Harlan's Holiday, Lightly Raced Duo Make Their Visa Triple Crown Cases
April 15, 2002

With less than three weeks remaining before Kentucky Derby 128, HARLAN’S HOLIDAY appears to have nailed down the favorite’s role in the first jewel of the Visa Triple Crown.

His with-ease victory in Saturday’s Grade I, $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland sent him to the top of the class for those heading for the annual Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 4. The race, at 1 1/4 miles over the Louisville oval, serves as the curtain raiser on the 2002 Visa Triple Crown and $5 million Visa Triple Crown Challenge, which guarantees a $5 million bonus to the owner any 3-year-old that can sweep the Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes.

The Preakness will be run on Saturday, May 18, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, and the Belmont is set for Saturday, June 8, at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

While Harlan’s Holiday made it look easy in the Blue Grass, the most competitive of Saturday’s three graded Derby preps was contested at New York’s Aqueduct Race Track where Buddha and MEDAGLIA D’ORO, both late nominees to the Visa Triple Crown, hooked up in a stirring stretch-long duel in the Grade I, $750,000 Wood Memorial. Buddha, getting a classic Pat Day ride, won by a short head over MEDAGLIA D’ORO, who battled to the wire under the urging of racing’s all-time winning jockey, Laffit Pincay Jr.

In the 1 1/8-mile Wood, one could say that youth was served since both the winner and runner-up were making only their fourth career start, and put themselves in a spot to become the first Kentucky Derby winner with so few starts since Exterminator plucked the roses in 1918. Rounding out the top three in the Wood is the Japanese-bred and -owned SUNDAY BREAK, who was making only his fourth start of the year and sixth overall and was undefeated this year prior to Saturday’s race. The time was 1:48.61.

Buddha carries the familiar silks of Gary and Mary West, whose Dollar Bill had problems in last year’s Triple Crown races, and is trained by veteran conditioner H. James Bond. MEDAGLIA D’ORO is trained by Hall of Famer Robert Frankel for longtime client Edmund Gann, and SUNDAY BREAK is owned by breeder Koji Maeda and trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Neil Drysdale, who trained Fusaichi Pegasus to victory in the 2000 Kentucky Derby for another Japanese owner, Fusao Sekiguchi.

In the third major Derby prep Saturday, Private Emblem captured the Grade II, $500,000 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, taking over the lead from 5-2 favorite MR. MELLON in the stretch and drawing off to a convincing 4 1/2–length victory. The Our Emblem colt, owned by James Cassels and Bob Zollars and trained by Steve Asmussen, finished in 1:50.20 and is on his way to Louisville for the Derby. Wild Horses, owned by Peachtree Stable and trained by Todd Pletcher, finished second, a length and three-quarters ahead of the dead-heated WINDWARD PASSAGE and BAY MONSTER in third.

At Keeneland, the main victim of the Starlight Stable-owned and Ken McPeek-trained winner was the ever-game BOOKLET, owned by John C. Oxley and trained by John T. Ward Jr., who finished second, evening the two-horse rivalry at two wins apiece. However, the wins for HARLAN’S HOLIDAY have come in the last two of the series, the Grade I, $1-million Florida Derby preceding the Blue Grass. In other words, as the races have gotten longer, the edge has gone to HARLAN’S HOLIDAY.

Though the Blue Grass was run in the slowest time in 14 years at 1:51.51, the victory was especially sweet for trainer McPeek, who was born and reared in Lexington, Ky., site of Keeneland Race Course.

The runner-up finish for BOOKLET casts doubt on whether he will continue on the Visa Triple Crown trail, and trainer Ward indicated as much following the race when he said, “I think we saw his best effort today.” Finishing third, and a likely Derby prospect, was the late-running, Southern California-based Ocean Sound (Ire), who was runner-up in the Grade III Rebel Handicap at Oaklawn Park on March 23 for owners Jim Ford, K M Stable and Pearson and trainer James Cassidy, who saddled Jamaican Rum to sixth place in the 2001 Derby.

