NEWS
Watch Me Go a go for Derby following Tuesday workout
Posted: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 4:28 PM
WATCH ME GO WINS TAMPA BAY DERBY
photos by Z/Thoroughbred Times
by Ed DeRosa
Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner Watch Me Go breezed five furlongs in 1:02.60 on Wednesday at Tampa Bay Downs for trainer Kathleen O’Connell, and Gilbert Campbell said that he would target the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) for his West Acre homebred assuming the colt exited the workout in good order.
The move was the first for Watch Me Go since a sixth-place finish as the 11-to-10 favorite in the Illinois Derby (G3) on April 9 at Hawthorne Race Course. Campbell offered no excuses, however.
“He just didn’t fire; he never took the bit—just all the normal excuses,” Campbell said. “Every once in a while you get a race like that, and we’re not alone among three-year-olds with a bad race this year.”
Watch Me Go currently ranks 21st among Kentucky Derby hopefuls by lifetime earnings in graded stakes, and only the top 20 pass the entry box on May 4 for the May 7 race. The biggest threats to Watch Me Go’s Derby participation are Silver Medallion winning the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G3) and/or no horses ahead of him on the list declaring from the classic.
If Watch Me Go gains entry into the Kentucky Derby, then it would cap an incredible year for Campbell’s Stone Hedge Farm South operation, which not only bred and raised Watch Me Go but also stands his sire for an advertised fee of $2,500.
For Campbell, Watch Me Go’s story began at the 2001 Fasig-Tipton fall mixed sale when he went to $25,000 to acquire Sabbath Song, an unraced Deputy Minister mare whose dam, the stakes-winning Irish Stronghold mare Sirona, has produced stakes winners and a stakes producer.
“The distance [of the Derby] is in our favor,” Gilbert said of the 1 ¼ miles. “He’s bred pretty good to go long. I always said I’d go to the Derby when I have a horse running, so I’m hoping this first time for us will be a real thrill. If it happens it happens, if it doesn’t we’ll find another route.”
Watch Me Go has won four of ten starts and has earned $314,345.
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: Robert, Hollywood, FL on April 21, 2011 at 10:34 AM
Sure would like to see this classy breeder /owner get a trip to the Big Dance. With the hard working and journeymen trainer Kathleen O'Connell there would be plenty of South Florida racing fans cheering them on.
Watching the slicked back hair and Armani suits of Daddy's Boy Pletcher's cooperate style racing becomes nauceous real quick. Hopefully this Derby winner will come out of a stable of true thoroughbred racing aficionados and not an ego trip for the wealthy.
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