Kentucky Derby 2018 Daily: Lukas confident in Sporting Chance

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 116 days to go!

By Jonathan Lintner

One of a select bunch of Grade 1 winners as a 2-year-old, Sporting Chance returned to the work tab this week for trainer D. Wayne Lukas with aims of hitting the 2018 Kentucky Derby trail.

The Hall of Fame conditioner’s in no hurry to pick a spot, suggesting only that the son of $575,000 son of Tiznow will make his next appearance at Oaklawn Park, where he drilled three furlongs Tuesday in 37 seconds.

“The thing about it is, we don’t have to find out if he can run,” Lukas told HRN. “We already know that.”

Sporting Chance, who won the Grade 1 Hopeful in early September, missed the remainder of his juvenile season after having a knee chip removed. He registered an 86 Beyer Speed Figure for the Hopeful effort despite showing his inexperience at the wire, ducking out as jockey Luis Saez held on for the win.

The Smarty Jones Stakes kicks off Arkansas’ road to the Derby on Monday. While Lukas doesn’t have a horse pointed to that race, Sporting Chance could try either the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes (Feb. 19) or the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes (March 17). Both lead in to the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby set for April 14.

“We’ll let him dictate the schedule, but he’s on a steady work tab now,” Lukas said. “He’ll be showing up regularly.”

Another Hall of Famer, Gary Stevens, was on Sporting Chance for his breeze. A jockey hasn’t been named for the colt’s next race, but “a person like that’s invaluable when you get a work and he can actually tell you how they’re doing, what they need and what they don’t need,” Lukas said.

In an interview with the Daily Racing Form, Stevens said Sporting Chance had to be geared down “pretty good to get him pulled up,” adding that “his fitness level is extremely high right now.” The horse took one deep breath after the breeze.

“He was cooled out by the time we got back to the barn,” the rider said, “so I look forward to getting on him next week again.”

In terms of Lukas’ other 3-year-olds, he selected a stacked allowance race Saturday for Bravazo, 10th last out in Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. The trainer believes he has others of note, “but I’ll let them get your attention.”

Casse’s other prospects are…

With news that filly Wonder Gadot is likely to stay on the Kentucky Oaks trail in the Silverbulletday Stakes rather than go in the Grade 3 Lecomte, where does that leave trainer Mark Casse’s Derby hopes?

“This year we’ve got an abundance of fillies, and we’ve struggled with the colts,” he recently told HRN.

But there are prospects in his barn, including Arrival, who ran 11th in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes out of a Churchill Downs maiden win, though “I don’t think you’ve seen the best of him,” Casse said.

In general, he added, “We’re trying to play a little catch up, and that’s never easy when you’re trying to get to the Derby.”

Casse said to watch for the debut of $470,000 Ghostzapper colt Telekinesis, who last Saturday posted the bullet four furlong work at Fair Grounds among 128 horses.

Curlin’s Honor, a debut winner last October at Keeneland, “had a little issue. He’s coming back.”

And He Takes Charge, while third in a recent maiden special weight event at Gulfstream Park, faced a tough field. In Casse’s words: “Big pedigree. He’s coming around.”

“We’re still looking for a colt to step up and show us that they belong with the big boys,” he added. “We’re still looking for the Classic Empire.”

One to watch Thursday

Another Casse prospect, Mississippi, could also prove himself stakes-worthy Thursday in Gulfstream Park’s feature, a $51,000 allowance optional claiming race. But he’ll have to contend with Noble Indy, a well-regarded son of Take Charge Indy with elite connections: owners WinStar Farm and Repole stable, trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez.

Noble Indy’s the 7-5 morning line favorite, with Mississippi at 2-1. Post time is 4:37 p.m., and we’ll offer a full report after the race on HRN. 

Also on tap

Thursday’s Derby Daily will turn attention to the long weekend’s preps:

• Aqueduct's Jerome Stakes (Saturday)

• Fair Grounds' Lecomte Stakes (Saturday)

• Oaklawn's Smarty Jones Stakes (Monday)

We’ll also keep an eye on Race 5 on Saturday at Oaklawn Park, where the aforementioned Bravazo will compete along with other horses to run in previous Derby qualifiers.

Derby links

• XBTV offers an interview with Mask trainer Chad Brown following the colt’s dominant Mucho Macho Man Stakes win. No specific race is mentioned as the next target, but “in the weeks to come we’ll first see how the horse’s doing physically and then start to map out a plan for him.”

• When it comes to the Derby social scene, the Kentucky Derby Festival has announced the group of five Kentucky college students who will serve as this year’s “Royal Princesses,” the group of ambassadors for the events surrounding the greatest two minutes in sports.

• Derby-winning trainer Graham Motion, who conditioned Animal Kingdom, is the latest on a growing list to join the Water Hay Oats Alliance pushing for The Horseracing Integrity Act and a governing body over the sport in the United States.

In case you missed it…

Ahead of the Lecomte Stakes, Wednesday’s Derby Daily report tells the story behind 5-2 morning line favorite Principe Guilherme’s name — as well as how to correctly pronounce it. With this day nine of our new addition to HRN, be sure to bookmark the Derby Daily for more coverage leading up to the first Saturday in May.