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Archarcharch, Brilliant Speed fine after big victories

Posted: Sunday, April 17, 2011 5:40 PM

by Mike Curry

Archarcharch and his connections could not be better on Sunday, one day after the Arch colt’s neck victory in the Arkansas Derby (G1) punched his ticket to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 7.

Trainer William “Jinks” Fires and owner Robert Yagos were reveling in the victory at Oaklawn Park the day after a very special win for both of them.

“He’s great,” Fires, of Riverdale, Arkansas, said of Archarcharch, who also won the Southwest Stakes (G3) before a third-place finish in the Rebel Stakes (G2) on March 19. “It’s been incredible. Everybody has called. It felt like everyone in Arkansas was in the winner’s circle.”

Yagos said the close finish took its toll on him as Archarcharch dug in gamely to turn back the late charge from runner-up Nehro by a fast-diminishing neck (video).

“I sure feel like we were in a horse race yesterday,” said Yagos, an owner of a salvage yard in Jacksonville, Arkansas. “I told everyone that if we keep up this stress my hair is going to turn as white as Bob Baffert.”

While the stress might be getting to Archarcharch’s owner, Yagos said because of unique circumstances he is quite confident his colt will handle the excitement and media crush awaiting him at Churchill Downs.

“Just before we sent him to be broken, he lived with us on the farm, and that’s right next to the salvage yard,” said Yagos. “He’s been used to forklifts and trucks and equipment since he was a baby. And we are also right in the flight path for an Air Force base. We get those big C-130s coming and going all the time. He’s sure going to be used to all the noise.”

For the connections of Nehro, a talented Mineshaft colt who has now come up a neck short in both the Louisiana Derby (G2) and Arkansas Derby (G1), Sunday was a day to reflect on what might have been.

“Those are $800,000 worth of inches there,” said Darren Fleming, assistant to Nehro’s trainer Steve Asmussen.

But with $400,000, Nehro also has a spot secured in the 20-horse field for the Kentucky Derby, which is determined by graded stakes earnings if the race is oversubscribed. He will make the trip from Oaklawn to Churchill on Tuesday.

Arkansas Derby third-place finisher Dance City and stablemate Brethren, who finished 11th, both are slated to ship to Louisville on Tuesday on a flight that also will include Arkansas Derby fourth-place finisher Sway Away. Trainer Bob Baffert said he has not had time to decide if beaten 4-to-5 favorite The Factor will continue on to the Kentucky Derby.

In Lexington, trainer Tom Albertrani was considering his next move with Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) winner Brilliant Speed, who rallied from last to first to prevail by a nose on Keeneland Race Course’s synthetic Polytrack surface (video). The $450,000 winner’s share guaranteed his spot in the derby field and Albertrani is confident 1 1/4 miles will be no problem for the Dynaformer colt, but he lost his only two career starts on dirt by a combined margin of 40 1/4 lengths.

“Some horses take to the Polytrack and some don’t,” said Albertrani, who also sent out Blue Grass third-place finisher King Congie. “We thought these two would make the transition to Polytrack. The transition from Polytrack to dirt remains to be seen.”

“He trained well on the dirt at Palm Meadows [Training Center],” Albertrani said of Live Oak Stud’s homebred Brilliant Speed. “I remember when I galloped [1994 champion turf male] Paradise Creek, he’d go a half in :46 or :47 on dirt but seldom repeat that in a race on dirt. The same thing happened when I was in Dubai. Occasionally, they would run a good race, but they were not consistent. It might just be the right day for them.”

Albertrani said a decision would be made in the next couple of days regarding when Brilliant Speed would ship to Churchill, after he talks with Live Oak owner Charlotte Weber.

“That’s up to Mrs. Weber,” Albertrani said. “We would probably go over a week before and have one breeze over the track.”

Plans for West Point Thoroughbreds’ King Congie have not been determined.

“We talked after the race and we might give the Preakness Stakes (G1) a try,” Albertrani said, noting the colt had not been nominated to the $200,000 American Turf Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs on May 6. “We have a lot of options with him, things like the Virginia Derby (G2) and the Secretariat [Stakes (G1)].”