Ky. Derby prep: Drum Roll Please faces 4 in Jerome

Gold Square’s graded-stakes placed Drum Roll Please will look to rebound from a last-out third in the Grade 2 Remsen when taking on four rivals in Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes, a one-mile test for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.

The Jerome is the first Kentucky Derby prep race of the year on the New York circuit and offers 10-5-3-2-1 qualifying points to the top five finishers. Scheduled for 1:19 p.m. EST, it is the third of Saturday’s nine races at the Big A.

Click here for Aqueduct entries and results.

Trained by two-time Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox, Drum Roll Please faced winners for the first time last out in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen on Dec. 2 at the Big A. There he raced in seventh of 10 under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano and made up ground late in the turn to come within one length of the lead at the stretch call. The top duo of Dornoch and Sierra Leone drew clear from Drum Roll Please down the lane and reached the finish line 4 3/4 lengths ahead of him as he finished a clear third. Drum Roll Please earned a career-best 84 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, according to Daily Racing Form.

“He’s training really good,” said Dustin Dugas, Cox’s Belmont Park-based assistant. “He’s always been one that trains well, and he’s a good keeper. A good doer.”

The Hard Spun chestnut graduated at third asking two starts back in a one-mile, maiden tilt at Aqueduct, earning the victory with a more prominent trip under Castellano and challenging the top flight with a four-wide bid at the top of the lane. He was met with a bid from Hunt Ball in the stretch but shook clear of his rival to draw away to a two-length score at a final time of 1:36.46.

Dugas said he expects the cutback will benefit Drum Roll Please.

“He’s one that you just play the break. He can be a little sluggish sometimes, but once he grabs the bridle he’ll get in there for you,” Dugas said. “We’ll see what the pace is and where he’ll be.”

A $250,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale in 2022, Drum Roll Please is out of the multiple stakes-winning, E Dubai mare Imply. His fourth dam Sharon Brown produced Hall of Famer and dual champion Holy Bull. 

Castellano has the call from the inside post.

Barry Schwartz’s New York homebred El Grande O, in post 4 with Kendrick Carmouche, brings a seasoned résumé that includes two stakes victories against fellow state-breds for trainer Linda Rice.

The dark bay son of Take Charge Indy was last seen scoring a front-running victory in the one-mile Sleepy Hollow over a muddy and sealed Big A main track on Oct. 29. There he battled for the early lead with Solo’s Fury before drawing clear with ease to take a 5 1/2-length advantage at the stretch call. He faced a late challenge from stablemate B D Saints but had plenty left to stave off his rival and post the 1 1/4-length victory at a final time of 1:37.98.

El Grande O was given a one-month freshening following the Sleepy Hollow and returned to the work tab in early December. He most recently breezed five furlongs in 1:02.31 on Sunday on Belmont Park’s training track.

“He’s doing well,” Rice said. “He got a little break, so hopefully he’s as good a 3-year-old and he was a 2-year-old.”

El Grande O’s Sleepy Hollow victory came after an uncharacteristic, sixth-place finish in the Champagne (G1) in October, when he had entered off a dominant, 8 1/4-length romp in the state-bred Bertram F. Bongard in September at Aqueduct. His only other start against open company came with a game, runner-up effort to Ship Cadet in an off-the-turf edition of the Skidmore in August at Saratoga.

Through a record of 8: 3-3-1, El Grande O boasts field-best earnings of $319,000. He is a half-brother to the graded stakes-placed, Malibu Moon mare Meal Ticket.

“(Seasoning) is always helpful,” Rice said. “Bottom line is if someone is just better than him, that’s usually where it (helps).”

Goodfella’s Regalo, in post 5 with Sheldon Russell, streaks in off back-to-back wins at Laurel Park for Maryland’s top 2023 trainer Brittany Russell.

The son of Maximus Mischief was last seen passing his first test against winners in a 1 1/16-mile, optional claimer Dec. 9, when he engaged in an early battle with Masakado before taking the lead at the stretch call and powering home a 4 1/2-length winner with a final time of 1:46.40.

The consistent bay finished second in his September debut sprinting six furlongs at the Maryland oval before graduating by 5 1/4 lengths when stretched to seven furlongs. A $280,000 purchase at the Ocala, Fla., spring sale of 2-year-olds in training, Regalo’s second dam Referendum is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner and Grade 1 producer Jersey Girl.

Built Wright Stables’ Kentucky homebred Sweet Soddy J, in post 3 with Dylan Davis, will look to secure his third stakes win for trainer Raymond Ginter Jr.

Sweet Soddy J was a three-length winner of the 6 1/2-furlong Timonium Juvenile in September and arrives from a front-running, six-length romp in the seven-furlong Heft on Saturday at Laurel Park.

The Bee Jersey gelding is cross-entered in Saturday’s 6 1/2-furlong Turfway Prevue, but owner Lynn Cash said Sweet Soddy J is most likely to contest the Jerome.

“We're 85 percent to run there (at Aqueduct)," Cash said. "The horse is in Maryland, and it looks like he can handle a little distance.

“It’s a longer ship to Turfway. I’d actually entered him at Turfway before the race ran at Laurel. I didn’t realize then we had a six-length winner there, but the way he ran, it just feels like he can go long. There’s a lot more money going long than going short, so if he can take the long, I’d much rather have him going that way.”

The well-traveled chestnut has competed at seven tracks through a record of 8: 3-0-1, which includes a debut, maiden-claiming score in August at Colonial Downs and a third-place finish in the Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial in September at Presque Isle Downs.

Cash said Sweet Soddy J’s win at Timonium was even better than it looked on paper.

“He broke decent in the first race (at Colonial) and he took the lead going around the corner and drew off a little bit. The next one (at Timonium), where he came off the pace, he stumbled coming out of the gate and almost hit the rail,” Cash said. “A horse came in, and he reacted and almost hit the rail coming through the gap. The whole race he sat behind them, because he couldn’t get through. He finally got through at the top of the short stretch. He was eight or 10 lengths better than everybody that day.”

Sweet Soddy J made one previous start at a one-turn mile, finishing a distant eighth after pressing the pace in the Champagne. But Cash said Sweet Soddy J has improved with racing and could have been a three-time stakes winner had he switched leads after putting a head in front at the stretch call in the six-furlong James F. Lewis III in November at Laurel.

“He had the race won, but he wouldn’t switch leads. That’s been his issue in his earlier races,” Chapman said. “He made the lead at the head of the stretch, but he didn’t switch leads, and we ended up running fourth. If he switches leads that day, he’d have won three stakes.”

Cash said Sweet Soddy J switched leads perfectly last out, and he is hopeful Davis can work out a patient trip.

“Just let him break and get where he wants to. If he makes the lead, I don't need him way out in front,” Cash said. “I hope we push towards the lead coming around the corner. We don’t have to have the lead, but get him running down the lane.

“He looks like he wants to go long. He’s a big horse. If he had another furlong to go last time, he’d make that easily. He was pulling away from everybody.”

Rounding out the field is Calumet Farm’s maiden winner Khanate, in post 2 with Manny Franco, for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

The Hightail colt, a $35,000 Keeneland September 2022 yearling-sale purchase, drew off to win by 10 1/2 lengths in a restricted, seven-furlong, maiden sprint in October at Keeneland. He arrives from a pace-setting sixth in a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer Nov. 9 at Churchill Downs.