Barn Tour: Lynch still is unsure about Classic Causeway, Derby

When Classic Causeway won the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis and then the Tampa Bay Derby (G2), it looked like trainer Brian Lynch would have his first Kentucky Derby starter.

Then the Giant's Causeway colt finished last in the Florida Derby (G1) on Saturday after initially setting the pace.

Lynch told Horse Racing Nation Monday that he "didn't think too much" of Classic Causeway's performance.

"The fortunate thing is that he scoped good, and he's come back good. Everything looks like it's normal," Lynch said. Saturday's race was "just one of those days. So I don't know what to make of that. But fortunately he came out of the race in good order."

Whether the next step will be Churchill Downs on May 7, Lynch said, "certainly I'm not rushed about the Derby. I'm not in any hurry to get to the Derby with him."

The plan from here? "I'm going to take it day to day, and I'll just play it by ear and we won't get too far ahead of ourselves. At this stage, we're just going to regroup and make sure that once we start him back to the track that everything's OK. So he's still here in Florida, we'll get him up to Churchill and then we'll start to pick up the training with him and determine where we're at as he progresses."

Lynch also provided updates on other talented horses in his stable for HRN's Barn Tour series.

Red Danger. This 3-year-old son of Orb has had nine starts, winning three and finishing second in the black-type Cutler Bay on Saturday at Gulfstream. Two of his starts have been on dirt, but the last five have been on turf. "I thought he ran a decent race. The winner sort of broke on top and sort of got a clean trip and he broke out the eight hole and got bumped around a bit early. But I thought he ran a game race to hang on for second. … Probably wait for something at Churchill to come back around or maybe even experiment, put him back on the dirt."

Tobys Heart. The 4-year-old filly will make her first start of the year Saturday in the 6 1/2-furlong Monrovia (G2) at Santa Anita. "She's in good order. I think it's a very competitive race. They got a good filly called Leggs Galore, and she looks like she's very legit. So it's not an easy race, but it's an interesting distance for us. She wanted that distance at Kentucky Downs. So we'll experiment a little bit, it's a Grade 2. It's not going to be a real big field. So I feel she's training good enough that we're prepared to take the risk and ship her out there and feel like she's going to run a competitive race."

Gift List. This 4-year-old filly, who got her start in the U.K., was eighth in the March 5 Honey Fox (G3), her second start after an eight-month layoff. "Gift List has had a couple of little ankle issues. Nothing too serious, just have to give us some time and hopefully, everything will come back around for her. But at this stage, she's just back in to light training."

Phantom Currency. The 6-year-old son of Goldencents won Saturday's Appleton (G3) in his first start since February 2021. "That was a good effort in the Appleton over the weekend here and off the 13-month layoff, so I'm very proud of that effort. Looking at the Elkhorn (G2) for him. Hopefully he just progresses because he's sort of a marathon horse, and I'll look toward a good spring, summer and some of the marathon races."

Carotari. His last start was a win in the listed Janus Stakes at Gulfstream on New Year's Eve, and he returned to the work tab on Saturday. "He unfortunately missed the best part of the winter season here because usually he's very effective down here at this track. He's won a number of stakes, but he had a quarter crack. It's grown out, we got his first work back into him. He won't race again until probably on Preakness Day on the grass."

Lynch mentioned another hopeful in his barn: "There's an Uncle Mo filly called I'm So Sorry. She just broke her maiden here at Gulfstream and looks like she's talented. And she'll run in an a-other-than at Keeneland. And hopefully she develops into a nice 3-year-old filly as the summer goes on."