©2018 Calvin L.
Carter. All rights reserved.
This weekend, we’ll log a lot of
miles on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. On Friday the last race on the European road to Derby glory continues on
the all-weather surface in the 32Red Burradon Stakes at Newcastle Racecourse at High Gosforth
Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Saturday,
the road takes us first to Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, the “City of Gold” in the United Arab Emirates and finally we’ll travel to
Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida.
At Meydan Racecourse a field of nine
young Thoroughbreds has been drawn for the 19th running of the $2
million UAE Derby (G2), and GOLD
TOWN will go to the starting gate as
the Twinspires.com 6-5 morning-line favorite.
Live television coverage
of Dubai World Cup Day can be seen on TVG beginning at 7:45 a.m. ET. XBTV will
present online coverage beginning at 6:30 a.m. ET.
Gold Town comes into this race
with a 4-0-1 record in eight starts including an impressive win in the UAE 2000
Guineas (G3). Here’s the video
and chart
call:
GOLD
TOWN soon led, kicked clear three furlongs out, ran on well, easily.
In his second start of the
season, Gold Town pulled away in the stretch to win by an impressive 10 lengths.
Street Cry,
the sire of Gold Town, was an outstanding, multiple graded stakes winner who
finished in the money in all 12 of his lifetime starts, compiling a 5-6-1
record with $5,150,837 in career earnings.
As a two-year-old, Street Cry
lost out on graded stakes honors by the narrowest of margins with second-place
finishes in both the Del Mar Futurity (G2) and Norfolk Stakes (G2) and a
third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Stakes (G1).
As a three-year-old, Street Cry
won the UAE 2,000 Guineas and finished second in both the UAE Derby (G2) and
Discovery Handicap (G3).
Street Cry’s best season was as a
four-year-old when he compiled a 3-1-0 record in four starts with victories in
the Maktoum Challenge-Round 3 (G2), Dubai World Cup (G1) and Stephen Foster
Handicap (G1). Street Cry finished his racing career with a second-place finish
in the Whitney Handicap (G1).
Gold Town has a B Classic
Champion Thoroughbred Profile®
and that makes him competitive in this race. He’s undefeated in two starts as a
two-year-old which he’s won by a combined 14¼ lengths.
He has room to improve in his
third start of the season and I look for Gold Town to run a good race.
A long shot I like is THREEANDFOURPENCE
(10-1) who comes into this race with a 1-2-0 record in four starts including a
second-place finish in the 32Red Patton Stakes. Here’s
the video
and chart
call of that race:
THREEANDFOURPENCE
Prominent, soon led, under pressure and
headed 1½ furlongs out, kept on, not match winner final 100 yards.
In his debut as a three-year-old,
Threeandfourpence finished a respectable second off a four-month layoff, just
three quarters of a length shy of victory.
War
Front,
the sire of Threeandfourpence, was a graded-stakes winner of the 8½-furlong Princelet Stakes which he won by 8-lengths in a
final time of 1:41.79. However, most of War Front’s other races were in sprints
where he had a penchant for finishing second. But, he did win the 6-furlong
Alfred G. Vanderbilt Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G2) by 2½-lengths.
At
stud, War Front sired Soldat, winner of the 2010 With Anticipation
Stakes (G2) and second-place finisher in the 8-furlong Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf
Stakes (G2), and 8½-furlong Pilgrim Stakes (G3). Soldat went on as a
three-year-old to win the 9-furlong Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2).
He
sired The Factor, a speedy colt who as a
two-year-old won the 7-furlong San Vicente Stakes (G2) and went on as a
three-year-old to win the 8½-furlong Rebel Stakes (G2).
War
Front’s lifetime top runners include: Lines of Battle, Departing, Declaration of War, Warning Flag, Lancaster Bomber, Summer Front, War
Dancer,
Roly Poly, Avenge, Jack
Milton,
Air Force Blue, Data
Link
and Hit it a Bomb.
Threeandfourpence
has an
A+ Classic Champion Thoroughbred Profile® and he’s the best-bred horse in this
herd. His breeding indicates that he should run well in the stretch out in
distance and he has room to improve in his second start of the season.
