Virginia Derby: Program Trading, Gigante lead field of 11
Undefeated Grade 1 stakes winner Program Trading and Secretariat Stakes (G2) hero Gigante headline a field of 11 3-year-old turf specialists assembled for the 20th running of Saturday's $500,000 Virginia Derby (G3), the closing-day feature at Colonial Downs.
The purse for the 1 1/8-mile turf race is up $200,000 from last year’s renewal. The Virginia Derby is one of six stakes races scheduled for the expanded 11-race card that wraps up the season at the New Kent oval.
Program Trading is 3-for-3 on his career, culminating in a head victory in the Saratoga Derby (G1) after registering an allowance win at Belmont Park in June and a maiden tally in his debut in May. The son of Lope de Vega is trained by four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown and will be ridden by Flavien Prat from the outside post 11.
Gigante rallied from last to score an upset 22-1 victory in the Secretariat Stakes, which was held in Virginia for the first time on Aug. 12. The son of Not This Time, who has never raced beyond 1 1/16-miles, is attempting to become the first Virginia-bred to capture the local Derby. He is conditioned by Steve Asmussen, the all-time leading trainer in Thoroughbred racing. Cristian Torres picked up the mount and will be riding Gigante for the first time in the Virginia Derby starting from post 2.
The top two finishers in Laurel Park's tightly contested Bald Eagle Derby on Aug. 13 will clash again here. Dataman got the best of Ari Gold by three-quarters of a length in the 1 3/16-mile stakes. The former is a Tapit gelding trained by Graham Motion, who is looking to join Todd Pletcher, Dale Romans and Bill Mott as a three-time Virginia Derby winning conditioner. The latter is a Medaglia d'Oro colt trained by Pletcher who, late in his freshman campaign, collected a maiden turf win at Aqueduct and a win in the Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream. Jorge Ruiz has a return call on Dataman, who drew post 5, and Jose Ortiz will pilot Ari Gold from post 10.
Salute the Stars took a three-race win streak into the Haskell Stakes (G1) on July 22 and finished seventh. The Candy Ride colt had won the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth in his prior start, which followed an allowance win at Churchill and a maiden win at Ellis Park. Sheldon Russell rides the Brad Cox trainee from post 4.
One additional graded stakes-placed sophomore is among the 11 entrants. Mondego finished third in the Belmont Derby (G1) two starts back for trainer Christophe Clement. Trevor McCarthy will ride from post 6.