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Derby trainers size up post
positions, weather forecast
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| Lookin at Lucky will need luck from the rail
(EquiSport Photos) |
Champion LOOKIN AT LUCKY (Smart Strike), the 3-1 morning-line
favorite for Saturday's Kentucky Derby (G1), galloped 1 1/2 miles
Thursday under exercise rider Dana Barnes.Lookin at Lucky drew the rail, a post position that has not yielded a
Derby winner since Ferdinand in 1986. Trainer Bob Baffert faced many
questions about how the draw might impact his colt's chances of winning
over what is likely to be a wet track on Saturday. Rain is in the
forecast for Friday night and Saturday.
"Sometimes with the weather like that, the inside might be a little
bit better," Baffert said.
"It (the rail) sort of changes things a little bit, but not a whole
lot," Baffert said. "The main thing is that the horse is a good horse.
There have been a few winners out of the one, but not lately. Since we
had the draw and were able to pick, everybody stayed away from there.
The one and the 20 were the last choices.
"Once you get in there, if you shuffled back one time, then you'll
get shuffled back a second, a third, a fourth as the race goes on. We're
going to find out how good this horse is. If he's that good, he'll win
it." |
Baffert joked about the colt not having any luck, but said the post position
is a factor that he and jockey Garrett Gomez must face.
"We're not in love with it, but we have to deal with it," Baffert said.
"There is a long run to the quarter pole. It's not like we have a speed horse.
He comes from off of it. He just needs to break well. He'll be in the gate for a
long time because they load (posts) 1-11 and 2-12 here.
"But you know what? You still need a really good horse. That's what he is.
That's more important than the post."
Gomez said he has no choice but to deal with the post position he was dealt.
"We'll work out a trip and we'll figure out where the speed is going to come
from," the rider said. "We know it's all coming down on top of us and we want to
get underneath that wire the first time as smoothly as possible."
Starting from the rail, Gomez said he must work out the proper trip.
"You've got to be very aggressive," he said. "You've got to hit the gaps that
are available at the time and take what's given and be aggressive."
But Gomez, who finished second on Pioneerof the Nile to longshot Mine That
Bird (Birdstone) last year, said he will not focus on any of the others in the
field.
"There are 20 of them out there," he said. "I learned last year that anybody
can win. Hopefully this year we'll be able to get it done. We feel like the
horse is training well for the race. Now it's all according to the trip."
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| Sidney's Candy will have to work to avoid being hung out wide from post 20
(Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com) |
Trainer John Sadler was over the worst of it Thursday morning at his barn on
the Churchill Downs backstretch. The day before he'd seen his Kentucky Derby
second choice (5-1) SIDNEY'S CANDY (Candy Ride [Arg]) be assigned the far
outside post 20 in Saturday's Run for the Roses and it had taken him aback.
"Initially, I wasn't quite sure what to say," the California-based trainer
said. "I felt like the kid who gets a lump of coal from Santa in his Christmas
stocking. It took me a while to digest it. But in the end, what are you going to
do? It's racing -- deal with it. You get what you get and you do the best you
can with it. That's all you can do."
The conditioner did have one additional thought in the aftermath of Wednesday
post position draw, however.
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"I'm thinking about having a pin made up that I can wear saying: 'Yes, I know
Big Brown won out of the 20 hole.' About 20 people have come up to me and told
me that one."
Big Brown, of course, won the 2008 Derby from post 20. Previously, only one
other horse had accomplished that -- Clyde Van Dusen in 1929.
Sadler, a most practical man who has risen to the top of the training ranks
in his native state by employing his practicality in most everything he does,
has basically put the Derby draw behind him.
"I don't stress about things I can't control," he said. "I'll get together
with my rider (Joe Talamo) and we'll come up with a strategy for the race on
Saturday. I think we're going to be fine."
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| American Lion is on the upgrade
(Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com) |
AMERICAN LION's (Tiznow) victory in the Illinois Derby (G3), in his first try
on dirt, convinced trainer Eoin Harty that he could handle and possibly even
thrive on that surface."I thought it was a really good run," Harty said. "The weather conditions up
there were less than ideal. It was constantly blowing like 30 miles an hour down
the stretch. That was a concern. I wanted to put him on the lead anyway because
it seemed like the race was devoid of speed.
"I was concerned that running into
that 30 mile an hour wind was going to take something out of him, but he
actually kicked away from the other horse at the eighth-pole. That was best part
of the whole race."
Harty said the colt is showing him that he has continued to improve since
that victory at Hawthorne on April 3.
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"His weight is better that it's been," Harty said. "His coat is better. His
attitude is good. He's out of a Storm Cat mare and he has a tendency to get a
little worked up. I've been schooling him every day since I've been here and
every day he goes over there he's better and better. All the signs are good."
Harty grinned as he noted two more reasons to be optimistic.
"I found a four-leaf clover a few days ago and I've drawn (post) number 7,"
he said. "I was number 7 in Dubai (with Dubai World Cup [UAE-G1] winner Well
Armed in 2009). There are a lot of omens."
By drawing post 7, American Lion and jockey David Flores will have to react
to fast horses on both sides. Super Saver is in post 5, Line of David is in post
6, the Baffert-trained CONVEYANCE (Indian Charlie) is in post 12 and Santa Anita
Derby (G1) winner Sidney's Candy is on the far outside in post 20. Harty said
the trip will determine whether American Lion's wins or loses.
"If he makes it around the first turn unscathed, he's got a legitimate shot,"
Harty said. "With (John) Sadler's horse drawing the 20-hole, he's only got one
option. He's
going to have to get out there and clear the field going into the first turn.
