Team Dennis' Moment turns attention to Kentucky Derby trail

The opportunity wasn’t on the scale of what was presented to Dennis’ Moment last week, but Jason Loutsch, the colt’s racing manager, considered Tuesday an important step nonetheless.

The beaten Breeders’ Cup Juvenile favorite, who stumbled from the gate and never factored at Santa Anita Park, returned to the track at Churchill Downs under regular exercise rider Tammy Fox.

“Tammy felt the same thing underneath her,” Loutsch said. “Everything was good there. The vets went over him a few times.”

Dennis’ Moment received a clean bill of health, and he’ll take that into a 45-day freshening before joining trainer Dale Romans’ string at Gulfstream Park.

Loutsch, who campaigns the son of Tiznow under the Albaugh Family Stables banner with his father-in-law, Dennis Albaugh, said he’s studying the type of path their colt could take to the 2020 Kentucky Derby.

“I’m doing a lot of due diligence right now,” Loutsch said. “I’ve pulled all the last 15 years’ Kentucky Derby winners trying to see their schedules and anything I can learn.”

The big question: to run in one or two prep races? Dennis’ Moment sits at No. 5 on the current points leaderboard with 10 via his victory in Churchill Downs’ Iroquois Stakes (G3). The stakes ramp up significantly into the spring, but so do the distances at which Dennis’ Moment would be tasked to run off a layoff.

Beyond the chance at a 2-year-old championship and winner’s share of a $2 million purse, the Juvenile offered 20 Derby qualifying points to the winner.

“It’s unfortunate with as much built up excitement as we had in the six weeks since the Iroquois,” Loutsch said. “He was doing wonderful, and now we have to wait until February. It’s going to be a long couple months, but the main thing is he’s doing good and we have a good horse.”

When connections huddled in the paddock at Santa Anita Park, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. was told to send from the inside post position over a deep dirt surface at Santa Anita. When the gates opened and Dennis’ Moment went to his knees, “Dale basically got up and walked out,” Loutsch said.

“It was over. There was no chance on that track and against that competition we were going to succeed. It’s amazing Irad stayed on him.”

Loutsch noted Dennis’ Moment has been an “all or nothing” type of horse. He lost jockey Robby Albarado on debut, then returned to break his maiden by nearly 20 lengths at Ellis Park. The Iroquois was won with ease as Dennis’ Moment finished geared down at Churchill.

“It’s kind of a weird deal,” Loutsch said of this colt’s past performances. “He was sitting on such a big race and training so good. To go there and not even get to cheer at all was disappointing.

“…Regardless of how he ran or what he did, that was always the plan. We were always going to give him a quick breather before shipping down to Florida — give him a quick breath, put some weight on him and look forward to the Derby.”