Another long shot I like is YULONG WARRIOR (15-1) who comes into this race
off an impressive win in the Emirates.com Al Bastakiya Stakes. Here’s the video and chart
call
of that race:
YULONG
WARRIOR soon led, ridden clear two furlongs out, ran on well, easily.
Yulong
Warrior set the pace from the start and pulled away in the stretch to easily
win by an impressive 11 lengths.
Street
Sense, the sire
of Yulong Warrior, was a multiple graded stakes winner that compiled a 6-4-2
record in 13 starts with $4,383,200 in career earnings.
As
a two-year-old, Street Sense finished third in both the Arlington-Washington
Breeders’ Cup Futurity (G3) and the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity (G1). He
followed that with a win in the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Stakes (G1) and was
tabbed as the Eclipse Champion Two Year Old.
Street Sense won his season debut as a three-year-old
in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) and finished second in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1)
en route to a 2¼ length win over Hard Spun in the 2007 Kentucky Derby.
Yulong
Warrior has a C Classic
Champion Thoroughbred Profile® and that makes him potentially competitive in
this race. He’s an improving colt and I look for him to make another move
forward.
MENDELSSOHN (5-2) comes into this race with
a 3-1-0 record in six starts including a win in the 32Red Patton Stakes last
out. Here’s the video and chart
call of that race:
MENDELSSOHN led early, soon tracked leader in second, third
halfway, pushed along and headway to lead narrowly 1½ furlongs out, ridden and
kept on best final 100 yards.
Mendelssohn tracked Threeandfourpence, who set the
pace to the stretch, then quickened and pulled away to win by a narrow three-quarters
of a length.
Scat
Daddy, the sire
of Mendelssohn, was a multiple graded stakes winner who compiled a 5-1-1 record
in nine starts with $1,334,300 in career earnings.
As
a two-year-old, Scat Daddy was 3-0-1 in five starts with wins in the Sanford
Stakes (G2) and Champagne Stakes (G1), and he finished second in the Hopeful
Stakes (G1).
In
his season debut as a 3-year-old, Scat Daddy finished third in the one-mile
Holy Bull Stakes (G3) and followed up with wins in the 9 furlong Fountain of
Youth Stakes (G2) and Florida Derby (G1) in route to a eighteenth-place finish
in the Derby.
His
best runners on the Derby Trail include Daddy Long Legs, Daddy Nose Best, El
Kabeir, Frac
Daddy, Azar and Dice
Flavor who was
my long shot pick to win the 2013 El Camino Real
Derby (G3).
Mendelssohn
has a low E Classic Champion Thoroughbred
Profile® but his
Behavior Index potentially makes him competitive and I look for him to run a
good race.
Honorable
mention goes to Rayya (10-1)
and the American import, Reride
(12-1), who ships in for trainer Steve Asmussen off a win in the Mine That Bird Derby.
*****
This
is the sixth consecutive year for Churchill Downs to use a point system to
determine eligibility to get into the Kentucky Derby starting gate. A total of
36 races comprise the Road to the Kentucky Derby and a significant change to
the schedule is the addition of the Springboard Mile at Remington Park on
December 17.
In
addition to the Japan road to the Derby which features
the Cattleya Sho Stakes (November 25), Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushan Stakes (December
13) and Hayacinth Stakes (February 2018), Churchill Downs has added a European road to Derby glory consisting
of seven races: Juddmonte Beresford (September 24), Juddmonte Royal Lodge
(September 30), Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère (October 1), Racing Post Trophy
(October 28, Road to the Kentucky Derby Condition Stakes (March 1), Patton
(March 2) and the Burradon (March 30).
