©2019 Calvin L.
Carter. All rights reserved.
The
Road
to the Kentucky Derby takes us coast to coast Saturday with prep
races in New York, California and Florida.
At
Aqueduct Racetrack in New York, New York, TAX will go to the starting
gate as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the 139th running of the
$250,000 Withers Stakes (G3). Post time is 4:30 ET.
Tax
comes into this race with a 1-1-1 record in three starts including a
third-place finish in the Remsen Stakes (G2) last out. Here’s the video
and chart
call of that race:
TAX strung out
three wide on the first turn, prompted the pace as the widest of three for a
good portion of the trip on the backstretch, shifted slightly closer to the
rail as a duel with the winner got ignited at the half mile pole, was two to
three wide issuing a stern bid approaching the quarter pole, got staved off
then tired in the last eighth.
Tax
ran respectably for the new barn of trainer Danny Gargan to finish third in his
first run in stakes competition.
Arch, the sire of Tax, was a multiple
graded stakes winner that compiled a 5-1-0 record in seven starts with $480,969
in career earnings.
Arch
made only one start as a two-year-old easily winning a maiden special weight at
Keeneland in October 1997. As a three-year-old, Arch won an allowance race at
Keeneland in April 1998 and compiled a 4-1-0 record in six starts including
wins in the 10-furlong Super Derby (G1) and the 9½-furlong Fayette Breeders'
Cup Stakes (G3).
Arch
passed away in 2016 and as a stallion, his best runners include: Instilled Regard, Nyaleti, Arklow, Blame,
Grand
Arch, Arravale, Hymn Book,
Art
Trader, Les Arcs, Archarcharch
and Pine
Island.
Tax
has an A+ Classic Champion Thoroughbred
Profile® and he’s the best-bred horse in this herd of seven runners. I look
for him to improve in his third in his first start as three year old.
LUCKY LEE (7-2) comes into this race for
trainer John Servis with a 2-0-0 record in three starts including an impressive
win last November at Parx. Here’s the video
and chart
call:
LUCKY LEE dictated
the pace from the start, traveled in the two path around the bend, drew off
from upper stretch and won handily as much the best.
Lucky
Lee led from the start and pulled away at the top of the stretch to easily win
by 6 lengths.
Flatter,
the sire of Lucky Lee, was a decent middle-distance horse who competed, mostly,
in maiden and allowance races and in his only stakes start he finished third in
the 8½-furlong Washington Park Handicap (G2). But in six starts, Flatter
compiled a 4-0-1 record and was a winner from 7½-furlongs to 9-furlongs.
As a stallion, his leading
runners include West Coast, Flat Out, Upstart, Kobe’s Back, Taris, Lucy’s Bob Boy, Tar Heel Mom and Apart to name a few.
Lucky
Lee has a C Classic Champion Thoroughbred Profile® and that makes him
competitive in this herd.
A
long shot I like is SIR WINSTON (12-1).
He comes into this race for trainer Mark Casse with a 2-0-1 record in five
starts including a win in the Display Stakes. Here’s the video
and chart
call:
SIR WINSTON stalked
the pace, closed three-wide on the far turn, was under a strong drive and just
clear, came in approaching the top of the stretch, opened up early stretch then
held under steady pressure.
Sir
Winston stalked the leader in second on the outside to the top of the stretch
then took the lead to prevail by one length at the finish.
Awesome Again, the sire of Sir Winston, was a good router
and multiple graded-stakes winner that compiled a 9-0-2 record in 12 starts
with $4,374,590 in career earnings. He ran his best from a mile to 10 furlongs,
and was selected as the 2001 Canadian
Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee.
As
a two-year-old, Awesome Again was unraced but at the age of three, he compiled
a 3-0-2 record in six starts with wins in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) and the
Canadian classic Queen’s Plate Stakes.
