Further Ado crushes Blue Grass by 11 lengths in Derby statement

Lexington, Ky.

It was not supposed to line up this way for Spendthrift. Undefeated Eclipse Award winner Ted Noffey was the star of the farm and the favorite for Kentucky Derby 2026. Further Ado was a promising 3-year-old, but he was not a champion. His place in the pecking order was uncertain.

“After his first two starts, we were kind of scratching our heads a little bit,” Spendthrift boss Ned Toffey said Saturday. “We weren’t sure what we had.”

Ted Noffey was taken off the trail nine weeks ago because of bone bruising, but Further Ado still had not yet filled the expectational void. Until Saturday.

Returning to the scene of his 20-length, maiden-breaking romp, 4-5 favorite Further Ado took the lead late in the second turn and drew away in an 11-length tour de force to win the Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

The victory assured the 3-year-old Gun Runner colt of a spot in the Kentucky Derby, joining Florida Derby (G1) winner Commandment and Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) victor Fulleffort as trainer Brad Cox’s qualifiers.

“You can’t have enough,” said Cox, who won the 2021 Derby with Mandaloun after the disqualification of Medina Spirit. “I think we’ve had as many as four one year (in 2023), and it didn’t work out. It’s a tough race to win. I’m not a huge believer in luck, but if there is a race where it requires a little racing luck, it’s definitely the Derby.”

Ottinho made a late bid down the stretch to place second, sliding him in as the 15th-ranked qualifier to run for the roses May 2. The Blue Grass has not produced a Derby winner since Street Sense in 2007.

Cox and winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. were confident Further Ado would be better Saturday than he showed in his second-place finish to The Puma on March 7 in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3).

“He came from a little layoff that day,” Ortiz said. “Even after that race, I talked to Brad, and I said listen, he ran big, but I feel like he was blowing. I feel like the layoff beat me that day. He was running. It was not a soft pace, so I was happy with him even though he got beat. Look at the way he came back.”

It was the biggest winning margin in the Blue Grass since Sinister Minister prevailed by 12 3/4 lengths in 2006. It came in Further Ado’s second start off the three-month break after his Nov. 29 win in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill Downs.

“Hopefully the third looks better,” Cox said.

Saturday left a hard act to follow. The show began with Great White (7-1) leading the seven-horse field through early fractions of 23.60 and 47.71 seconds. Creole Chrome (14-1) stalked a close second, and Further Ado took an outside path to be a close third.

Creole Chrome moved to the front going up the backstretch in the 1 1/8-mile race, clocking the first three-quarters of a mile in 1:11.80. Great White was second and fading. Ortiz bided his time in third, traveling in the four path a half-length off the lead. Then he pushed the button.

“Turning from home I just squeezed him, and he took off,” Ortiz said. “After that I looked, and I knew I was in the clear.”

At the eighth pole Further Ado had an 8 1/2-length lead through a mile in 1:36.63.

“I just kept his attention when we crossed the (sixteenth pole),” Ortiz said. I caught his attention one time (with the crop), and he did the rest to keep going.”

The winning time was 1:49.58 on the main track blown fast by a warm, 20 mph homestretch tailwind that preceded an evening storm. It was the fastest Blue Grass since 2021, when Essential Quality’s 1:48.50 gave Cox his first win in the race that was established in 1911. Adding the 50-foot run-up, Equibase reported the time from the starting gate was 1:51.66.

Ottinho was 1 3/4 lengths clear of third-place Talkin (11-1). Creole Chrome, Great White, Reagan’s Honor (2-1) and Moonstrocity (73-1) completed the finish in that order. Class President and Ocelli were scratched.

Further Ado paid $3.70, $2.70 and $2.16 after running his record to 3-for-3 as a post-time favorite. Ottinho returned $6.76 and $4.30. Talkin paid $4.30 to show.

While Spendthrift waits to get Ted Noffey back this summer, it will have big, short-term sights on Further Ado. The $550,000 colt out of Sky Mesa mare Sky Dreamer was the 9-1 third choice Saturday evening in the fixed-odds Derby futures at Caesars Sportsbook in Nevada. He was the 17-1 seventh choice in the pari-mutuel Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which closed just before Saturday’s preps. Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Renegade held steady as the 4-1 favorite in both pools for trainer Todd Pletcher. Since Ortiz rides both colts, he has a choice to make for the Kentucky Derby.

“My agent (Steve Rushing) probably will have to make the choice,” said Ortiz, who rides Renegade for owners Robert and Lawana Low and Mike Repole.

“We’re going to find an enforcer,” Toffey said. “Somebody to make Irad an offer he can’t refuse. No, look. He does have a tough decision, but we love Irad. I’m pretty sure there will be a couple of very competent riders who would be more than willing to slight right in there if Irad wants to go with Renegade, so we’ll see.”

It has to be a fun problem to have with Further Ado, who humbly finished fifth and third in his maiden sprints at Saratoga last summer.

“Once he went two turns here to win,” Toffey said, underscoring the obvious breakthrough. “Especially at Keeneland, even though it was a maiden special weight. I mean you win a race by 20, you can’t help but think we might have something special here.”

If the whole stable had been healthy, Cox and Spendthrift would have wanted to keep Further Ado on his own path to the Derby and away from Ted Noffey.

“(Ted Noffey) probably would have just stayed on that Florida route where so many of Todd’s (horses) do,” Toffey said. “Obviously with Further Ado’s race here last year breaking his maiden, we knew he liked this track, so I think this really was kind of the plan for this Further Ado right along for him.”

Now it is just a matter of keeping Further Ado fit and finding out if he can translate two dominant victories into being a serious contender going 1 1/4 miles in America’s most famous race.

How good was Further Ado in the eyes of Ottinho’s jockey Flavien Prat?

“I don’t know,” he said. “He was too far in front.”