Dramatic Changes In Kentucky Derby Preparation

The prep race campaigns for all potential Derby starters.

A Column by Steve Davidowitz
April 24, 2007

It started last year, when Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby after a five-week layoff, the longest gap leading up to America’s most famous and most testing race in more than 50 years. More accurately, the shift away from traditional training methods for the 1 1/4-mile Derby began subtly in the 1990s when a handful of trainers began to get decent Derby results despite training their contenders far away from Churchill Downs.

In the ’old days’, a horse that failed to train—and train well—at Churchill Downs could be safely eliminated from contention. Meanwhile, the horses that trained superbly over the quirky mile racing surface invariably ran to their works, often dominating the top few finishing positions.

As far as Derby prep races were concerned, winning was optional, but having a prep race campaign of three or four races from February through mid April was equally important. The reason for this was no mystery. To get a relatively young, rapidly maturing three-year-old race horse ready to stretch out to a 1 1/4-mile race on a tightly turning narrow track in a typically large field of 15 to 20 horses in front of 130,000 boisterous fans was almost impossible without a series of well-designed prep races.

The Derby game changed further as trainers lightened the overall racing schedules for all of their horses in the modern era when Lasix and Butazolidin were legalized for racing purposes and other more powerful, illegal drugs were introduced into the sport. More recently, a handful of astute trainers even began to train for the Derby on their home tracks away from the hordes of media.

* Funny Cide won the 2003 Derby after training at Belmont Park until three days before the race.
* Giacomo won the 2005 Derby after training in southern California until four days before the race.
* Barbaro shipped to Louisville from the serene Palm Beach Downs training center in Florida, just in time to uncork a spectacular final workout that tipped off a most convincing, seemingly effortless victory in the 2006 Kentucky Derby.

Shifting forward, many contenders for this year’s Derby are being prepared in a manner that would have been labeled heresy five years ago.

Note: When the final Derby entries are accepted Wednesday morning, May 2, only the top 20 graded stakes earners of the 24 listed below will get into the race. Post positions will be drawn later the same day.

ANY GIVEN SATURDAY. Todd Pletcher trainee has had the traditional three Derby preps, but must rebound from a weak try in the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes (G3), the same way Todd Pletcher’s Bluegrass Cat rebounded from a poor race in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) last year to finish second to Barbaro.

CHELOKEE. Promising colt made a relatively late stakes debut for Trainer Michael Matz, went a good third to Scat Daddy in the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park on March 31 while having to alter course in the upper stretch. Matz did train Barbaro in 2006, but that horse had won four previous stakes before his five-week gap leading to the 2006 Kentucky Derby. Moreover, Chelokee lacks sufficient graded stakes earnings to assure a spot in the 20-horse Derby field. He is tied for #23 with Reporting for Duty on the graded stakes earnings list.

CIRCULAR QUAY. Pletcher-trained winner of the $600,000 Louisiana Derby (G2) on March 10 with a powerful late rally, skipped over the early April prep races to be trained up to the Derby. This will translate to an eight-week gap between his last prep race and the Kentucky Derby. That is well beyond anything seen from a Derby winner in the past 75 years. It also means that Circular Quay—a light-bodied colt—will not have raced beyond 1 1/16 miles, which also will break new ground for a Derby winner. One more thing: Circular Quay will be one of several horses with only two starts this year, a limited campaign successfully employed only once in the past 60 years—by trainer David Cross with Sunny’s Halo in 1983. All things considered, an interesting test case for the radical new methods being applied to train Derby horses.

COBALT BLUE. O’Neill-trained horse with good speed owned by entertainer Merv Griffin, faltered badly in his second of two prep races this year, when he faded from view in the $500,000 Illinois Derby (G2) won by Cowtown Cat. Worked unimpressively since that April 7 race and is coming into the Derby as a horse who probably should be scratched. Would break all precedents if he somehow managed to win.

COWTOWN CAT. Won a pair of graded stakes among his four prep races this year for Pletcher. This puts him in a category that goes against the grain of the modern trends of fewer, well-spaced preps we are cataloguing here.

CURLIN. Exciting prospect trained by Steve Asmussen, has won all three of his career starts—all this year—by large margins. These include a pair of graded stakes at Oaklawn Park in which he a showed a versatile running style and a smooth way of going for such an inexperienced horse. Indeed, Curlin will be attempting to defy more than a century of Derby history. No horse since Apollo in 1882 has won this race without having raced as a two-year-old and no horse since Regret in 1915 has won the Derby with only three career starts.

DOMINICAN. Won both of his prep races with strong finishes, but both were on the artificial Polytrack surfaces at Turfway Park and Keeneland. Has failed to win in four tries on traditional dirt and is one of several contenders with only two prep races.

GREAT HUNTER. Won his 2007 return at Santa Anita on March 3, in a manner that suggested he had improved upon his good two-year-old form in 2006. Was interfered with while rallying in the bizarre $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on April 14, as profiled in last week’s column (see archives). Doug O’Neill has three horses competing in this Kentucky Derby, and as a first timer in the Derby it certainly wasn’t his experience that led him to a two prep race campaign.

HARD SPUN. Good-looking winner of five of his six career outings had had the traditional three preps for the Derby. But, he will be running with a six-week gap since he toyed with a moderate field in the nine-furlong $500,000 Lane’s End Stakes (G2) at Turfway Park on March 24. Will have an important workout at Churchill Downs in a few days that I will report on—along with all other training moves—in next week’s Derby Week column.

IMAWILDANDCRAZYGUY. Low-profile Florida-based trainer Bill Kaplan also has Storm in May eligible to run in this Derby and is still in Florida with insufficient earnings to make it into the top 20. Was a distant sixth in the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) won by Scat Daddy after a second-place finish in the spill-marred $300,000 Risen Star Stakes (G3). Might run in a Calder Stakes this weekend. He is #22 on the graded earnings list.

