American Promise, Lukas eye Ky. Derby after win in Virginia

New Kent, Va.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has accomplished a lot in his Hall of Fame career, but winning at Colonial Downs had eluded him until American Promise almost certainly punched his ticket to Kentucky Derby 2025 with an emphatic 7 3/4-length in the $500,000 Virginia Derby on Saturday.

The win put an exclamation mark on a sun-soaked event that also featured a Kentucky Oaks (G1) prep race in the Virginia Oaks won by Fondly. It helped attract a sellout crowd of about 8,500 and generated $6,540,489 in handle, the second-highest total in track history and the best outside 2023 Arlington Million (G1) day.

Click here for Colonial Downs entries and results.

“Lukas has a long history of winning races like this and getting his horses in position to run in the Kentucky Derby,” winning jockey Nik Juárez said. “I’m so thankful to have a relationship with the barn to get to ride horses like this.”

The Virginia Derby was a one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race. Odds-on favorite Getaway Car broke like a shot to establish a quick pace, but Juarez gave the Sunland Park Derby winner no breathers, pressing him through fractions of 23.12 and 45.20 seconds before American Promise took over through six furlongs in a blistering 1:08.39.

It was lights out from there. American Promise went a mile in 1:33.02 and drew off on the fast main track to a final time of 1:46.41, a course record.

“I had worked American Promise (at Oaklawn) the past two weeks, so I knew he was sharp,” Juárez said. “He was sort of mid-pack early in his last two stakes tries, and we knew today that we’d want to be aggressive. When Getaway Car got out there, I was fine to let him go, but I wanted position, and he just carried me to the front.”

Lukas, 89, who was not at Colonial Downs on Saturday, trains American Promise for Brian Coelho and John Bellinger’s BC Stables. The Justify colt was acquired for $750,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September yearling sale. Lukas got BC to the Kentucky Derby last year with Just Steel, who finished 17th. American Promise would be Lukas’s 51st Derby starter but Juarez’s first.

“I’m going to enjoy this moment, but obviously it would be a thrill to be in the Derby,” Juárez said.

Render Judgment sat behind the pacesetters in third and was able to pass Getaway Car to finish second.

“Kenny (McPeek, trainer of Render Judgment) had spoken to me this morning and said he had added the blinkers and that the horse is doing good,” said jockey Sheldon Russell, who had to fill in after Brian Hernandez Jr.’s flight from New Orleans was grounded by windy weather. “I loved the outside post, because in his replays, I saw he could get away a few strides slow, so with a few nudges, he put me in a good forward spot early. I could have kept him wide, but I decided to tip in and follow Getaway Car. At the half-mile pole I felt like I was going better than him, so I angled him out and hoped my horse could make that run, but I just couldn’t run down (American Promise).”

Omaha Omaha closed from last to be third. Getaway Car faded to fourth. Studlydoright came in fifth. The top five finishers earned 50-25-15-10-5 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby.

“I broke good, and I didn’t want to give up the lead,” Irad Ortiz Jr. said of his Bob Baffert-trained mount Getaway Car, who was the 4-5 post-time favorite. “I cleared (American Promise), but he came back and pressed me the whole way. Then he galloped. That was a huge performance by (American Promise).”

American Promise, whose only victory in eight previous tries was in a Dec. 29 maiden race at Oaklawn, paid $16.20 as the third choice in the field of seven.