As
a four year old, Awesome Again was undefeated in six starts with wins in five
stakes races including the Stephen Foster Handicap (G2) and Whitney Handicap
(G1), both at nine furlongs, and the 10 furlong Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap
(G3), Saratoga Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G2) and the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic
where he defeated the 1997 Kentucky Derby winner, Silver Charm.
Sir
Winston has an A Classic
Champion Thoroughbred Profile®.
*****
A
total of 35 prep races comprise the USA Road to the Kentucky Derby. In
addition, there are seven races on the European road and four races on the
Japan road to Derby glory.
2019 KENTUCKY DERBY LEADERBOARD
Ranking, total points, Trainer,
Non-Restricted Stakes Earnings
1. Game Winner, 30, Bob Baffert, $1,460,000
2. Knicks Go, 18,
Ben Colebrook, $656,085
3. Signalman, 18, Ken McPeek, $392,840
4. Long Range Toddy, 14, Steve Asmussen, $330,000
5. Gunmetal Gray, 14, Jerry Hollendorfer, $180,000
6. Mind Control, 10, George Sacco, $295,000
7. Complexity, 10,
Chad Brown, $275,000
8. Improbable, 10,
Bob Baffert, $239,520
9. War of Will, 10,
Mark Casse, $200,840
10. Maximus
Mischief, 10, “Butch” Reid, Jr., $137,500
11. Gray Attempt, 10, Jinks Fires, $135,000
12. Mucho Gusto, 4, Bob Baffert, $120,000
13. Our Braintrust, 4, Cathal Lynch, $117,000
14. Code of Honor, 4, Shug McGaughey, $100,000
15. Network Effect, 4, Chad Brown, $90,000
16. Bankit, 4, Steve Asmussen, $80,000
17. Tight Ten, 4, Steve Asmussen, $67,900
18. Sueno, 4, Keith Desormeaux, $65,000
19. Hog Creek Hustle, 4, Vickie Foley, $49,000
20. Plus Que Parfait, 4, Brendan Walsh, $40,000
EUROPEAN ROAD LEADERBOARD
Ranking, total points, Trainer,
Non-Restricted Stakes Earnings
1.
Royal Marine (IRE), 10, Saeed bin Suroor, $264,968
2. Magna Grecia
(IRE), 10, Aidan O’Brien, $185,000
3. Mohawk (IRE),
10, Aidan O’Brien, $128,702
4.
Japan (GB), 10, Aidan O’Brien, $75,316
5.
Phoenix of Spain (IRE), 4, Charlie Hill, $157,944
6.
Broome (IRE), 4, Aidan O’Brien, $140,871
7.
Sydney Opera House (GB), 4, Aidan O’Brien, $40,956
8.
Mount Everest (IRE), 4, Aidan O’Brien, $24,254
9.
Anodor (FR), 2, Freddie Head, $99,215
10.
Western Australian (IRE), 2, Aidan O’Brien, $43,084
11.
Cape of Good Hope (IRE), 2, Aidan O’Brien, $41,515
12.
Power of Now (IRE), 2, Michael O’Callaghan, $11,489
13.
Boitron (FR), 1, Richard Hannon, $44,917
14.
Victory Command, (IRE), 1, Mark Johnston, $35,108
15.
Circus Maximus (IRE), 1, Aidan O’Brien, $24,368
16.
Sovereign (IRE), 1, Aiden O’Brien, $5,106
JAPAN ROAD LEADERBOARD
Ranking, total points, Trainer,
Earnings
1.
Nova Lenda (JPN), 20, Takashi Saito, $446,285
2.
f-Make Happy, 12, Koichi Shinkai, $184,181
3.
Derma Louvre (JPN), 8, Hirofumi Toda, $447,672
4.
Gal Vihara, 4, Kiyoshi Hagiwara, $216,271
2.
Kingen (JPN), 4, Kunihide Matsuda, $97,867
3.
Johaan (JPN), 2, Yasuyuki Takahashi, $72,900
4.
Romantico (JPN), 1, Kazuo Fujisawa, $91,245
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