Kentucky Derby hopeful: The Wine Steward is back in training

Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Two-time stakes winner The Wine Steward, who drifted to 77-1 last weekend in the pari-mutuel Kentucky Derby Future Wager, returned to training this month after getting two months off since he was scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. When he will make his 2024 debut is not yet known.

“He’s back,” trainer Mike Maker said Friday at Gulfstream Park. “I just started training him a couple weeks ago.”

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A close second Oct. 7 in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, The Wine Steward attracted early betting interest in Derby futures in Nevada. His 60-1 best odds last week were among the 20 shortest fixed-odds prices in the market.

A 3-year-old colt sired by Vino Rosso, The Wine Steward began his career with three wins in as many starts. He was six lengths clear of the field in his May 28 debut at Churchill Downs. He was a 2 3/4-length victor in the Bashford Manor on July 2 at Ellis Park. A head win over El Grande O followed Aug. 27 in the Funny Cide at Saratoga.

In his first try racing two turns, The Wine Steward ran about two lengths off the early pace at Keeneland before making a strong move in the stretch only to come up a half-length shy of odds-on favorite Locked in the Breeders’ Futurity.

Without elaborating on the Breeders’ Cup scratch, Maker said it was a scheduled break for The Wine Steward, and he said he did not have a next race in mind yet.

“Hopefully, we get something sometime in March,” he said.

Maker did not rule out a Derby bid for the colt, who has not had a timed workout since Oct. 28.

Peter Proscia’s Paradise Farms and David Staudacher own the $340,000 colt.