Springboard Mile will not award all its Kentucky Derby points

A new chapter in Kentucky Derby qualifying will be written at Oklahoma City on Friday night, when it is possible that no eligible horses will earn any points from the Remington Springboard Mile.

Since the U.S. classics are phasing out Lasix next year, no horse that is on that medication will be allowed to qualify for the 2021 Derby. Of the 11 horses entered in the Springboard, only two – Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Cowan (4-1 morning line) and maiden winner Gushing Oil (15-1) – will race without the anti-bleeding medication. Therefore, they are the only ones eligible to collect any of the Derby qualifying points – 10 for first, 4 for second, 2 for third and 1 for fourth.

“The 2021 Kentucky Derby will mark the first year the classic race will be run without the permitted use of (Lasix),” a Churchill Downs news release said late last month. “In a change this year, points will only be awarded to horses who compete on race day without Lasix in Road to the Kentucky Derby races.”

The phasing out of Lasix is happening on different timetables across the country, so rules vary from state to state. The first seven points preps on the U.S. road to the Derby – four in Kentucky, two in New York and one in California – were run without the medication. Saturday’s Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), another 10-4-2-1 Derby prep, will also be Lasix-free.

Since Oklahoma still allows Lasix for 2-year-olds, most of the entrants in the Springboard Mile will be racing on it. They include morning-line favorite Outadore (3-1). Trained by Wesley Ward, he finished third last month in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. In addition to getting Lasix for the first time, Outadore is making his dirt debut and having blinkers taken off.

Cowan, a deep-closing maiden winner who is returning to the dirt after three starts on the turf, may be trainer Steve Asmussen’s best hope to win the Springboard for the third year in a row. While Cowan will go without Lasix, his frontrunning stablemate Saffa’s Day (10-1) will add it.

Joe Frazier (5-1) will also be racing for the first time on Lasix. Trained by Brad Cox, the maiden winner was a distant third in the Churchill Downs slop racing 1 1/16 miles last month.

Number One Dude (6-1), Game Day Play (10-1), Red N Wild (12-1) Señor Buscador (15-1) and Vim and Vigor (20-1) will be continue on Lasix as they have throughout their young careers. Flash of Mischief (15-1) will have it administered for the second race in a row after breaking his maiden last month at Delta Downs on his second try.

Since no more than two horses will be eligible to score Friday at Remington Park, the Springboard will be only the second Derby prep to have fewer than four points-getters since the current qualifying system began in 2012-13. The first time was in October 2013 at Woodbine, where only three horses finished the Grey Stakes (G3).

If Cowan and Gushing Oil do not win Friday night, they will not be promoted to take Derby points from rivals that are on Lasix. As Churchill Downs spokesman Darren Rogers explained, “If the finish is Lasix, Lasix, no Lasix, Lasix, the points would be 0, 0, 2, 0.”

Ineligible horses that race at Remington Park on Friday may still qualify for the Derby if they are later Lasix-free and earn enough points from subsequent preps.