Derby News

Showing Up, making just his third lifetime start and first in a stakes, could well have earned himself in the Kentucky Derby 132 starting gate with a late-finishing, 1 1/4 length victory in the $325,000 Lexington Stakes (GII) at Keeneland Saturday.

Trained by Barclay Tagg, who won the 2003 Derby with Funny Cide, Showing Up was also making his first start around two turns in the Lexington. Undefeated in two starts prior to Saturday's race, Showing Up was coming off a track-record setting victory in a one mile allowance race at Gulfstream Park. In the Lexington, he got squeezed back a bit at the start, but settled nicely in fifth place, some five lengths off the pace set by the speedy duo of Like Now and Fast Parade. Entering the far turn, jockey Cornelio Velasquez began to move Showing Up towards the leaders. Fast Parade was fading quickly, but Like Now was holding on gamely. Longshot Bear Character, who was always forwardly placed, had wrestled the lead away from Like Now as the pair neared the top of the stretch. Velasquez swung his mount three wide and eventually collared the top pair in mid-stretch. Like Now and Bear Character were not able to keep pace late, and Showing Up eased away for the final margin. Like Now held for second, a neck in front of Bear Character. Greeley's Legacy, always in mid-pack, was another three lengths back in fourth. More than Regal, Chin High, Fast Parade, Hemingway's Key, Special Interest and Gone Prospecting rounded out the order of finish.

Showing Up is owned by Lael Stables, who also have a leading Kentucky Deby contender in the unfeated Barbaro. With the $201,500, showing up has more than enough graded earnings to run in the Derby if the owners choose to do so. If both horses run, Lael Stables will have two undefeated starters in the Derby.

Tagg said he would take the colt back to New York and wait to see how Showing Up came out of the Lexington before making a decision on the Derby. "...there’s only two weeks before the Kentucky Derby and he’s not a big, robust horse. He has to be in tip-top condition; I’m not going to put him into a tough race. Probably good judgment and good sense would say not to run, but there is only one Kentucky Derby and he’s done everything we’ve asked of him, so you think you have to give him a chance."

The 3-2 favorite, Showing Up paid $5, $3.20 and $3. Like Now was $4.40 and $3.60 to place, and Bear Character $9.40 to show. The $2 exacta with the two favorites was $25, while the trifecta with the longest shot in the race returned a generous $418.

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