Kentucky Derby 2018 Daily: Starlight Racing catches the fever

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.

It’s standard procedure for Starlight Racing to scout out its horses at sales, usually as yearlings, and hope they develop into stakes-winning prospects. But 2018 Kentucky Derby fever is tough to cure.

Managing partner Jack Wolf joked that others in the syndicate “were beating up on me to go after them,” so Starlight recently bought into Grade 2 winner Audible and Justify, the West Coast buzz horse who’s undefeated in two starts.

Audible, who took the Holy Bull last time out, will return as a headliner in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby. Justify is targeting the April 14 Arkansas Derby for his first and only start on the trail.

It appears both prospects would need to win or place to make the Kentucky Derby starting gate.

“There’s a good bit of risk on our part doing it,” Wolf said of the deal. “But both these horses have, I think, unlimited upside even if the don’t qualify for the Derby. Anything can happen in a horse race.

“…Even if the horses don’t qualify for the Derby, I think we’ll still have some fun with them the rest of the year.”

Both Audible and Justify are also owned in partnership by WinStar Farm, the China Horse Club and SF Racing. It’s the latter group from which Starlight acquired its share.

Terms of the deal will remain private.

“It’s hard to, No. 1, find a qualified horse, and No. 2 to find someone who wants to sell a piece for it, and No. 3 get a reasonable price,” Wolf said. “It wasn’t our first call. We went through a number of situations where we thought there were good prospects.”

Of course, Justify could go up against the famous curse of Apollo, who in 1882 became the first — and only — Kentucky Derby winner who didn’t race at age 2. That’s not the only longterm jinx working here. It’s also been more than 100 years since a Louisville-based owner won Churchill Downs’ most-famous race.

Starlight last contended for the Kentucky Derby in 2015 with Itsaknockout, who finished ninth.

“A lot of the ones that sign up for this are Kentucky people,” Wolf said, “so hopefully we can break the drought.”

Super Screener insights

Mike Shutty, author of Horse Racing Nation’s Super Screener handicapping system, calls the stretch out to 1 1/8 miles “critical” on the Derby trail as “we begin to see the true contenders separate from the faint-hearted pretenders.”

Stocks dropped for Bravazo and Snapper Sinclair in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. They moved up for Noble Indy and Lone Sailor, the 1-2 finishers at Fair Grounds. 

“This horse is still quite green, though did show some courage as he came back on Lone Sailor after being passed by that rival in the stretch,” Shutty said. “He did get the perfect trip here, however, and his Brisnet Late Pace figure came back pretty weak showing he was tiring. With blinkers added, he’ll be forwardly placed in the Kentucky Derby and will contribute to the pace for his more formidable stablemates, Magnum Moon and Audible.”

Shutty called My Boy Jack’s wide run for third “a Kentucky Derby dress rehearsal.”

“He certainly has proven that he can run on any type of ground which makes him a more reliable player no matter what the conditions of the Churchill Downs race track may be on the first Saturday in May,” Shutty added.

The prep graded out as a “B” through Shutty’s criteria. Expect bigger later on the trail with the Florida Derby, Santa Anita Derby and Arkansas Derby still left to run.

By the numbers

Brisnet.com's Ed DeRosa put a different spin in the Louisiana Derby, the first of this year’s preps to offer 100 qualifying points to the winner. In data distributed Tuesday, DeRosa said Noble Indy’s victory “ranks favorably both among Parts 1 and 2 of the Kentucky Derby Championship Series as well as against the 13 races to date for 2018 Kentucky Derby-eligible horses going 1 1/8 miles on dirt.

“Of the six stakes races at that distance only winners Noble Indy and Blended Citizen (Jeff Ruby Steaks) earned a 100 Brisnet Speed Rating. Noble Indy did it against better competition, though, considering his 121 Class Rating (against Blended Citizen’s 117.8).

“Class Ratings assess the quality of a horse’s performance based on the strength of the field and what those horses did in other races. A difference of 3-4 points is significant.”

Meanwhile, Runaway Ghost’s 96 Brisnet Speed Rating from the Sunland Derby ranked slowest of the major preps to date.

Derby links

• Seeking one more opinion on the Louisiana Derby? HRN’s Reinier Macatangay argues that Noble Indy’s late pace shouldn't diminish his chances at Churchill Downs.

• Trainer Dale Romans on Tuesday listed out final prep plans for his Kentucky Derby hopefuls. He’ll be represented in both the Blue Grass and Wood Memorial in addition to this weekend’s Florida Derby, which draws Wednesday.

• An anticipated field of nine is in for the Florida Derby thanks to the addition of lightly raced Bill Mott maiden winner Hofburg, with which Mott says “we thought it was worth taking a chance.”

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