Kentucky Derby 2019 Daily: Plus Que Parfait's timing apt

Welcome to Horse Racing Nation’s Kentucky Derby Daily, which will each day leading up to the May 4 race at Churchill Downs detail all the news and notes related to contenders in one convenient space.

A night before the UAE Derby (G2), trainer Brendan Walsh received the type of phone call nobody wants, especially when stuck halfway around the world.

Walsh’s father, diagnosed with a tumor last summer, “probably wasn’t going to be around for so long,” his brother warned him.

“We didn’t think as short as it was,” said Walsh, who called Plus Que Parfait’s rallying victory “a good final memory” for his dad.

“Sunday he was worn out because he got so excited on Saturday after the race,” Walsh added. “He’s always been a huge supporter of mine.”

Plus Que Parfait returned to form at just the right time both for Walsh’s father, who the trainer has since mourned, and for the conditioner, who is now set to saddle his first Kentucky Derby contender after an emotional month.

“I just thought it all really worked out well for everybody,” Walsh said.

The 3-year-old chestnut by Point of Entry rebounded in the UAE Derby from a 12th-place finish in the Risen Star (G2) a month earlier, weaving through traffic in the lane at Meydan for a narrow score over Gray Magician.

The colt also showed he could run at age 2, even before connections knew how good he could be on dirt. The first foal out of Awesome Again mare Belvedara — whose line produced Australian Group 1 winner Toldeo — started on the Ellis Park turf.

“I ran him on grass because he’s got grass in his pedigree,” Walsh said, “and I like to do that with some of these horses that like to go a little further.”

Two races later, Plus Que Parfait proved himself on the main track, where he won in Maiden Special Weight company at Keeneland, topping a field that included eventual Derby rival Cutting Humor and Harvey Wallbanger, winner of the Holy Bull (G2).

“He went to Keeneland and he really started to jump up,” said Walsh of Plus Que Parfait, who went on to finish a closing second in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) before opening his 3-year-old season with a fifth in the Lecomte (G3).

“His pedigree is filled with stamina, and mentally he’s always been a really nice horse. He was never a horse that would blow your socks off in the morning, but he always work well enough to where you thought, 'This horse is probably decent.'”

Now Imperial Racing’s Plus Que Parfait is a $1 million earner who has the general public asking two questions: Is he good enough to end the UAE Derby’s drought, and how exactly do you pronounce the horse’s name?

The last two UAE Derby winners have finished last in the Kentucky Derby. Master of Hounds, fifth in 2011, remains the best runner from that race on the first Saturday in May.

As for the name, jockey Florent Geroux, a native of France, told publicist Jennie Rees on Thursday that you indeed pronounce the “s” in “Plus.” The name translates to "more than perfect," apt given the timing of his last win.

Derby links

• Before placing your bets, check out the six Kentucky Derby prep replays you need to consider given a few interesting trips and outcomes.

• It was a slow morning for contenders at Churchill Downs, but according to today’s Kentucky Derby news and notes, action is about to pick up.

• In New York, two Derby contenders worked at Belmont Park, where Haikal “finished strong” and Tax notched the bullet. Video of both is available at the links.

• Handicapper Reinier Macatangay warns not to dismiss By My Standards on pedigree alone. He is, of course, by first crop sire Goldencents.

In case you missed it…

Wednesday’s Derby Daily report gave a glimpse into War of Will’s first morning back at Churchill Downs, where he has a new assistant overseeing his preparations.