Time get serious with the Kentucky Derby trail's 'Big Seven'
The final stage of the 2018 Kentucky Derby trail gets underway Saturday, with the May 5 race -- its 144th running -- now just seven weeks away.
Over the next month, the hopeful
masses will narrow down to the Top 20
thoroughbreds fortunate enough to accumulate enough
points to qualify for our sport's ultimate prize. Only this upper echelon of horseflesh will have
the honor of running for the roses at Churchill Downs.
The last round of preps carries the most
weight in the points scoring system and will determine who gets in for "The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports." Running well in any of the
traditional final prep races remains critical for a horse's chances to make the
Derby starting gate with points apportioned on a 100-40-20–10 bases to the Top 4 finishers.
It is unusual for a horse to win the Kentucky Derby
off a finish worse than third place in one of these preps, and because 22 of the last 25 Kentucky Derby
champions came home first or second in their final start before the Run for the
Roses, it is vital to remember the names of the top few finishers in each of
these major races.
Six of the preps all share the same
distance of 1 1/8 miles.
The Kentucky Derby itself tacks on another furlong of distance and presents
3-year-old horses with the challenge of lasting a mile and a quarter.
Here are the "Big Seven" races in order
of their appearance.
Grade 2 Louisiana Derby
Fair Grounds Racecourse • Saturday • Purse: $1,000,000
2017 Winner: Girvin
Distance: 1 1/8 miles - Time: 1:49.77
Triple Crown Results:
Derby: 13th
Preakness Stakes: N/A
Belmont Stakes: N/A
Inaugurated in 1894 as the Crescent
City Derby, this race was later renamed to honor the tracks home state.
Traditionally run in early March, the Louisiana
Derby seldom served as the last stop for connections dreaming of Derby glory, because
the race required most Triple Crown hopefuls to
make an additional start prior to the Kentucky Derby. In 2009,
Fairgrounds officials relocated the race to late March and lengthened the
distance to nine furlongs, making the Louisiana Derby better suited as a key
final prep for horses looking to move on to Churchill Downs
Grindstone (1996) and Black Gold (1924) are the only two Louisiana Derby winners to prevail the first Saturday in May. The most famous Louisiana Derby champion is Risen Star (1988), who came up short in Louisville but redeemed himself by adding the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes to his resume.
Grade 2 UAE Derby
Meydan Racecourse • March 31 • Purse $2,000,000
2017 Winner: Thunder Snow
Distance: 1 3/16 miles - Time: 1:57.76
Triple Crown Results:
Kentucky Derby: DNF
Preakness Stakes: N/A
Belmont Stakes: N/A
The richest race on the Derby trail takes
place annually during the Dubai World Cup Night in late March. It was first run
in 2000 and attained Group 2 status two years later. After some experimentation
with different distances, the current 1900 meters (approximately 9.5 furlongs)
was established in 2010.
The race is open to both Northern
and Southern Hemisphere 3-year-olds, with the latter group regarded as
4-year olds here and therefore aren't eligible to run in our Triple Crown.
Winners of this event have not performed well under the Twin Spires. Not a single horse exiting UAE Derby has even hit the board in the
Kentucky Derby. Its inaugural winner, Curule, owned by the powerful Godolphin Stable, managed the best showing by a UAE Derby winner,
finishing sixth. Many other Godolphin top runners who
ran well in Dubai, all failed the test in Louisville.
Two previous
UAE Derby winners that started in the Kentucky Derby – Daddy Long Legs (2012) and
Thunder Snow (2017) – failed to finish, with the latter horse bucking from the gate. The losing pattern has
become all too familiar.
In 143 runnings of the Kentucky Derby, only one horse has shipped
in from abroad to win, the Venezuelan-based Canonero II in 1971. Over the past 45 years, horses
have come from Europe and as far as Japan to try the Derby without success.
As a major prep race, the UAE Derby
needs to be heavily re-examined for two reasons: first, based on the results of all
UAE Derby horses in Louisville, why is the race worth 100 points to the winner
and worth five times the points given the winner of the of the Breeders' Cup
Juvenile? And second, it is bizarre to include a race that actually has different
eligibility than every other race in the points system.
Grade 1 Florida Derby
Gulfstream Park • March 31 • Purse: $1,000,000
2017 Winner: Always Dreaming
Distance: 1 1/8 miles - Time: 1:47.47
Triple Crown Results:
Kentucky Derby: 1st
Preakness Stakes: 8th
Belmont Stakes: N/A
Since its inauguration in 1952, the
Florida Derby was originally held in early or mid-March for most of its years,
constituting its participants to have another prep race before the Kentucky
Derby. In 2005, the race was moved five weeks out from the big race on the
first Saturday in May, making the event a final prep.
