Kentucky Derby 2018 Daily: On the serious business of silks
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.
Sean Tugel, WinStar Farm’s director of bloodstock and assistant racing manager, has found a secondary area of his workload commanding plenty of attention on the 2018 Kentucky Derby trail.
He’s tasked with helping communicate which silks jockeys wear, an increasingly complicated venture given the breadth of WinStar’s partnerships.
“You just try to stay in good communication with the stables,” Tugel said. “They’re all top class outlets.”
Still, he admitted, “It can be a pain in the butt, that’s for sure.”
WinStar holds a piece of three horses that have already locked in their spots at Churchill Downs — Florida Derby winner Audible, Louisiana Derby winner Noble Indy and Tampa Bay Derby winner Quip. To add, Justify was installed as the favorite for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, and could earn a trip by finishing first or second Saturday.
The horses share connections that include some or all of the China Horse Club, SF Racing, Head of Plains Partners and Starlight Racing. In Noble Indy’s case, he’s owned in combination by WinStar and Repole Stable.
“For the most part, there’s a set rotation we have with China Horse Club,” Tugel said. “Basically, once every four starts, we run their silks.”
So Justify, who donned the red and yellow China Horse Club silks last out, will appear in the WinStar colors Saturday. Same for Quip, a runner in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
Audible also ran in China Horse Club colors when he won last Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby. Tugel said the horse was supposed to contend for the Grade 2 Holy Bull in those silks, but was mistakenly sent out in WinStar white.
Luckily, there was no Abel Tasman repeat. After a silks mixup with the eventual Kentucky Oaks winner last year, China Horse Club moved the filly from trainer Simon Callaghan to Bob Baffert.
“In those kind of situations with good partners, we just had a discussion,” Tugel said, and waited one more race for the China Horse Club colors.
Noble Indy will assuredly wear WinStar silks in the Kentucky Derby. The other three horses are on schedule to do the same, but Tugel said “we’ll just have to see how it all shakes out.”
“We’re in a gluttonous situation where we have three horses currently and, hopefully, a fourth after this weekend,” he added. “They’re all scheduled to run in WinStar. One of the horses — but definitely not Justify — might run in China Horse Club silks. There’s no reason not to when we have three to four qualify. It’s the right thing to do by the partners.”
Santa Anita showdown set
Santa Anita Park odds maker Jon White installed Justify as a 4-5 morning line favorite for Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby, giving him the edge on Bolt d’Oro, who’s listed at 6-5.
Instilled Regard drew the rail as the 5-1 third choice in what looks like a straightforward race. It’s those three and the rest.
• Get our full Santa Anita Derby analysis
Enticed heads Wood Memorial
It will be a $1 million purse for the Grade 2 Wood Memorial, bumped up because previous Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire made the field. He’s not the favorite, though, with Enticed at 6-5 in a field of nine.
Trainer Bob Baffert has an interesting entry in Restoring Hope, while Old Time Revival should be on the front end again after caught late last out by Enticed.
• Get our full Wood Memorial analysis
Derby links
• It’s not often you can get a trainer to talk much about a rival horse, but Mark Casse spoke for many race fans when commenting on reigning 2-year-old champion Good Magic, who’s favored in Saturday’s other major prep, the Blue Grass. Said Casse: “He still has to prove to, not just to me, but everyone, that he belongs.”
• Trainers of the Santa Anita Derby’s top choices, Bob Baffert and Mick Ruis, took different paths to the same pinnacle of their sport. But they share a mutual respect with Baffert serving as a mentor of sorts for Ruis. The two discussed their relationship this week.
• Jockey Ryan Moore has a tough decision to make in the coming weeks: ride Europe’s Kentucky Derby favorite (Mendelssohn) on dirt or the 2,000 Guineas favorite (Saxon Warrior) on dirt? Fellow rider Frankie Dettori knows what he’d choose.
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