Indiana: Tip Top Thomas takes Derby; Clicquot wins Oaks

Tip Top Thomas and Hall of Fame Jockey John Velázquez turned a trip to Indiana into a successful journey Saturday, winning the 31st running of the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

The duo covered the 1 1/16-mile event in 1:41.15, a track record. The event also marked a new all-sources handle record with wagering of more than $9.1 million.

Click here for Horseshoe Indianapolis entries and results.

Master Controller and Chris Emigh had the most speed out of the gate and crossed over from post 2 for the early lead in the field of seven 3-year-olds. Tip Top Thomas and Velázquez went right with them and put a neck ahead up the beginning of the backstretch run before Master Controller came back. Around the second turn Tip Top Thomas had the lead with horses from the back primed and ready to attack.

In the homestretch it was Tip Top Thomas who had to be caught. Coal Battle and Corey Lanerie were making every effort to catch him, but Tip Top Thomas held his ground all the way to the finish. Coal Battle finished second over Brotha Keny and jockey Joe Ramos, who closed in the final strides for third.

“(Tip Top Thomas) wasn’t standing as good as I wanted him to in the gate,” Velázquez said. “The first jump out of the gate wasn't very good. I knew (Master Controller) on the inside was going to go to the lead. Just wasn’t in the first few jumps out of there, and then he got aggressive. I was told not to be in the mouth too much, because he throws his head up. He was going quickly, kind of relaxed, giving me a good feeling. At the three-eighths pole, when they came at him, and I asked him, he was game. I love that. I love it when they come to him, and you ask them for more, and they give it to you. He fought the whole way down the stretch. When I went with (Coal Battle), I knew he wasn’t going to pass me.”

The connections of second-place finisher Coal Battle were pleased with their colt’s performance.

“I think he ran a great race,” said Bethany Taylor, the assistant to trainer Lonnie Briley. “He always comes and puts 100% out. I think if we hadn’t been forced to move at the half-mile pole with (post-time favorite Big Truzz) making a way early move, I think we probably would have been able to win the race. But Corey (Lanerie) did the right thing, going with (Big Truzz) up on the outside of him. Once again he’s proven he belongs with these horses. We’re proud of him.”

“Just a very good race,” Coal Battle’s owner Robbie Norman said. “Hat’s off to Tip Top Thomas. He ran a wonderful race, and we were right there with him. I watched the replay of Tip Top Thomas’s last race, and he’d won on the lead. Corey said track bias today was not to be passing the leaders, but I think Coal Battle ran a great race, and we’re very proud of him.”

Tip Top Thomas paid $7.40 for the win. The son of Volatile is owned by Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister. Todd Pletcher won his first Indiana Derby as trainer of Tip Top Thomas.

“I thought it was very game against a solid field and a more-seasoned horse that he was able to hold off,” Pletcher said by phone from New York. “So I thought it was a big effort first time around two turns. We thought he would handle it, but it was great to see him do it. We felt like it was a good fit. Timing-wise it was good. It wasn’t too far of a ship and all that.”

Tip Top Thomas earned his third win in his fifth career start. The big chestnut colt is 2-for-3 in 2025 and nearly doubled his career bankroll to more than $209,000. He set a track record his first time competing at the distance.

“We were very high on him (Tip Top Thomas),” Pletcher said. “We thought enough off his maiden win to run him back in the Champagne (G1), and he finished a good second in there. Talked about possibly going to the Breeders’ Cup and decided we’d give him a little bit of a freshening and try to gear up for spring-summer campaign, which so far has worked out well.”

When asked if Tip Top Thomas ever was a potential Kentucky Derby horse, Pletcher said, “We talked about it and felt like he wasn’t a mile-and-a-quarter horse, and if we gave him time and continued to let him develop, he’d stretch out and be a mile-and-a-sixteenth, maybe a mile-and-an-eighth horse. I think he ran well enough today that we can consider different distances. We’ll probably stay off the Travers (G1) trail but look at another race similar to today.”

For Velázquez, it was the third win of the day. He also connected with Dana’s Beauty in the Indiana General Assembly Distaff Handicap as well as Willy D’s in the Michael G. Schaefer Memorial.