LIQUIDITY. O’Neill trainee will come into the Derby with three preps, but he did tire badly when sixth to Circular Quay in the $600,000 Louisiana Derby (G2) and was a disappointing fourth to Tiago in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1). Will the traditional three preps help him to be more than a pace factor at Churchill Downs?

NOBIZ LIKE SHOBIZ. High-class performer was a little hyper with blinkers added to his equipment, but ran straight and true to win the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct in his third start of the year on April 7. Trainer Barclay Tagg is following the same approach he used with Funny Cide, training him in New York.

REPORTING FOR DUTY. Lightly regarded colt has four straight second place finishes this year—all at one mile or longer—including his stakes debut in the $500,000 Illinois Derby (G2) easily won by Cowtown Cat at Hawthorne April 7. Trainer Steve Asmussen is seeking his first Derby victory and also has the highly rated Curlin in the field. Tied with Chelokee for #23.

SAM P.. Another Pletcher-trained Derby candidate. Pletcher, by the way, hasn’t won a Triple Crown race in 21 attempts. This one has three Derby preps, including a second to Great Hunter in the $200,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita on March 3 and a third in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) at Gulfstream on April 7. While he will be coming to the race with a five-week layoff, Sam P. is working at Churchill Downs.

SCAT DADDY. Pletcher’s most reliable performer has been 1-2-3 in all but one of his eight career starts and was a sharp winner of the $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream without reaching a Derby-like speed figure in any race to date. Obvious contender, even with his five-week absence. By the way, Pletcher’s five likely starters would match Nick Zito’s record five performers in 2005 (all finished out of the money).

SEDGEFIELD. Has run well on grass and Polytrack for trainer Darrin Miller, finishing second to Hard Spun in the nine-furlong $500,000 Lane’s End Stakes (G2) at Turfway on March 24. That will give him six weeks to the Derby, but he has been training at Churchill Downs. Number 20 on the graded stakes earnings list and likely to run.

SLEW’S TIZZY. Was one of few wire-to-wire winners at Keeneland this spring when he scored at 40-1 in the 1 1/16 mile $325,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G2) on April 21. This was a remarkable recovery of form after a spill in the $300,000 Risen Star Stakes (G3) at the Fair Grounds on February 10, followed by a non-effort in the $600,000 Louisiana Derby (G2). While trainer Greg Fox’s first reaction was to skip the Derby and point for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 19, Derby Fever can be an intoxicating disease. If he does go, he will have only two weeks rest and 2 1/2 prep races, considering the fall he took in his 2007 debut. But this is a year when all the rules are being challenged.

STORMELLO. California-based speed type trained by Bill Currin was shipped from California to Florida to run a close second to Scat Daddy in the $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and then was asked to endure another cross country journey prior to his fourth place finish in the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) on March 31. Not only could that prove to be a tactical training miscue, (Currin probably should have run Stormello in the Santa Anita Derby on his home track), but Stormello will run in the Kentucky Derby with only two Derby preps, both strenuous from every standpoint.

STORM IN MAY. Plugged along for a distant second to Curlin in the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G2) on April 14 and that was a typical performance for this hearty colt that has raced five times this year and has 12 in-the-money finishes in 13 career starts. While he is a throwback to a bygone era, he has never beaten a serious Derby contender.

STREET SENSE. Peaked beautifully to win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Churchill Downs by 10 lengths with a strong move coming off the turn while also riding the fast rail path that day. Trainer Carl Nafzger won the 1990 Kentucky Derby with an active prep race campaign, but decided last fall that Street Sense would only have two prep races this year. Won the $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G3) by a nose over Any Given Saturday in his return, on March 17 and was only beaten a nose by Dominican in the very slow early—very fast late $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on April 14. While Street Sense did bear in on rivals three times in the Blue Grass, he worked straight as an arrow at Churchill Downs on Tuesday, April 23 to suggest he just might defy the two prep race taboo.

TEUFLESBERG. Speedy miler with eight in-the-money finishes from 14 career starts, set the slow pace in the $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) yet still tired and bore out into Great Hunter inside the final furlong to finish fourth. Despite four prep races and an appetite for more, it will be difficult for him to outlast the entire field at 1 1/4 miles. He is #21 on the graded earnings list.

TIAGO. Came to life in his third start of the year to win the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) at 29-1 on April 7 with a last-to-first finish, somewhat like his half-brother Giacomo’s performance at 50-1 in the 2005 Kentucky Derby. Trained by John Sherriffs and ridden by Mike Smith, both of whom engineered Giacomo’s Derby victory, Tiago is being trained in a similar manner in Southern California and will arrive at Churchill Downs next Monday or Tuesday.

XCHANGER. Earned enough graded stakes money as a two-year-old in sprint stakes to have a ticket into the top 20 for an automatic Derby starting berth. But, was awful this year in a series of preps until he scored a mild upset over weak rivals in the $125,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico on April 21. Trainer Mark Shuman is trying to decide between the Derby or the Preakness, but not many trainers with eligible horses turn down the Derby.

ZANJERO. Has a series of four stretch-running, in-the-money finishes in stakes stretching back to the $200,000 Remsen Stakes (G2) last fall, the $300,000 Risen Star Stakes (G3) and the $600,000 Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds and the recent $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes Stakes (G1). This is Asmussen’s second-string Derby contender to Curlin, but his consistency and traditional handling are worth keeping in mind.

Next week’s Derby week column will zero in on the horses training best for the race.

Steve Davidowitz has written two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing---Betting Thoroughbreds and The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing. He also is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus and his columns appear in the Bodog Racebook each week.