World of Trouble back to turf on Kentucky Derby weekend
Trainer Jason Servis, who will saddle Maximum Security in the Kentucky Derby, is bringing with him to Churchill Downs one of the fastest horses in the country.
Servis said he’s pointing World of Trouble — a recent Grade 1 winner of Aqueduct’s Carter Handicap on dirt — to the Grade 2, $250,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint.
World of Trouble, a 4-year-old son of Kantharos, has won five of his last six races overall, the only defeat coming by a neck to the later named champion Stormy Liberal in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.
In the April 6 Carter, World of Trouble took a wide tripe stretching to seven furlongs, with his leading margin shrinking toward the wire. Servis didn’t view that as a distance limitation.
“I’ve seen in the past, a lot of horses will struggle with that Aqueduct track the first time they run over it,” the trainer said. “That’s just my opinion, and the fact that he’s such a serious racehorse, he overcame it.”
The Twin Spires Turf Sprint runs at 5 1/2 furlongs and could give the ownership group of Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Bethlehem Stables clarity upon which long-range Breeders’ Cup goal to target this season.
“It’s a great problem to have, really,” Servis said. “He’s a flat out runner.”
Since the Breeders’ Cup, World of Trouble rolled Dec. 15 in a state-bred stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, then was scheduled to go back on the green in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Stakes. Run on the Pegasus World Cup (G1) undercard, the race shifted to the main track.
Servis noted that World of Trouble can be a difficult colt to shoe on his hind legs.
“I was afraid if I tried to change from turf shoes to dirt shoes, I might not able to get shoes back on him,” Servis said. “So he ran in the turf shoes, which is almost no toe grab at all. He ran like it doesn’t make any difference.”
Before an inspired run on yielding turf in the Breeders’ Cup — it was 7 1/4 lengths back to third — World of Trouble won Saratoga’s Aug. 8 Quick Call on a yielding surface and Belmont Park’s Sept. 8 Allied Forces over “good” going.
“He just motored over it,” Servis said of soft turf. “He’s a runner, man. He makes me look good.”
Overall, World of Trouble is 7-2-1 in 11 starts with earnings of $891,400.