THERE’S recall and there’s memory.

Ian Wilkes recalls the trip to the Kentucky Derby with Unbridled in 1990. He remembers the trip with Street Sense in 2007. Assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Carl Nafzger for those two Derby raids, Wilkes learned a lot in those 17 years.

“We had a good time with Unbridled but it was all a blur,” Wilkes said. “With Street Sense, I slowed down and enjoyed it.”

With recall and memory, comes context and appreciation. This year, Wilkes has both, mixed with a whole lot of hope. The Australian-born trainer unveiled McCraken for his three-year-old debut February 11th, the son of Ghostzapper picked up his sophomore campaign right where he left off his freshman season, winning the Sam Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

Owned by Whitham Thoroughbreds and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., the long-striding bay colt brushed off a two-month layoff, circling wide to draw off to a one and a half-length score over Tapwrit, a $1.2 million son of Tapit, and maiden winner State Of Honor. Undefeated in three starts as a juvenile, McCraken set a track record in the Davis.

LESSONS

Nafzger taught Wilkes a lot of lessons, patience being the foremost tutorial.

“It just comes down to it, if you want to get in a hurry and change something and not listen, you won’t have a horse, you won’t be there. You have to let the horse do it. That’s the key,” Wilkes said. “Then enjoy it. That’s the one thing I learned from Unbridled to Street Sense. This horse, oh yeah, I’m enjoying. It’s a lot of work but it’s lot of fun.”

Conservative by nature, Wilkes skipped the Breeders’ Cup and other Grade 1 stakes with McCraken last year, allowing him to develop in his own time, winning three straight at Churchill Downs. The races played out better than Sgt. Pepper, With a Little Help from my Friends and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds – maiden in early October, minor stakes (ironically, the Street Sense) in late October and Grade 2 stakes at the end of November. Tick, tack toe, then a break, then a plan, starting with the Sam Davis.

“I was very pleased with the performance, coming off a good two-year-old season, you always have that question from two to three, you have to take that step forward,” Wilkes said. “Different surface, he had to give weight, watching the track play to inside speed, I was very pleased, he stepped up and did what I wanted.”

Nafzger gave Street Sense two races before the Derby. Wilkes plans on running McCraken three times before the Derby because he wasn’t battle tested like Street Sense, who ran five times at two. The next stop should be the Tampa Bay Derby, then probably the Blue Grass at Keeneland. But, Wilkes is flexible

“You’ve got to have the horse to do it, if you don’t have the horse, it doesn’t matter. You have to let him do it,” Wilkes said. “One step at a time, it’s like a building blocks, if I try to put the biggest part on first, it’s going to fall over. I’ve got to stack my blocks and build it the right way with my ultimate goal of putting a crown on top, the Kentucky Derby.”