Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (Grade 1)
THE final Grade 1 trials for the Kentucky Derby took place last weekend but it appeared there was little to threaten Forte’s position as a firm favourite.
Favourites won the two Grade 1s but Keeneland’s Blue Grass looked the better of the trials with favourite Tapit Trice staying on strongly and looking as though the extra distance of the Derby will suit the big grey.
Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable’s Tapit Trice edged away from Verifying late on to win the $1 million Toyota Blue Grass for three-year-olds by a neck.
Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by Luis Saez, Tapit Trice covered the nine furlongs on a fast track in 1m 50.00secs.
The victory was worth 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and gives Tapit Trice 150 points, into fourth place.
Verifying picked up 40 points and has a total of 54 and Blazing Sevens earned 30 points for finishing third to boost his total to 46. Sun Thunder and Raise Cain, fourth and fifth both also look likely to get a run.
In the Toyota Blue Grass, longshot Clear The Air set the pace through fractions of 23.32secs and 48.04secs with Verifying second and Tapit Trice racing in midpack in the early run down the backstraight.
Five-wide move
Halfway down the back, Saez made a five-wide move to close in on the leaders and by the time the field passed six furlongs, Tapit Trice was within a length of the them.
Turning for home, the two favourites battled it out with Verifying holding a narrow advantage until Tapit Trice inched past in the final furlong.
The two colts brushed a couple of times but an objection lodged by Tyler Gaffalione on Verifying was disallowed. Verifying finished five and three quarter-lengths in front of Blazing Sevens.
Winning rider Luis Saez said: “We had a tough (stall one) position, especially with him, because he takes a little while to get going. In the first turn we had an opportunity to put him in the clear. I made a little move early, because the pace was pretty slow.”
Todd Pletcher added: “He didn’t jump well, but then he gained a little momentum. That’s him. We’re not going to make him into a quick horse. The distances, as they stretch out, we always felt like would make him better.”
Tapit Trice was winning four in a row and the son of Tapit had been purchased for $1.3 million at Keeneland’s 2021 September Yearling Sale.
Santa Anita Derby (Grade 1)
PRACTICAL Move had to fight tough to just shade the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in the final strides.
The surprise of the race was the Japanese runner Mandarin Hero who proved he belonged on the US Triple Crown trail while outsider Skinner ran the best race of his life for a close third.
The even-money favourite in the nine-furlong contest, Practical Move broke in seventh for jockey Ramon Vazquez but quickly moved up to fourth along the inside as longshot One In Vermillion led.
One In Vermillion completed the first quarter mile in 22.30secs to three-quarters in 1m11.25secs.
By that point, Practical Move had come up along the rail, closing the margin to a half-length.
As Practical Move was moving forward, Skinner was moving four wide with Mandarin Hero directly to his inside.
Practical Move took command and by midstretch he had a length advantage and looked the clear winner. But Mandarin Hero and Skinner kept coming.
It was a battle to the line with Practical Move on the rail, Skinner on the outside and the tough Mandarin Hero rallying between them.
Photo-finish
Practical Move and Mandarin Hero edged away slightly from Skinner in the final strides, and in a photo-finish, Practical Move just had his nose ahead of Mandarin Hero. Skinner was a half-length back in third. Practical Move finished in 1m 48.69secs for the nine furlongs.
“It’s a great feeling to go back-to-back in this race,” the winner’s trainer Tim Yakteen said of the son of Practical Joke owned by Pierre Jean Amestoy Jr., Leslie Amestoy, and Roger Beasley. “The rush you get - that’s why you get in the game.”
Practical Move earned 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his victory, with 40 for Mandarin Hero who may be the third Japanese runner at Churchill Downs along with Derma Sotogake and Continuar.
“We’re going to the Kentucky Derby!” Mandarin Hero’s trainer, Terunobu Fujita was quoted afterwards.
“I’m so proud of him. I thought he would not handle the early pace, but he did. I believed he would have a good acceleration in the final stretch as usual, and he did it.”
THE only shock in the trials came at Aqueduct in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial when Vegso Racing Stables’ 59/1 longshot Lord Miles ridden by Paco Lopez, emerged from a three-horse battle to the wire and an inquiry to prevail by a nose over favourite Hit Show.
Lord Miles, a son of Curlin, was unplaced in two graded races, (fifth behind Blue Grass winner Tapit Trice in the Tampa Bay Derby), and had just one win in four career starts, all in Florida, but now with 100 points, he is guaranteed a run in Kentucky.
“You dream and sometimes it doesn’t happen. We dreamed about getting this horse in the Kentucky Derby and it didn’t look good for a while but now our dreams have become reality,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “I learned I have nothing to lose by taking chances and a lot to gain.”
“I thought he could be a Derby horse after his first race, and then he was a close third in the Mucho Macho Man (Stakes) and the Holy Bull was a disaster,” Joseph said. “He never runs in the bridle and I thought he’d be last in the Tampa Bay Derby as I watched the race, but when he finished fifth we decided to try the Wood.”
Hit Show, on his first start since winning the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct, picked up 40 points to give him a safe 60 points into the Derby.
THERE were two Grade 1s on Saturday and at Keeneland, the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Goodnight Olive took command at the top of the bend in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes and the five-year-old Ghostzapper mare scampered away from her rivals and surged into the stretch with a three-length advantage which she held off the late challenge of Maryquitecontrary by a length in the seven-furlong contest for Chad Brown and Irad Ortiz.
Upset
At Aqueduct, Maryland-based trainer Brittany Russell enjoyed Grade 1 success when Doppelganger came from fifth in the final furlong, to notch a 17/1 surprise in taking the seven-furlong $300,000 Carter Handicap by a length and a quarter over 4/5 favourite Repo Rocks.
Kenny McPeek has another Grade 1-winning filly when his Defining Purpose, a Cross Traffic filly, took the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes over a mile and half a furlong at Keeneland on Friday night.