Free Drop Billy brings Albaughs back for Kentucky Derby 2018

Exiting Free Drop Billy’s final 2018 Kentucky Derby prep, Jason Loutsch, racing manager for the Albaugh Family Stable, considers Free Drop Billy “a notch below the top tier of those horses — the Justifys, and Todd Pletcher’s four that he has. I think we’re right behind them.”

But, Loutsch added, the colt can catch up the first Saturday in May “with a little racing luck.” That is, after all, what helped earn Free Drop Billy a spot in the field.

The final strides of last Saturday’s Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes played out in familiar fashion. A son of Union Rags, Free Drop Billy was quickly catching Sporting Chance. Then right before the wire, Sporting Chance jolted outward and impeded his rival.

The same scenario played out in last September’s Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga. That day, Sporting Chance held on for the win. At Keeneland, however, stewards reversed the finishing order, granting Free Drop Billy a much-needed third-place finish.

“Maybe fourth would have been fine, but we want to be secure,” said trainer Dale Romans. “…This horse is going to be a force to be reckoned with. He wants to go farther. A mile and a quarter won’t do nothing but make him better.”

Romans has a habit of saying that with his Derby horses the last three years. That's because in each of 2016 (Brody’s Cause), 2017 (J Boys Echo) and 2018 (Free Drop Billy) he’s saddled a contender campaigned by the Albaughs.

“We’re very fortunate, humbled and honored to have a third consecutive Kentucky Derby starter,” Loutsch said. “When we go to these sales in September, our goal is to find colts who can go two turns and make the Derby.

“We’re looking for big, scopey colts who can go two turns and have the pedigree. Free Drop Billy fits that. He’s got the Giant’s Causeway mare, and Union Rags was obviously a tremendous horse.”

Free Drop Billy last fall captured the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity, also at Keeneland, and has hit the board in all three of his Derby trail starts as a sophomore.

Hawkbill, a 5-year-old half brother to Free Drop Billy, also struck recently going a mile and a half on turf in a Group 2 race on Dubai World Cup night.

“There’s a lot of excitement in our camp,” Loutsch said, “feeling the longer Free Drop Billy goes, the better.”

Iowa-based Albaugh Family Stable is the racing operation of Dennis Albaugh, the so-called “Pesticide Prince” whose Albaugh Global is a billion-dollar company. Loutsch is Albaugh’s son-in-law.

The group’s original crop of purchases measured nine horses in September of 2014, and they’ve headed to Louisville each racing season while staying in that same ballpark.

“Every year we go, they cost more and more,” Loutsch said. “We go in with a budget and stick to the budget. We don’t look to overpay for a horse.

“It’s getting tougher to get the ones we want.”

Loutsch also updated us on three other Albaugh runners from the current 3-year-old crop:

Bryzzo: “He’s back training. He was down in Florida, had a little minor throat surgery after his maiden win, and we’re expecting a big summer from him. He’s back at Churchill Downs training, and he’s had two or three works, so it won’t be long before we see him in training.”

Dak Attack: “He’s back at the farm in Ocala. He’ll be shipping up to Churchill the first of May to hopefully have a huge summer.”

Hollywood Star: “He’s thrown in two kind of clunkers in a row. We’re struggling to find out why he isn’t running, so we’re giving him about two or three weeks away from the barn, and we’re going to bring him back next week and maybe look at a race Derby week with him — maybe switch him to the turf. We still haven’t given up on him.”