What we learned this week on the 2018 Kentucky Derby trail
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After a busy Presidents' Day weekend that featured three 2018 Kentucky Derby points races, it's a great time to pause and highlight what we learned. Here are my top takeaways:
Bravazo qualifies for the Derby
The son of Awesome Again, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, wasn't the betting favorite in Saturday's Risen Star Stakes. Although he bid gamely down the stretch in one of his previous graded stakes races, he entered this contest without a graded stakes victory and only four qualifying points. But as long as you have a spot in the starting gate, the chance to race and win is there for the taking. This time, Bravazo delivered.
Because the Risen Star opened the "Championship Series," in which winners receive 50 points, Lukas should have yet another Kentucky Derby starter in 2018 should Bravazo remain healthy. With 54 total, the colt sits atop the leaderboard just more than two months out from the first Saturday in May.
Look for Bravazo, owned by Calumet Farm, to return to Fair Grounds for the Louisiana Derby. Next up for Lukas: trying to get Sporting Chance, who was third in Monday's Southwest Stakes, in the starting gate as well.
The Desormeaux brothers are back
In 2016, trainer Keith Desormeaux and his brother, jockey Kent Desormeaux, teamed up with Exaggerator for a run at the Triple Crown series. Though the Santa Anita Derby winner didn't have enough to catch Nyquist with a late run in the stretch, the team settled the score by winning the 2016 Preakness Stakes.
My Boy Jack represents their chance in 2018.
In his second career start, the son of Creative Cause, a fine juvenile, was taken off the dirt and raced on Turf. My Boy Jack remained on the grass for the remainder of his 2-year-old season, which included the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, which has turned into quite the key race. Connections moved the colt back to dirt to start the 3-year-old campaign, but it wasn't until a chance to run in the mud that the Desormeaux trainee shined in the Southwest Stakes.
My Boy Jack is a Derby trail contender, but because the Southwest marked the final race worth 10 points to the winner, his total of 12 points will not be enough to qualify. So, look for him to go in deeper waters next time, perhaps in the Arkansas Derby.
She's not interested in roses
Paved, the first filly to win Golden Gate Fields' El Camino Real Derby, should not be considered a Kentucky Derby contender. And that's because the connections aren't planning for that sort of future.
She proved that she's good enough to beat the boys, but her connections were quick to confirm they'll either return to turf or, perhaps, try once on the Kentucky Oaks trail just to truly see what they've got in the daughter of Quality Road.
What this also means is that Paved, trained by Michael McCarthy, stole 10 points with her victory Saturday. But with only two other Triple Crown nominees in the El Camino Real Derby, it's unlikely they were going to good use, anyway.
First Derby invitation goes to Sumahama
The Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby is now complete, and sitting atop of the points standings with 30 is Sumahama, winner of the Hyacinth Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse. It was his first Japan Road to the Derby start, but the third and final leg of the series was worth the most points.
Now, we'll wait to see if his connections catch Derby fever. The horse was not nominated to the Triple Crown, but they'll receive an invitation nonetheless. Should they decline, Hyacinth third-place finisher Ruggero is next in line.
Ruggero, a great-grandson of Kentucky Derby winners Pleasant Colony and Sunday Silence, is nominated for the U.S. Triple Crown and seemingly would make the trip to Churchill Downs.
Stock up, stock down
Two non-winners that stood out to a lot of fans over the weekend. One of those appears to be moving up the list of contenders while one looks like he took a step backward.
Sporting Chance a Grade 1 winner at age 2, returned from a five-month layoff and produced a solid effort with a third-place finish in the Southwest Stakes. Despite shouldering some bumps in the stretch, he ran on to collected a couple points and prove his Hopeful Stakes victory was no fluke. Look for him to improve next out on the Derby trail.
Instilled Regard, on the other hand, took a slight step backward in the Risen Star. Coming into this contest, the Jerry Hollendorfer trainee was gaining speed with a runner-up finish at the conclusion of the Juvenile season in the Los Alamitos Futurity and a win in his 2018 debut, the Lecomte Stakes.
Over the weekend, however, in a race over a distance of 1 1/6 miles, Instilled Regard had nothing left in the tank down the stretch and finished fourth. His position throughout the race was clean and jockey Javier Castellano had him in the clear striking distance as they rounded the final turn and made their way into the stretch. From there it was a slow regression from contention to desperately hanging on to fourth place.
The Derby hopes for the son of Arch were far from dashed -- and the Fair Grounds surface was playing to the speed -- but this effort puts some pressure on Instilled Regard to perform next out.
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