Kentucky Derby 2018 horse Lone Sailor gains 'mental maturity'

Trainer Tom Amoss understands there will be two “schools of thought” on 2018 Kentucky Derby contender Lone Sailor, who last out took the lead mid-stretch in the Louisiana Derby but gave it back to eventual winner Noble Indy late.

“One is that he’s a horse that is going to have trouble with a lot of distance,” Amoss said. “He made the lead under restraint and floundered at the end of the race.”

But the other thinking — and what Amoss considers “the correct one” — is this:

“Lone Sailor doesn’t know what he’s doing yet. He doesn’t really have a good understanding of racing. When he starts to the front at the head of the lane with what looked like a lot of horse, he really became lost at that point.

“Simply put, he thought the competition was over.”

A son of Majestic Warrior, Lone Sailor returned to the work tab Wednesday for the first time since the March 24 Louisiana Derby, breezing a half mile for Amoss in 47.80 seconds at Churchill Downs. The trainer said the track played fast, and it wasn’t his intention for the G M B Racing charge to record such a snappy time.

That will happen late next week in what Amoss called Lone Sailor’s “major work heading into the Kentucky Derby.” Plans are for the colt to breeze in company behind two stablemates and make his run past them at the end of the drill.

“Although he’s a big, strong, physically imposing horse, his mental maturity is just starting to happen — finally,” Amoss said. “Reiterating what we want to do in a race through works is something we think is important.”

Lone Sailor won at second asking last September at Saratoga but is without a victory since, though he has shown consistency in the afternoons aside from one start. In the Grade 3 Lecomte back in January, Amoss hoped to find a new element by getting Lone Sailor more involved in the early going. He finished ninth.

In two races since — an Allowance Optional Clamining event at Fair Grounds and the Louisiana Derby won by Noble Indy — connections reverted to the horse’s preferred late running style. They were rewarded with a pair of runner-up finishes.

“We think that there is improvement to be had in Lone Sailor,” Amoss said, “rather than taking the idea of what you saw that day as not making the distance.”

Aside from being a potentially live longshot, Lone Sailor represents a feel-good back story. G M B is the stable name for Gayle Marie Benson, wife of the late Tom Benson, who owned the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans. Tom Benson died the week before the Louisiana Derby, with the family’s colt going on to qualify for the Kentucky Derby a day after his funeral.