2018 KENTUCKY DERBY LEADERBOARD
Ranking, total points, Trainer,
Non-Restricted Stakes Earnings
1. Noble Indy, 110,
Todd Pletcher, $640,000
2. Bolt d’Oro, 64, Mick Ruis, $780,000
3. Enticed, 63, Kiaran McLaughlin, $360,880
4. Bravazo, 54, D.
Wayne Lukas, $349,913
5. Promises
Fulfilled, 52, Dale Romans, $256,480
6. Magnum Moon, 50,
Todd Pletcher $$540,000
7. Runaway Ghost,
50, $520,310
8. Quip, 50,
Rodolphe Brisset, $212,000
9. Lone Sailor, 42,
Tom Amoss, $273,347
10. McKinzie, 40,
Bob Baffert, $320,000
11. +Good
Magic, 34, Chad Brown, $1,200,000
12. +Solomini, 34, Bob Baffert, $616,000
13. My Boy Jack, 32, Keith Desormeaux, $502,000
14. Flameaway, 30,
Mark Casse, $472,260
15. Firenze Fire, 29, Jason Servis, $582,500
16. +Free
Drop Billy, 24, Dale Romans, $497,200
17. Snapper
Sinclair, 22, Steve Asmussen, $321,810
18. Combatant, 22,
Steve Asmussen, $300,000
19. *Blended
Citizen, 22, Doug O’Neill, $129,644
20. Strike Power,
20, Mark Hennig, $199,560
+ = Horses we picked
as yearlings at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Good
Magic = Eclipse Champion Two
Year Old Male. *Blended Citizen is not nominated for
the Triple Crown.
EUROPEAN ROAD LEADERBOARD
Ranking, total
points, Trainer, Non-Restricted Stakes Earnings
1.
*MENDELSSOHN, 20, Aidan O’Brien,
$747,307
2.
Saxon Warrior (JPN), 20, Aidan O’Brien, $245,017
3. *GRONKOWSKI, 20, Jeremy Noseda, $0
4. Roaring Lion
(USA), 14, John Gosden, $136,807
5.
f-Happily (IRE), 10, Aidan O’Brien, $543,648
6.
*THREEANDFOURPENCE, 8, Aiden
O’Brien, $54,076
7.
Court House (IRE), 8, John Gosden, $0
8.
*SEAHENGE, 4, Aiden O’Brien,
$145,630
9.
Olmedo (FR), 4, Jean-Claude Rouget, $113,505
10.
Nelson (IRE), 4, Aidan O’Brien, $99,826
11.
Delano Roosevelt (IRE), 4, Aidan O’Brien, $38,074
12.
Fortune’s Pearl (IRE), 4, Andrew Balding, $1,800
13.
Masar (IRE), 2, Aidan O’Brien, $101,264
14.
The Pentagon (IRE), 2, Aidan O’Brien, $71.981
15.
Mildenberger (ENG), 2, Mark Johnston, $64,634
16.
Warm the Voice (IRE), 2, Brendan Duke, $12,904
17.
f-Blackgold Fairy, 2, Michael Halford, $4,618
18.
Ventura Knight (IRE), 2, Mark Johnston, $0
19.
Verbal Dexterity (IRE), 1, Jim Bolger, $280,269
20.
Kew Gardens (IRE), 1, Aidan O’Brien, $28,605
21.
Woodmax (GER), 1, Nicolas Clement, $23,610
22.
Petrus (IRE), 1, Brian Meehan, $7,182
*Mendelssohn,
Gronkowski, Threeandfourpence and Seahenge are only horses nominated for
Triple Crown. Here’s the video of Mendelssohn’s win in the
Patton Stakes. Here’s the video of Gronkowski’s win in the
Conditions Stakes.
JAPAN ROAD LEADERBOARD
Ranking, total points, Trainer,
Non-Restricted Stakes Earnings
1.
Sumahama (JPN), 30, Ryo Takahashi, $291,287
2.
*RUGGERO (JPN), 16, Yuichi Shikato, $220,861
3.
Taiki Ferveur, 12, Mitsunori Makiura, $299,689
4.
Le Vent Se Leve (JPN), 10, Kiyoshi Hagiwara, $463,935
5.
Don Fortis (JPN), 4, Mitsunori Makiura, $436,916
6. Mic Ben Hur
(JPN), 4, Yoshihiro Hatakeyama, $122,696
7. Great Time
(JPN), 3, Hideaki Fujiwara, $186,586
8. Haseno Pyro
(JPN), 2, Kenki Sato, $263,981
9. Meiner
Yukitsubaki (JPN) 2, Noboru Takagi, $151,796
10. Dark Repulser
(JPN), 1, Takashi Kanari, $200,920
11. Bronze Kay
(JPN), 1, Koichi Tsunoda, $75,979
*Ruggero is the only horse nominated for
Triple Crown. Here’s the video
of his last race, Hyacinth Stakes.
