Kentucky Derby 2018 Daily: Will Solomini put it together?

Welcome to Horse Racing Nation’s Kentucky Derby Daily, which will each day leading up to the May 5 race at Churchill Downs detail all the news and notes related to contenders in one convenient space.

Solomini got off to a late start this year, but with points earned from multiple 2018 Kentucky Derby trail races, the thinking was that he had until May 5 to right his various idiosyncrasies.

The slow morning works. Hanging on the wrong lead. His head-swinging race runs.

But in a year where it’s likely to take 40 or more points to qualify for the Derby, Solomini’s down to his last shot in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. His connections — trainer Bob Baffert and owner Zayat Stables — have paired to win this race twice before with Bodemeister and American Pharoah.

Can Solomini put it all together as they did?

“Hopefully he is maturing a bit every day,” said Justin Zayat, the Zayat Stables racing manager. “And, I don’t know if right now he is at his absolute peak and his best in his career. You know, Curlins, especially out of a Storm Cat mare, tend to develop over time, so we are really optimistic. But especially now he is doing everything right.”

The situation isn’t exactly dire. Solomini enters the weekend with 34 Derby qualifying points and will run in a race that pays out 100-40-20-10 to the Top 4. So to earn anything should get him on to Churchill Downs.

Last time out, in his season debut, Solomini dealt with traffic the entire way in the Rebel Stakes (G2) and held on for second behind Arkansas Derby favorite Magnum Moon.

“He wasn’t giving up,” said Baffert assistant Jimmy Barnes. “He was still trying. That’s him. He just kind of plugs along. He didn’t get the exact kind of trip that you would have wanted, behind horses, and trying to find a place to go at the top of the stretch.”

Baffert has worked the chestnut colt inside and outside of company to prepare for the nine-horse Arkansas Derby. Solomini drew post position No. 5 and sits 2-1 as the morning line second choice.

“I don’t know if he has exactly figured it all out yet, but he is definitely improving every single work,” Zayat said. “…We will see on Saturday what he’s got, but we are bullish about him and we are excited. You know, one thing about Bob is, Bob wouldn’t put him on a plane and ship him if he didn’t think they are going to run a big race. So when he does that, it gives me the confidence.”

My Boy Jack settling in

The question has been asked with My Boy Jack another contender potentially in need of points: Why not run in the Arkansas Derby, which offers much more than the 20-8-4-2 in play for Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland? 

“This was his longest ship coming here,” Julie Clark assistant to trainer Keith Desormeaux, said Thursday. “But the good thing is he is not going to ship again as he will go to Churchill Downs after the race and get settled in over there.”

West Coast-based My Boy Jack already traveled East for the Southwest Stakes (G3) in February, then the Louisiana Derby (G2) in March. While he’s putting in an extra prep race before the Kentucky Derby, the colt won’t endure the stress of another cross-country move before the first Saturday in May, just a short van ride away from Louisville.

My Boy Jack is a 5-2 favorite coming from the outside post, with co-third choice Greyvitos, at 6-1, another in the field with Derby Dreams.

Trainer Adam Kitchingman provided context on the shipping issue as it pertains to his colt, who made his first unexpected move when moved out of San Luis Rey Downs, the California training facility caught in deadly wildfires in December.

“The fire didn’t affect him, except for shipping around from place to place,” Kitchingman said. “That’s always a challenge: how they’re going to react — a new environment, new conditions, just trying to keep him healthy.”

Derby links

• A jolt outward by Sporting Chance may have cost Free Drop Billy a Grade 1 win last year. But the same move in the stretch of the Blue Grass stakes forced a stewards decision that has Albaugh Family Stable in the Kentucky Derby for a third straight year.

• Owner Ron Paolucci caught some heat when Machismo, who ran 12th in the Blue Grass Stakes, showed up as an Arkansas Derby entrant for a race seven days later. But, Paolucci told us, that was the plan all along. 

• Overseas race books list Mendelssohn as their Kentucky Derby favorite, while domestically, it’s all about Justify. Thursday’s release of the Longines World’s Best Racehorse rankings played out in similar fashion for the Kentucky Derby contenders.

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