Indiana Derby draws stretchout types, Kentucky Derby alumni

Neither Tip Top Thomas nor Big Truzz have run around two turns, but nonetheless might have some say in the outcome of the $300,000 Indiana Derby (G3) on Saturday.

The signature event of the season at Horseshoe Indianapolis, the 1 1/16-mile route has also attracted three Kentucky Derby (G1) starters plus a viable contender from the barn of Brad Cox, who has won the past two editions of the Indiana Derby.

Tip Top Thomas, who likes to race on or near the lead, finished a clear second to Chancer McPatrick last season in the Champagne (G1), his only prior stakes attempt. After a season-opening loss at Keeneland, Tip Top Thomas enters the Indiana Derby off a wire-to-wire allowance win at Aqueduct going a one-turn mile.

Big Truzz won at first asking over the Keeneland strip in April, and has since dropped two in a row to the top three-year-old sprinter Patch Adams, first in a Churchill Downs allowance and most recently in the Woody Stephens (G1) at Saratoga. But the Brian Lynch trainee is supremely bred for distance, being by Justify and out of a Curlin mare.

Chunk of Gold, Coal Battle, and Publisher all finished up the track in the Kentucky Derby, with Chunk of Gold bouncing back to finish second as the favorite in the Ohio Derby (G3) two weeks ago. Coal Battle was subsequently third in the Matt Winn (G3), while the maiden and Arkansas Derby (G1) runner-up, Publisher, has his first run since the classic.

Cox has a serious contender in Instant Replay. Third in the Louisiana Derby (G2) in his stakes debut, Instant Replay has since scored back-to-back wins in the Bathhouse Row S. and Texas Derby, both times as an odds-on choice.

The Indiana Derby field is completed by Master Controller, Shan, and Brotha Keny, all outsiders from a class perspective.