The
mad scramble for Derby points continues today as the “Road To The Kentucky
Derby” travels to bayou country where trainer Todd Pletcher will send Revolutionary, the 3-1
morning-line favorite, and Palace
Malice (5-1) to the starting gate in the 100th running of the $1
million Louisiana Derby (G2) at the Fair Grounds racetrack.
I
like both colts in this race. But, of the two, I’m especially interested to see
how well Revolutionary runs. I profiled him in my 2013
Kentucky Derby Outlook
as a colt to watch on the Derby trail, and so far, he’s met my expectations.
Revolutionary
comes into today’s race with a 2-1-2 record in five starts including a narrow
win in the Withers Stakes (G3) last month at Aqueduct. Stuck in traffic in the
stretch, it looked like Revolutionary would get shut out of the money. But, he
found a hole and split horses in the final strides to get up for the win by a
neck.
Any
improvement off of his Withers Stakes win should make Revolutionary
competitive, and he has the breeding to perform well in today’s race.
Revolutionary
is a descendant of the Cherokee
Run sire line
and in my July 3 blog of 2009 I noted the importance
of keeping track of colts from that line when they stretch out to route racing.
Over
the years, the Cherokee Run sire line has produced a lot of good middle-
distance runners such as War Pass, the sire of Revolutionary.
Other good runners from that line include: Yonaguska, Kafwain, Sir
Cherokee, During, Chelokee, Zanjero, Recapturetheglory, Musket
Man and The Pamplemousse.
In
addition, the distaff pedigree of Revolutionary is very strong and the
tail-female line is reinforced with the stallions A.P.
Indy, Hoist The Flag, Herbager and Court Martial.
The
tail-female line descends from the outstanding foundation mare La
Troienne (Family
1-x) and that line has produced eight Classic Champion Thoroughbreds: Super
Saver (2010), Smarty
Jones (2004), Go
For Gin
(1994), Sea Hero (1993), Prairie Bayou (1993), Easy
Goer (1989), Personality (1970) and Bimelech (1940).
It
remains to be seen if Revolutionary has any classic potential. However, I’m looking
for him to run a good race today.
This
is the time of year when 3-year-old colts can make big improvements in a short
period of time and Palace Malice looks like he could be ready to make a big
step forward.
After
a four-month layoff, Palace Malice returned to racing in January, finishing
second in a 7-furlong sprint in the slop at Gulfstream Park. Pletcher wheeled
him back a month later where he finished third in the Risen Star Stakes (G2),
one-half length shy of victory.
Palace
Malice and the winner, Ive
Struck a Nerve, were the only two in that four-horse blanket finish that
rallied from off the pace, and that race was a good conditioning for a young
colt that has room to improve in his third start off of the layoff.
Palace
Malice, with a 1-2-1 record in four starts, has been close to victory in all of
his previous starts. But he appears to be behind the form of his sire, Curlin, who was
undefeated in three starts, including a win in the Rebel Stakes (G3) and Arkansas
Derby (G2), en route to a third-place finish in the 2007 Kentucky Derby (G1).
Curlin
went on to win the Preakness Stakes (G1) by a head and he lost the Belmont
Stakes (G1) by a head. He won numerous Eclipse awards, compiled an 11-2-2
record in 16 career starts and earned over $10.5 million dollars.
Palace
Malice’s grandsire, Smart Strike, has proven to be an
outstanding sire of champions and classic champions. He sired the Classic
Champion Thoroughbreds Curlin and Lookin at Lucky and he’s the damsire of the 2009 Kentucky Derby
winner Mine That Bird.
In
addition, Smart Strike is the sire of numerous Canadian Sovereign Award
winners: Soaring Free, Portcullis, Added
Edge, Eye of the Sphynx, Gold
Strike; and
Smart Strike is the sire of the American Eclipse Award winner English Channel.
Royal Anthem, the damsire of Palace Malice, was an outstanding
turf horse who did his best racing at 10-furlongs and further winning the Fairway
Stakes, King Edward VII Stakes (Group 2) and Juddmonte International Stakes
(Group 1) in England as well as the Canadian International Stakes (G1), then, Palace
Malice should run better as the races get longer.
Another
move forward will make Palace Malice competitive in today’s race.
Two
long shots I like in this race are Departing (8-1) and Sunbean (12-1) who will go to
the starting gate for trainer Al Stall.
Departing
is undefeated in three starts including a win in the Texas Heritage Stakes on
March 2 and another move forward will make him competitive. Sunbean comes into
today’s race with a 3-1-0 record in four starts and he especially looked good
winning his last race, the Gentilly Stakes, by an impressive 4¾-lengths.
*****
The
winner of the Louisiana Derby (G2) will receive 100 points while second-place
will yield 40 points, the third-place finisher will receive 20 points and the
fourth-place finisher will receive 10 points. Here’s a look at the current top
20 list:
Kentucky
Derby 2013 Leaderboard
(Updated
March 29, 2013)
Individual Leaders ranking,
total points, Trainer, Non-Restricted Stakes Earnings
1
= Will Take Charge, 60, D. Wayne Lukas, $512,971
2
= Vyjack, 50, Rudy Rodriguez, $405,000
3
= Govenor Charlie, 50, Bob Baffert, $400,000
4
= Black Onyx, 50, Kelly Breen, $317,130
5
= Orb, 50, Shug McGaughey III, $240,000
6
= Verrazano, 50, Todd Pletcher, $210,000
7
= Hear The Ghost, 50, Jerry Hollendorfer, $195,400
8
= Oxbow, 36, D. Wayne Lukas, $316,000
9
= Uncaptured, 30, Mark Casse, $394,674
10
= Flashback, 30, Bob Baffert, $180,000
11
= Goldencents, 29, Doug O’Neill, $758,000
12
= Shanghai Bobby, 24, Todd Pletcher, $1,731,000
13
= Java’s War, 22, Ken McPeek, $201,772
14
= Den’s Legacy, 20, Bob Baffert, $325,000
15
= Falling Sky, 20, John Terranova II, $157,500
16
= West Hills Giant, 20, John Terranova II, $89,000
17
= Code West, 20, Bob Baffert, $80,000
18
= Dynamic Sky, 13, Mark Casse, $289,168
19
= Speak Logistics, 11, Eddie Pleasa, Jr., $52,500
20
= Itsmyluckyday, 10, Eddie Plesa, Jr., $393,600