Indiana became the 11th state where Pletcher won a namesake derby, one behind career leader Brad Cox. Pletcher’s 34 wins in state derbies are a record.

Clicquot bubbles up to win Indiana Oaks

Clicquot proved the toast of the $200,000 Indiana Oaks (G3), rolling to a four-length victory over locally based Top

Clicquot, named for the champagne Veuve Clicquot, was made the favorite at slightly more than even money in the field of six 3-year-olds fillies off of an impressive allowance victory May 31 at Churchill Downs. Although she never had been in a stakes race before, she ran like she had.

“From the get-go she’s always been very nice,” winning Brendan Walsh said. “Looks like she’s still improving second time going two turns, so she looks like she’s really, really top drawer. ... We’ve been lucky enough to have had some nice fillies the last couple of years. I think this filly is up there with the best of them, so who knows where she’ll go from here?”

Jockey Édgar Morales settled Clicquot behind front-running Heavenly Sunset and Top, angling out on the far turn. According to the Equibase chart caller with a sense of humor, she “popped the cork and drew off under a drive.” Clicquot finished the 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track with a time of 1:42.42, returning $4.20, $3.20 and $2.20 as she ran her record to 3-for-4.

Clicquot finished sixth in her career debut March 1 at Gulfstream Park, and then she romped by six lengths at Keeneland. Six weeks later she ran in a 1 1/16-mile allowance at Churchill Downs, beating Brad Cox-trained Heavenly Sunset, the Indiana Oaks’ second choice at 2-1.

Morales never had ridden Clicquot in a race but was in the saddle for her last work.

“She worked amazing,” he said. “We knew she’d be tough to beat. If they’d let us take the lead easy, we’d have gone with it. But we knew (Heavenly Sunset and Top) had some speed, so we could plan sitting off, and it worked pretty good. We sat right in behind stalking, and when I kicked her out, she was all business.”

Heavenly Sunset set fractions of 23.18 seconds for the quarter-mile and 46.15 for the half before fading. Top and jockey Fernando de la Cruz took over the lead midway through the far turn, reaching six furlongs in 1:10.36, but were unable to hold off Clicquot while maintaining second. Top finished two lengths in front of Sturgeon Moon followed by Deloraine, Goldeneye Magic and Heavenly Sunset. 

Top came into the race with two wins from three starts sprinting at Horseshoe Indianapolis following a 0-for-3 run over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface.

“I’m so excited. She ran huge,” trainer Michelle Elliott said. “Especially that I haven’t run her long one time since we hit the dirt. I’m so very proud of her. I thought she could go the distance, and I think we went a pretty good time, too. I was pretty stoked.”

“I put her in a really good position,” de la Cruz said. ”I just got beat by a better horse.”

Clicquot, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Quality Road, picked up $118,800 and has made $258,153 for Donato Lanni’s X-Men Racing IV and Madaket Stables. 

“You’d have to start looking at the bigger prizes with her now,” Walsh said. “She’s got some nice seasoning under her. I thought it was important that we came here today and got a nice in-between race before she goes and tries to take on some of the better fillies in the country. ... I don’t think we’re anywhere near the bottom of her yet. We’ll see. She was a late starter this year, so she’s probably going to be an even nicer 4-year-old.”

Walsh said gun-metal gray Clicquot was in a good spot throughout.

“They were going quick enough,” he said. “I thought she was in a perfect spot. Brad’s filly started to back up a bit, and I thought she was our main danger. Probably her and Eoin Harty’s filly (Deloraine), too. But she looked like she was always traveling very comfortably, and it was just a question of when he was going to get a split and push the button. She responded well. She came back like she was out walking. Bags of class she’s got. She’s so classy. That’s a quality the good ones have, and you can’t teach that.”

The victory was the fourth for Morales in a graded stakes and his first outside Kentucky. Perhaps no one was happier for Morales than Walsh.

“He comes in and works a lot of horses for me,” Walsh said. “He rides a lot for me, too. He’s a very capable rider, I think sometimes an underrated rider, but a very, very good rider. He’s a good judge. He gives a good opinion of a horse, and he rides fantastic. Hopefully it’s the first big one of many for us.”