STRAIGHT GIN, who appears to be trainer Nick Zito’s last chance at a Derby starter this year, finished a well-beaten fourth. The Marylou Whitney Stable owns the Go for Gin colt.

While the top three finishers in the Wood figure to move on, the jury may still be out on SAARLAND and BLUE BURNER, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, without threatening those ahead of them. SAARLAND is owned by Cynthia Phipps and trained by Claude McGaughey III, while BLUE BURNER is owned by George Steinbrenner’s Kinsman Stable and trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott. SAARLAND was making only his second start of the year and could be given another chance, while BLUE BURNER, making his sixth career start, found himself off the board for the first time.

The non-graded California Derby at Bay Meadows, also on Saturday, went to TRACEMARK, owned by Edward T. McGrath and trained by Craig Dollase, with CAPPUCHINO finishing second and Captain Squire third. The Cal Derby winner faces the problem of probably not having enough graded-stakes money to qualify for the Kentucky Derby field if his connections were inclined to try for the Churchill Downs classic.

On the Wood undercard, the Grade III, $150,000 Bay Shore Stakes at 7 furlongs went to California-based, New York-bred Roman Dancer, not a Visa Triple Crown nominee. The late-running sprinter took advantage of a torrid pace to fly past the front-runners five-wide down the stretch for the victory under jockey Kent Desormeaux, a nominee for the Hall of Fame this year.

Visa Triple Crown nominees WARNERS and MONTHIR finished second and third.

Solid Fields Set For Lexington, Tesio Stakes -- The final major preps for the Kentucky Derby will be contested on Saturday, at Keeneland and at Laurel Park in Maryland.

Set for the Grade II, $325,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland are at least a couple of 3-year-olds whose connections probably still have some Derby thoughts – ETHAN MAN and FLYING DASH. The former, owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and trained by Patrick Byrne, comes to the 1 1/16-mile race from an impressive victory in the 7-furlong Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park on March 16. FLYING DASH, a winner of Keeneland’s Transylvania Stakes on April 5, reunites the Fusaichi Pegasus team’– owner Sekiguchi and trainer Drysdale – for another run at the roses.

Also expected for the race are EASYFROMTHEGITGO, the Louisiana Derby runner-up for owners Cassels and Zollars and trainer Asmussen who have indicated the colt most likely would start in the Preakness, and The Thoroughbred Corp.’s OFFICER, who was 2-year-old sensation before a three-race losing streak at the end of the year for trainer Bob Baffert. He won his initial 2002 outing at Santa Anita recently.

Baffert moved into the Kentucky Derby picture earlier last week when Saudi Prince Ahmed Salman’s The Thoroughbred Corp. bought War Emblem, the runaway winner of last week’s Illinois Derby, from Russell Reineman. The colt was immediately transferred to Baffert’s Churchill Downs barn.

At Laurel, Maryland’s magical MAGIC WEISNER puts his five-race winning streak on the line in the Federico Tesio and is expected to face his toughest test yet in a field expected to reach at least eight. Expected to offer the biggest hurdle for the winner of the Private Terms Stakes who is bred, owned and trained by Nancy Alberts are EQUALITY, owned by Pin Oak Farm and trained by H. Graham Motion, and the 6 Three Stable-owned SMOKED EM, trained by Todd Pletcher.

Keeping Track Of The Contenders –– Racing fans across North America have a chance to track their favorite Visa Triple Crown hopefuls through the three American classics as they unfold through the Equibase Company’s Virtual Stable TM, the official notification service of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. The service is available through www.equibase.com.

The Virtual Stable TM service, developed in conjunction with the NTRA, Churchill Downs, the Maryland Jockey Club and the New York Racing Association, will notify users via e-mail on a daily basis of workouts, entries and results of the top contenders for the Kentucky Derby and the other races comprising the Visa Triple Crown. Fans can sign up for the free service through either www.ntra.com or www.equibase.com.

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