The Florida Derby field has
contained the Kentucky Derby winner 24 times – more than any other prep race. Fourteen winners of Gulfstream Park’s marquee event have gone on to glory at Churchill
Downs, including the two most recent winners — Always Dreaming (2017)
and Nyquist (2016).
Grade 2 Wood Memorial
Aqueduct Racetrack • April 7 • Purse: $750,000
2017 Winner: Irish War Cry
Distance: 1 1/8 miles - Time: 1:50.91
Triple Crown Results:
Kentucky Derby: 10th
Preakness Stakes: N/A
Belmont Stakes: 2nd
The race is named in honor of Eugene D. Wood,
who was the founder of the now defunct Jamaica Racetrack where the Wood
Memorial was held until 1960. Aqueduct Park in Queens, N.Y., currently hosts
the race.
It is hard to argue with the
historical importance of this race, being that 11 winners have moved on to
capture the Kentucky Derby. Six of the 12 Triple Crown winners have also
contested the Wood Memorial, with four of them winning it. Interestingly
enough, the 1973 Triple Crown champion Secretariat only managed a third-place finish
in this race.
For nearly two decades, success in
this prestigious steppingstone has eluded horses who moved onto the Kentucky
Derby, with Fusaichi Pegasus being the last Wood Memorial winner to wear the roses in 2000. The
last horse who raced in the Wood Memorial and won the Kentucky Derby was the
gelding Funny Cide, who came in second in 2003.
Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby
Santa Anita Park • April 7 • Purse: $1,000,000
2017 Winner: Gormley
Distance: 1 1/8 miles - Time: 1:51.16
Triple Crown Results:
Kentucky Derby: 9th
Preakness Stakes: N/A
Belmont Stakes: 4th
This major Kentucky Derby prep race
was established in 1935. Ten champions of the Santa Anita Derby have gone on to
capture the roses. Santa Anita Park is located in Arcadia, California,
treating patrons to a breathtaking view of the San Gabriel Mountains while they
enjoy the live racing.
The most recent Santa Anita Derby
winners to go on to win the first Saturday in May were California
Chrome (2014) and I’ll Have Another (2012). Oh, and who can forget fourth-place
Santa Anita Derby finisher Giacomo barreling home first in the 2005
Kentucky Derby at a whopping 50-1?
Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes
Keeneland • April 7 • Purse: $1,000,000
2017 Winner: Irap
Distance: 1 1/8 miles - Time: 1:50.39
Triple Crown Results:
Kentucky Derby: 18th
Preakness Stakes: N/A
Belmont Stakes: N/A
This Kentucky Derby prep race can
proclaim longevity in regards to length of existence. First held in 1911 at the
Kentucky Association Racetrack, the Blue Grass Stakes has been a springboard to
the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs.
Twenty-three past Kentucky Derby
champions have used this race as their final Kentucky Derby prep, with 11
equines turning the Blue Grass Stakes/Kentucky Derby double.
For nearly three decades, Blue
Grass champions have undergone a drought moving on to Louisville. The last
winner to capture the Kentucky Derby was Strike the Gold, who turned the trick in 1991.
The last horse to compete in the
Blue Grass and win the roses was Street Sense, who placed second at
Keeneland in 2007. Before him, Thunder Gulch (1995) and Sea Hero
(1993) both contested the Blue Grass before securing the roses, but each could
only manage a fourth-place finish in the Blue Grass.
Grade 1 Arkansas Derby
Oaklawn Park • April 14 •
Purse: $1,000,000
2017 Winner: Classic Empire
Distance: 1 1/8 miles - Time: 1:48.93
Triple Crown Results:
KY Derby: 4th
Preakness Stakes: N/A
Belmont Stakes: N/A
Six horses have used the Arkansas
Derby as their final prep before winning the Kentucky Derby, with half registering
the Arkansas/Kentucky double.
The first horse to boast of such accomplishment
on his resume was Sunny’s Halo (1983). Next was the undefeated Smarty Jones, who
virtually put this race on the map in 2004. Using the tracks premier
event, he propelled himself into national acclaim before missing the elusive
Triple Crown by a length in the Belmont Stakes. The third and most recent winner
completed in 2015 by American Pharoah, who went on to become America’s
12th Triple Crown winner.
The Arkansas Derby, which carries a
purse of $1 million is the only major prep race that has the same weight
requirements as the Kentucky Derby — 126 pounds for colts and geldings, and 121
pounds for fillies.