Kentucky Derby 2018 Daily: Lecomte, Jerome takeaways

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. We've got 113 days to go!

By Jonathan Lintner

The Jerome Stakes hasn’t historically served as an indicator of 2018 Kentucky Derby starters, much less contenders, but Firenze Fire bounced back nicely Saturday from a seventh-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, showing this year could be an exception. 

Now a three-time stakes winner, Firenze Fire topped New York's latest stop on the Derby trail in grinding fashion after Seven Trumpets was able to get the opening quarter mile in a leisurely 25.01 seconds, with the half in 50.81 on the front end. A son of Poseidon’s Warrior, Firenze Fire rallied widest of them all through the turn and looked as much a threat at age 3 as 2.

The Jason Servis trainee entered with previous victories in last year’s Grade 3 Sanford and Grade 1 Champagne, the latter a field that included eventual Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Good Magic.

As for Seven Trumpets, he doesn’t look like a top-tier contender for trainer Dale Romans but could deserve another try on the Derby trail given the track came up muddy on Saturday. He was defeated just a half length.

As for the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes, well, that's a lot to process. Instilled Regard shipped in for what amounted to an easy win, but he also received a dream trip from the 10 post. The victory certainly flatters Solomini and McKinzie, who he battled in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity.

The Principe Guilherme bandwagon will lighten its load as the colt suffered his first loss in three races, but the replay (if one is ever made available) is worth watching. Jockey Florent Geroux had to use the horse up a bit leaving the gate, and that still only got the duo four wide entering the first turn from the 12 post. The pace up front was decent, but not blistering at 47.52 seconds for the half mile, and it gave him little to run against.

As for Snapper Sinclair, you have to be impressed with the way he battled to be third in a photo with Principe Guilherme. His wins have come on turf, but this effort proved he may deserve another dirt start on the Derby trail.

Nero an intriguing prospect for Baffert

If $950,000 purchase Nero isn’t able to make it to a Derby prep next out, it’ll be his mind, not his natural talent, holding him back.

Jockey Victor Espinoza guided the son of Pioneerof the Nile to a maiden special weight victory at Santa Anita Park in the colt’s first start since an Aug. 27 debut. The first out race resulted in a nose defeat, but on Saturday, Nero finished a bit better, this time taking a 5 1/2-furlong race by a nose.

Oddly enough, Espinoza didn’t move atop Nero other than to mildly shake the rein in deep stretch.

“There’s a lot of things he doesn’t like, according to assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes, and the whip is one of them,” TVG’s Britney Eurton reported before the race.

An even money favorite, Nero took an outside trip and appears to have plenty of potential. We’ll see how trainer Bob Baffert manages the Coolmore and Stonestreet runner.

Standouts at Oaklawn park

It wasn’t much of a shock to see Oaklawn Park’s Smarty Jones Stakes come up short with just seven entries given the track carded a one-mile companion allowance optional claiming event on Saturday. Enough entered the easier spot that it split into two divisions. 

• In the first, Race 5, Zayat Stables’ Ezmosh broke away through the turn and re-rallied in the stretch before edged out by Bravazo, a D. Wayne Lukas trainee who ran second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity. Consider both candidates — previously possible for the Smarty Jones — potential contenders for the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes next out. 

• The second division, Race 7, was run nearly a full two seconds slower as Higher Power chased down 1-2 favorite New York Central in deep stretch. Higher Power exited a Nov. 8 maiden win at Remington Park, while New York Central had posted a 7 1/4-length score at second asking at Churchill Downs. He suffered from a wide trip Saturday.

The Works

Dale Romans trio — We’ll start with Tiz Mischief, who Romans has targeting the Grade 2 Holy Bull on Feb. 3 off a game second in Churchill Downs’ Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club. The Into Mischief colt moved five furlongs in 59.89 seconds (2/53) at Gulfstream. Free Drop Billy (5F in 1:01.25) and Hollywood Star (5F in 1:01.03) drilled for just the second time back from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Strike Power — The Speightstown colt, who earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure in his Dec. 23 debut, put in his second work back going a half mile in 49.90 seconds, also at Gulfstream. He’s not technically a Derby contender yet, but we’ll keep an eye on the Mark Hennig trainee as he eyes a stakes try next out in the Grade 3 Swale.

Untamed Domain — Second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, he has posted three works since then on the dirt with many anticipating a surface switch for the Graham Motion-trained son of Animal Kingdom. His latest breeze Saturday at the Palm Meadows Training Center went in 48.45 seconds (12/47) for four furlongs.

Derby links

• While the purse for Aqueduct’s Wood Memorial has decreased to $750,000 after its downgrade from Grade 1 to Grade 2 status, the New York Racing Association announced the race will return to its $1 million roots should a Grade 1 winner enter the state’s biggest Derby prep.

• We’ll find more about potential Grade 3 Southwest Stakes contenders after Oaklawn Park runs Monday’s Smarty Jones. For now, the race has at least one horse targeting it, Brad Cox-trained High North, who says “we’ve got to make our starts count.”

• Mo Tom, who won the Lecomte in 2016 on his way to a starting spot in the Derby, has retired to a Louisiana farm after connections tried one more time to get the son of Uncle Mo competitive again, starting him recently on the turf.

In case you missed it…

Friday’s Derby Daily report examined how cold temperatures around the country could be impacting potential contenders, whereas out in California, trainer Bob Baffert says it doesn’t feel like winter yet.