeff Lowe
WinStar Farm tied an owners’ record with three starters in the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) and is ready to make its own mark with four candidates this year.
American Lion, Rule, and Super Saver have been on the Derby path since each one recorded a graded stakes win over a three-week period last fall. Endorsement joined the mix with an upset victory in the Sunland Derby (G3) on March 28 (video).
Elliott Walden, WinStar’s vice president and racing manager, said he sees all four at about the same level.
“We don’t have Eskendereya or Lookin At Lucky, but we’ve got four of the next seven or eight horses,” Walden said. “Without having the favorite, I feel like we have a good chance.”
The Derby has been a primary target for WinStar in developing stallion prospects, and the stable has been unusually proficient in reaching the big race, with nine starters during the last four years. The best finish came in 2006, when Bluegrass Cat finished second to Barbaro.
“We just feel blessed to have them,” Walden said. “It’s not something where we’re running horses just to run them. Fortunately, they’ve been able to prove themselves, and I can’t really separate them. I’ve had people ask me who I like the best, and I can’t really pick one. If I had to pull out one, I wouldn’t know which one to pull out. … The four that we have are in that second group that has a legitimate chance and a lot times ends up coming up and winning the race.”
The quartet has managed to get there without any major setbacks.
American Lion, the Hollywood Prevue Stakes (G3) winner last November, finished third and fourth in his first two starts this year, but he made a promising transition to dirt with a victory in the Illinois Derby (G3) on April 3 at Hawthorne Race Course (video).
The Tiznow colt breezed four furlongs in a bullet :46.80 on Wednesday morning on the synthetic Polytrack surface at Keeneland Race Course. He scored a maiden win on the same track last October.
“He worked good. He went a little faster than expected, but he did it so easily,” trainer Eoin Harty said.
Rule scored back-to-back wins in the Boyd Gaming’s Delta Jackpot Stakes (G3) in December and Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) on February 13 (video) before a third-place finish as the favorite in the Florida Derby (G1) on March 20 (video).
Rule gave way after setting a swift pace, finishing 1 ¼ lengths behind the winner, Ice Box, and close runner-up, Pleasant Prince. Rule’s jockey, John Velazquez, blamed himself for the defeat.
“[Trainer Todd Pletcher] said Johnny’s never apologized to him like he did after the Florida Derby,” Walden said. “It’s just one of those things. It’s not easy to be jockey; that’s why they’re good when they’re good and get paid well, but they’re human. He’s always felt like Rule didn’t have to be on the lead. That’s what was so unfortunate about the Florida Derby, there was enough to pace that he didn’t need to be there. But hindsight is 20-20, so we’re not looking back.”
Rule will get a new jockey in the Derby, with Velazquez set to ride probable favorite Eskendereya for Pletcher.
Super Saver, another Pletcher-trained colt, finished second by a neck to longshot Line of David in the Arkansas Derby (G1) on April 10 (video), and he will return to the site of his five-length win in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) on November 28. Calvin Borel, the winning rider in two of the last three Derbys, has the mount.
“They’re not resting on their two-year-old form, which is great,” Walden said. “Rule won the Sam F. Davis and was a little unfortunate in the Florida Derby. Super Saver is coming the right way and American Lion is coming the right way. So, while they picked up some earnings as two-year-olds that helped them get there, I think their recent form is definitely good enough to warrant leading them over there.”
Endorsement not only gained a Derby berth in his stakes debut by winning the Sunland Derby by three lengths, he also provided the first graded stakes triumph for trainer Shannon Ritter, who was an assistant to Walden during his training career.
Ritter was the exercise rider for Victory Gallop, who spoiled Real Quiet’s Triple Crown bid by a nose in the 1998 Belmont Stakes (G1), after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1).
Jockey Robby Albarado will stick with Endorsement in the Derby.
WinStar does have a contender in one of the final graded prep races on Saturday, with Chief Counsel to start from the outside in a field of 12 for the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G2) at Keeneland Race Course.
Pletcher has two horses in the field—El Camino Real Derby (G3) winner Connemara and Rushaway Stakes winner Exhi—as he tries to win the Lexington for the third straight year and fourth time since 2005.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: John, Somerset, KY on April 17, 2010 at 01:13 AM
There's a lot of different scenario's that could play out in the 2010 Kentucky Derby. The biggest reason being, none of these colt's has ever tried 1-1/4. As a trainer, you can only suspect, but you never really know for sure how your horse,or horses are going to handle the distance. Post Position draw will mean a lot this year, IMO. There's no clear "Big Brown" like horse in the field that can jump right out of #20 and come all the way over on the field without it effecting him. So it come's down to a game of strategy and tactics. Whether or not Sidney's Candy can convert his synthetic form over to conventional dirt could be a key factor in the race. Rule is quite proven over dirt, but he can't be on the lead, and make the 1-1/4. Whoever is in front when the field hit's that long Churchill Downs stretch better watch for Eskendereya and Lookin At Lucky who will likely be stalking the pace the whole way. If both still have plenty left in the stretch, then it could possibly turn into a two horse race for the wire. IMO.
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Posted by: Medlocke, Nancy, KY on April 16, 2010 at 08:47 PM
I think if he run's anywhere close to the form that he ran in the Wood Memorial, Eskendereya is going to be difficult for any of them to beat. Difficult, but not impossible. With a 20 horse field, post position draw, and the kind of trip that you get in the race mean everything. No matter how good of a colt you've got, if he draws poorly, or get's just flat out boxed in with a bad trip, sometime's even talent can't overcome all of that. That's why I like Rule a lot for the Derby. For 95% of the Florida Derby, Rule was much the best horse in the race. Velazquez was absolutely correct. If he hadn't allowed Rule to get into an early speed dual with Pulsion, and taken him back just right off of the pace, he may have been able to withstand the late closing Ice Box and Pleasant Prince. I'm certain that Pletcher likely feel's that Rule, behind Eskendereya may be his best horse in the race, IMO. So he'll make sure that Rule get's a good mount. If Rule tuck's in right behind the pace, which will likely be Sidney's Candy, get's a good trip, and time's his move right, I expect Rule to be right there in the mix with a shot at winning the roses. TJMO.
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Posted by: Sauceyshea, Englewood, FL on April 15, 2010 at 08:35 AM
Endorsement could be a major player in the Derby. Ability to rate close and if he shows closing ability he had at Sunland. The Derby is packed with speed and outside of Esky,I don't think the rest will hold on. My top 4-Esky,Endorsement,Dublin and Super Saver,in a box Tri. and exacta. Watch for Setsuko in the Belmont.
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