Delta Downs Jackpot as a key race?
No offense intended to the good people at Delta Downs, but I generally think of their million-dollar Jackpot as anything but a key race – at least as races in the seven figures go. Sure, it did produce the very classy Goldencents, but generally speaking, the Delta Downs Jackpot was as rich a race as the majority of entrants would ever sniff. The late-season race always had the feel of a casino bloated purse, which seldom produced much to look at for the following year’s Derby. That does not look to be the case with the 2015 edition, though. In fact, I am starting to look at the signature race run at Delta Downs, contested on November 21, as a key race for the new sophomore class.
The winner was already a known quantity in Exaggerator. The son of Curtin had to dig deep on an unforgiving rail to fend off the challenge of Sunny Ridge, but he got the job done, and collected a big, fat check for the trouble. Truth be told, I’ve always liked the Saratoga Special winner, and he did nothing to worry me with a really good second-place finish behind the champion Nyquist in the seven-furlong San Vicente. It was his first start since Delta Downs, and should set him up well as one of the horses to beat in the big races of Southern California’s trail to the 2016 Kentucky Derby.
And speaking of Sunny Ridge, that big effort as the runner-up has since been verified by another strong performance. Sent off at 7-2, coming out of the Jackpot, the New Jersey-bred gelding scored a game victory in the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct. There will be some highly regarded up-and-comers in next week’s Gotham, but considering his consistent good form, the son of Holy Bull will be the one they have to beat in the historic Derby prep.
While it is true that the show horse, Harlan Punch has yet to do much in two subsequent starts, take a look at what some of the horses that finished behind him have done … Fourth place finisher, Found Money, was a stakes winner going into the Jackpot, and in his first race afterwards, he added another stakes win in the King Glorious. He is not a Kentucky Derby type, but he is a hard-hitting California-bred, who should continue to make hay in Southern California.
The fifth place finisher is a horse I consider to be a Kentucky Derby type, however. Whitmore only had one race for experience going into the Jackpot, so his mediocre result can be forgiven. Since then, he has looked the part of a horse getting very good. In his two races since Delta Downs, the robust son of Pleasantly Perfect has come back with two strong performances at Oaklawn Park. First he blitzed his competition late in an allowance sprint, before running a deceptively huge race in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes. His troubled second in there is the kind of race that signals better things to come. He’ll go next in the $900,000 Rebel Stakes, and you better look out for him there, and in the future.
Ending up sixth in the DDJ, was Forevamo. A son of the prolific first-crop sire, Uncle Mo, the Al Stall runner is more experienced than Whitmore, but he also appears to be on the improve. He has stayed in Louisiana, but his two races since the Jackpot have come at Fair Grounds. First he rallied to be second to the talented Candy My Boy in an allowance, before beating that one, and splitting the highly regarded pair of Gun Runner and Mo Tom, to be a strong finishing second in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes. It was a performance that already has him in good shape to make the Kentucky Derby starting gate.
Even the horse who came in eighth in the Jackpot, Memories of Winter, might still be one to watch. He was 2-for-2 going into the Jackpot, but the son of Hard Spun has not yet returned to the races for trainer, Anthony Margotta, Jr.
By now you can see why I see the 2015 Delta Downs Jackpot as a key race. It might go down as the strongest renewal of the million-dollar race yet, and I will certainly look for several horses from it to continue to enjoy success on the road to Louisville.