Kentucky Derby 2018 Daily: Romans’ ‘strategy play’ succeeds

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.

Trainer Dale Romans called it a “strategy play” to scratch Free Drop Billy the morning of last weekend’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, a move that paid off immediately when stablemate Promises Fulfilled went wire-to-wire and punched his ticket to the 2018 Kentucky Derby.

The Union Rags colt, who last fall won Keeneland's Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity, sits a 9-5 favorite on the morning line as he backs up to a one-turn mile. Last out, Free Drop Billy, who runs for Albaugh Family Stables, was second to Audible in the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park.

"Even though it's a different distance, and a different racetrack, it doesn't matter,” Romans said. “He’s a versatile horse. He's a push button horse. He (ran second in) a Grade 1 at seven-eighths, and he won a Grade 1 at a mile and a sixteenth, so the distance for him isn't really a concern at all.”

Top competition includes Firenze Fire, a multiple stakes winner who relishes this distance, and Enticed, a Grade 2 winner looking to rebound after missing the board in the Holy Bull. Also in the field of nine is Romans-trained Cove Blue, who broke his maiden Jan. 6 at Gulfstream and ran third when facing winners in allowance company.

The stablemate could provide an ideal pace setup for Free Drop Billy.

"He's a real fast horse, Romans said of Cove Blue. "He's real fast. He'll be out there rambling.”

Romans, a Louisville native who has made his desire to win the Kentucky Derby well known, has tried eight times to win it the first Saturday in May. He’s locked in for a ninth attempt with Promises Fulfilled and positioned for more with Free Drop Billy.

Resources for this round of preps

Look for more handicapping insights on Saturday’s Kentucky Derby preps in the Friday Derby Daily. For now…

Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes

Odds and Analysis | Free Past Performances

Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby

Odds and Analysis | Free Past Performances

Grade 3 Gotham Stakes

Odds and Analysis | Free Past Performances

We’ve also offered the top picks for each race from Horse Racing Nation’s Super Screener tool.

Derby links

• Justify, who dazzled in his Feb. 18 debut for the Bob Baffert barn, is entered to run Sunday in a rare Santa Anita Park allowance for 3-year-old colts going a mile. Originally pointed toward the March 25 Sunland Derby, a Grade 3 race in New Mexico, Justify could potentially jump into deeper waters coming out of this race, which includes a number of previous stakes runners.

• Gronkowski, winner of Kempton Park’s Road to the Kentucky Derby Conditions Stakes on Wednesday, will make a final Kentucky Derby prep in the United States. Trainer Jeremy Noseda said the colt — who’s 3-for-3 since switching to synthetic — “has come out of last night’s race well,” adding that the path to Churchill Downs “is a little bit clearer now.”

• It’s official: Catholic Boy’s final Kentucky Derby prep will be the Grade 1 Florida Derby. Trainer Jonathan Thomas discussed the decision, saying “you just hope you progress” out of a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes. “We treated the race as a prep and feel like we got a lot out of it.”

• Trainer Steve Asmussen will send a trio in next weekend’s premier prep, the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, with allowance winner Title Ready joining the more well-known Combatant and Zing Zang. The addition of blinkers, and being a little more aggressive with him,” Asmussen said of Title Ready, “has been more effective.”

Gotham race history

So, what would a win Saturday mean for Free Drop Billy? The Gotham winner has all but one year in the points era (since 2013) gone on to run in the Kentucky Derby. El Kabeir, the lone exception, developed an injury the week of the race.

But you have to go back to Secretariat to find a Gotham winner wearing roses on the first Saturday in May.

In case you missed it…

Wednesday’s Derby Daily report featured an interview with trainer Jason Servis, whose World of Trouble is an interesting prospect stretching out from a huge stakes in in the Tampa Bay Derby.

• Catch up with all the latest Derby news by reading past editions of HRN’s Derby Daily report.