Then you've got Baffert in there with Conveyance and there is Line of David.
"I don't know what Sadler's going to do with Line of David because that's his
horse and he's got Sidney's Candy on the outside. If we can be sitting in
behind them, maybe three or four lengths in behind them, unscathed, going into
the first turn I'll be quite happy."
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| Super Saver has been training sharply
(Rickelle Nelson/Horsephotos.com) |
Trainer Todd Pletcher discussed his four charges -- the filly DEVIL MAY CARE
(Malibu Moon) and the colts SUPER SAVER (Maria's Mon), MISSION IMPAZIBLE (Unbridled's
Song) and DISCREETLY MINE (Mineshaft) -- with a media crew.
"All four are doing well," he said. "I'm happy with the way they're coming up
to the race."
Asked about a weather forecast that calls for rain, which in turn could lead
to an off track on Saturday, Pletcher saw possible advantages for his runners in
such a scenario.
"All of our horses handled a wet track well in their breezes Saturday," he
said. "If there's some likelihood of 'slop' or something similar, it may be an
edge for us. We know we can get over it and I'm not sure all the others can say
that. For instance, you've got the California horses that don't see wet tracks.
It's hard to know how they might react to such a situation."
As far as the pace of the race and his horses' likely locations in the
10-furlong test, he offered the following:
"I don't see my horses being part of the leaders. That should be LINE OF
DAVID (Lion Heart) and CONVEYANCE (Indian Charlie). I see Discreetly Mine in the
second tier and Super Saver there, too. The filly (Devil May Care) and Mission
Impazible figure to be either in the second or third tier. I expect the
half-mile split to be somewhere in the :46 range, depending how much Line of
David and Conveyance want it (the lead)."
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The trainer also was asked how he'd compare Devil May Care with his
three-year-old champion filly Rags to Riches, who in 2007 won the Kentucky Oaks
(G1) and the Belmont S. (G1).
"The one thing about those two that's clear in my mind is that I was
confident that Rags to Riches would handle the distance of the Belmont (12
furlongs), and I'm also confident that Devil May Care can handle the distance of
the Derby," he said.
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| Jeremy Noseda has adhered to his long-range plan for Awesome Act
(Neville Hopwood/Horsephotos.com) |
Jeremy Noseda, the trainer of AWESOME ACT (Awesome Again), was on hand for
the morning exercise and was pleased with his colt's appearance.
"Definitely, without question, the horse looks to have moved forward
physically since he was in New York and I am happy with his condition," said the
British horseman, who hadn't seen his Gotham S. (G3) winner since his
disappointing third-place finish in the Wood Memorial (G1) until Tuesday
afternoon.
Noseda had been unable to witness Awesome Act's key six-furlong workout last
week because of the flight stoppage in England caused by ash clouds generated
from an Icelandic volcano. The 46-year-old trainer is hopeful that Awesome Act
will have a better trip than he received in the Wood Memorial in his final Derby
prep.
"There were three factors in the Wood: losing the shoe out of the gate; how
rank he was during the race; and there was always going to be that factor that
he could bounce. I think he bounced," said Noseda, suggesting that his colt
wasn't in peak form for his second start this year after running such a
brilliant race in the Gotham.
"You take those three factors to one side, and we approach the Derby in a
different frame of mind."
Noseda is counting on a much quicker early pace in the Derby than he got in
the Wood to help his colt settle more kindly than he did last time at Aqueduct.
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"He's got a great cruising speed and he's got a big kick in him at the end of
a race. My big query at this point is how effective he'll be at a mile and a
quarter. Saturday will tell us that. But there are plenty of horses in the race
that have the same question to answer," he said.
"You'll need luck in the running. Is that not part of what makes the Kentucky
Derby such a unique race and such a test for a horse?"
Noseda, who shipped Wilko from England to win the 2004 Breeders' Cup Juvenile
(G1) at Lone Star Park, expressed his deep appreciation to trainer Steve
Asmussen and his assistant Scott Blasi for their assistance and guidance in the
training of Awesome Act in his absence.
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| Nick Zito would rather not have an off track for Ice Box
(Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com) |
Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, who will send out the deep closer ICE BOX
(Pulpit) and midpack runner JACKSON BEND (Hear No Evil), is hoping for a fast
track for Derby 136. Zito acknowledged that weather reports for Saturday that
might result in an off track should be welcomed by the connections of the speed
horses in the field."Speed will carry in the slop -- always does," Zito said. "You saw what
happened in Go for Gin's year (1994). There was a lot of speed, but Holy Bull
didn't break, and that was it."
Zito, who trained Go for Gin as well as 1991 Derby hero Strike the Gold,
commented on what it takes to win the garland of roses.
"It's very, very tough, because everything has to go just perfect -- every
single thing," Zito said. "You've got to have great weeks; you can't have
anything wrong; the workout's got to be perfect; the horse has got to be
perfect; the trip's got to be perfect; everything's got to be perfect.
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"And you've got to have the horse. He has to have done something."
On the morning after drawing post position 3 for the "Run for the Roses,"
NOBLE'S PROMISE (Cuvee) had trainer Ken McPeek feeling as confident as he's been
all week. The Arkansas Derby (G1)'s beaten favorite continues to give his
trainer all the right signs.
"He's killing the feed tub like he's mad at it," McPeek said. "I have a rule
of thumb that horses who eat fast, run fast.
"Noble's Promise really had a good morning out there today. He galloped
strongly and I couldn't feel better about where we're drawn and where he's at
physically."
Willie Martinez makes his first Derby riding appearance in 11 years on
Saturday when he partners with Noble's Promise.
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