Photo By: Jeremy Lyverse   If Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas (above) is to have a starter in the 129th running of the Kentucky Derby (GI) on May 3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Bob and Beverly Lewises' Scrimshaw will have to give a good account of himself in the Apr. 19 Coolmore Lexington Stakes (GII) at Keeneland Race Course.

Lexington A Stage For Late Derby Players To Emerge
By: John Gaver III

(Apr. 18, 2003) - Due to its placement on Keeneland Race Course's stakes schedule - two week's before the 129th running of the Kentucky Derby (GI) - Saturday's $325,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes (GII) will be the venue that connections of seven 3-year-old colts and one gelding will use to determine if their respective charge is worthy of a spot in the Derby 129 starting gate on Saturday, May 3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

The tepid 3-1 morning line favorite for the mile and a sixteenth Lexington is Einar P. Robsham's consistent front-runner Trust N Luck, a Florida-bred son of Montbrook who is coming a off second place effort in the Grade I Florida Derby, where he finished 9 ¾ lengths off the talented Empire Maker, who came back to win the Wood Memorial (GI) and is the current favorite to win Derby 129.

Trained by Ralph Ziadie, Trust N Luck, who won the Grade I Fountain Of Youth (GI) stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 15, is under under the care of Ziadie's son, Kirk, while at Keeneland. The chestnut will break from post position eight, the widest draw of all, and will be ridden by regular pilot Cornelio Velasquez.

Hall of Fame trainer Neil Drysdale scratched Irv and Marjorie Cowan's Ministers Wild Cat from the Apr. 5 Santa Anita Derby (GI) when the blueblood son of Deputy Minister and Hollywood Wildcat came up with a bruised hind foot shortly before the race. However, the colt came back to work seven furlongs in 1:25 1/5 on Apr. 10 to the satisfaction of Drysdale, who deemed the colt ready for a run in the Lexington.

Ministers Wiuld Cat won the Golden State Mile earlier in the year and, more recently, finished second to fellow Lexington entrant Ocean Terrace in the Grade III El Camino Real Derby at Albany, California's Golden Gate Fields on Mar. 8. Ministers Wild Cat, who is the 7-2 second choice of Keeneland's morning line, will be equipped with blinkers for the first time in the Lexington and will have a new rider as well, Victor Espinoza, who guided War Emblem to a wire-to-wire victory in last year's "Run for the Roses".

Lloyd Madison Farm's Champali, the 4-1 third choice on the morning line, will have the services of Hall of Fame rider Pat Day in the Lexington. The consistent son of Glitterman has won six-of-eight starts lifetime for trainer Greg Foley and is coming off a respectable third-place finish behind New York Hero in the Grade II Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park on Mar. 22.

Champali won his only previous start at Keeneland by 3 ¾ lengths and he's sitting on a five-furlong breeze at Churchill Downs, which he drilled in :59 4/5 on Apr. 15. The colt figures to get a good stalking trip clocking front-runners Trust N Luck, Scrimshaw and Ocean Terrace and will appreciate turning back slightly to a mile and a sixteenth trip.

Gary Garber's Domestic Dispute, 9-2 on the morning line, will get one more chance to prove himself to trainer Bob Baffert that he belongs in the Derby 129 starting gate, as the chestnut son of Unbridled's Song has failed to fire in the stretch drive in his last two graded stakes starts - the Santa Anita Derby (GI) and the San Felipe Stakes (GII), respectively. Domestic Dispute will break from post position five and will be reunited with jockey Jerry Bailey, who rode the colt to a fifth-place finish in the San Felipe, in Saturday's race.

Tom Durant's homebred gelding Most Feared returns to the races off a three-month layoff in the Lexington for trainer Ronny Werner, whose outfit lost their primary Derby horse - Badge Of Silver - to a hairline fracture on Apr. 11, the day before he was scheduled to go postward in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI).

A Texas-bred son of Commanchero, Most Feared won the Grade III Arlington-Washington Futurity as a juvenile but Werner discovered the colt had a stress fracture after he finished tenth of 11 as the favorite in the Grade III Lecomte Stakes at the New Orleans Fair Grounds in late January. The gelding was given ample time to recover and has been in training since mid-March His most recent timed work - five furlongs in 1:00 3/5 at Churchill Downs on Apr. 14 - indicates that he's fit and sharp. Mark Guidry has the call on Most Feared, who will break from post position four.

Fog City Stable's Ocean Terrace is yet another Lexington entrant whose connections are hoping for a reversal of form in the Lexington, as the son of Saint Ballado stopped badly in the Santa Anita Derby, finishing ninth and last, 47 ½ lengths behind victorious Buddy Gil.

Ocean Terrace was found to have bled slightly through Lasix in the Santa Anita Derby, and when jockey Kent Desormeaux sensed the colt was in distress, he wrapped up and didn't persevere, keeping Ocean Terrace's health and future in mind. The colt has won three-of-four starts lifetime, but may be compromised in the Lexington by a wide draw and the presence of other front-running types.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas has made an art out of using the Lexington to propel his charges not only into the Kentucky Derby picture, but also into running well in the mile and a quarter classic. Last year, Lukas saddled Lexington winner Proud Citizen and saw the colt run second to War Emblem in the 2002 "Run for the Roses", and the Hall of Fame conditioner tightened the elastics on Charismatic, who won the 1999 Lexington and captured Derby 125 two weeks later.

This year, Lukas' final Derby hope comes in the form of Lexington Stakes starter Scrimshaw - a non-factor in two previous stakes appearances on the West Coast. The colt has not started since Feb. 15, where he finished fourth, beaten 10 ½ lengths by Lion Tamer, in the seven-furlong Hutcheson Stakes (GII).

The well-bred son of Gulch had throat surgery during his down time to correct a breathing problem and to enable the colt to get better air-flow in his upper respiratory tract. Scrimshaw has been training forwardly at Churchill Downs and his recent half-mile breeze in a blistering :46 3/5 on Apr. 16 indicates the colt is very sharp. He will break from the rail - never a bad place to be at Keeneland - and will have the services of jockey Edgar Prado, who won last weekend's Blue Grass Stakes on Peace Rules.

The field for the 22nd running of the Coolmore Lexington Stakes, in post position order with riders and morning line odds, is Scrimshaw, Edgar Prado, 10-1; Ministers Wild Cat, Victor Espinoza, 7-2; Eye Of The Tiger, Robby Albarado, 15-1; Most Feared, Mark Guidry, 6-1; Domestic Dispute, Jerry Bailey, 9-2; Champali, Pat Day, 4-1; Ocean Terrace, Shane Sellers, 6-1 and Trust N Luck, Cornelio Velasquez, 3-1.

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