Derby Updates

FORMER DERBY WINNERS BEGIN 2006 CAMPAIGNS - Two of the last three winners of the Kentucky Derby were set to be in action this week as 2003 winner Funny Cide began his 6-year-old campaign on Thursday at Gulfstream Park and 2005 winner Giacomo is scheduled to run this weekend after injury ended his 3-year-old season following the Belmont Stakes.

Sackatoga Stable’s Funny Cide finished second, beaten 1 ½-lengths by Sir Greeley, in Thursday’s featured ninth race at Gulfstream Park. 2005 Derby runner Sun King was third.

With that allowance run, Funny Cide became the first Kentucky Derby winner to race as a 6-year-old since 1982 winner Gato Del Sol stepped onto the track in 1985. While a number of recent Derby winners have gone onto lucrative stud careers or have been retired due to injury, Funny Cide, a gelding, has not enjoyed that same life of leisure. Prior to Gato Del Sol, the most recent Derby winner to race as at six was Calumet Farm’s 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation.

Jerry and Ann Moss’ Giacomo is coming off a seven-month layoff and is set to return in Saturday’s Strub Stakes (GII) for 4-year-olds at Santa Anita. Following a disappointing finish in the Belmont Stakes after his upset Derby score and third-place finish in the Preakness Stakes, Giacomo was shipped back to trainer John Shirreffs’ base in California and appears ready for a solid comeback attempt.

“He’s a little more aggressive than he was as a 3-year-old and probably gained 150 pounds,” Shirreffs said. “I remember him as being kind of thin as a 3-year-old; now he’s filled out. He’s a bigger, stronger horse.”

Saturday’s $300,000 Strub includes three other 2005 Derby contenders. Wilko, the 2004 winner of the Bessemer Trust Breeders Cup Juvenile (GI) and sixth in last year’s Derby, launches his 4-year-old campaign after failing to win at three. Other veterans of Derby 131 in the Strub field are Greeley’s Galaxy (11th in the Derby) and High Limit (last of 20). The latter is the 5-2 morning favorite for trainer Bobby Frankel in the 1 1/8-mile Strub.

EAST/FIRST SAMURAI RETURNS; BARBARO TO ANSWER SURFACE QUESTION - Several major contenders for Kentucky Derby 132 will be in action Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where a pair of stakes races for 3-year-olds will be on tap.

Bruce Lunsford and Lansdon Robbins III’s First Samurai will begin his sophomore season with a run in $150,000 Hutcheson (GII) at 7 ½ furlongs, while Lael Stable’s accomplished turf runner Barbaro attempts a switch to the dirt in the $150,000 Holy Bull (GIII), which will be contested at 1 1/8-miles.

First Samurai, multiple Grade I-winner of the Hopeful and Champagne, has been off since his third place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Oct. 29. First Samurai was the favored individual wagering interest at odds of 7-1 in the first pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (“KDFW”) that closed Jan. 29.

First Samurai will get the services of new jockey Edgar Prado, who takes over riding duties following the retirement of Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey on Jan. 28. Prado was abroad for Samurai’s :48.40 breeze from the gate at Gulfstream on Jan. 28.

First Samurai is the 6-5 morning line favorite in a field of eight that includes Thomas McCann homebred Catcominatcha, winner of the Iroquois (GIII) during the Churchill Downs Fall Meet, and multiple stakes winner Blazing Rate. Impressive allowance winners making the step into stakes company include Keyed Entry, who is trained by two-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher, and Fabled, who will be saddled by two-time Derby winner Nick Zito.

Barbaro, undefeated in three starts on the turf, has been installed as the 7-2 favorite of in a field of 14 3-year-olds in the Holy Bull. Top contenders taking on the Dynaformer colt include Doctor Decherd, the Steve Asmussen-trained winner of the Aventura; Itsallboutthechase, the Aventura runner-up; Flashy Bull, the runner-up in the Remsen; and three from the Pletcher stable: Sunriver, Saint Augustus and My Golden Song. Sunriver is a full brother to 2004 Kentucky Oaks winner and two-time champion Ashado.

Classy Allowances Could Yield Derby Hopefuls - Thursday’s 6th race and Saturday’s 5th race at Gulfstream, both for non-winners of two races, could yield a number of potential Derby starters. Favored Corinthian stalked the pace in Thursday’s contest and swung four-wide in the stretch to win by three-quarters of a length, covering the 1 1/8-distance in 1:49.71. The son of Pulpit out of an Easy Goer mare is bred for classic distance and is trained by Jimmy Jerkens, son of Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens.

Jazil, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin and ridden by Cornelio Velasquez was second. McLaughlin and Velasquez teamed up in 2005 with Derby runner-up Closing Argument. Pletcher-trained Throng led early but tired to finish a disappointing sixth in the field of eight.

Saturday’s 7-furlong contest pits Asmussen-trained Noonmark - a maiden winner at second asking by more than 10 lengths at Belmont Park - against Zito-trained Superfly, who was third in the Champagne and fifth last out in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Nine others are set to go to post in the 5th race at Gulfstream Friday.

MIDWEST/FINAL COPY SHOOTS FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT WIN IN WEBN - Trainer Greg Foley will send two colts on winning streaks into Saturday’s $50,000 WEBN Stakes at Turfway Park as Final Copy and Readily enter the race off two-race winning streaks.

Jockey Jesus Castanon ships in from Tampa Bay Downs for the mount aboard Final Copy, winner of the Turfway Prevue. French-born apprentice Julien Leparoux, the Northern Kentucky track’s leading jockey and the national leader in wins, will be aboard Readily.

Likely challengers to the Foley-trained pair include Bobby Barnett-trained Malameeze, fourth in the Risen Star (GIII) at the Fair Grounds at Louisiana Downs, and the Paul McGee-trained allowance winner Temporary Saint.

The WEBN is contested at a mile and is a prep race for the March 4 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes and the $500,000 Lane’s End (GII, Turfway’s major Derby prep on March 25.

Steppenwolfer Cruises At Oaklawn - Robert and Lawana Low’s Steppenwolfer solidified his status as a rising star at Oaklawn Park with an easy allowance victory on Friday at the Hot Springs, Ark. track.

The Dan Peitz-trained son of 2000 Kentucky Derby runner-up Aptitude rolled to a 4 ½-length victory in the one mile allowance race. Steppenwolfer covered the distance under jockey Robby Albarado over a “good” track in 1:40.42. His closest rivals were the Robert Holthus-trained 2-3 finishers Rocket Beauty and Kings Challenge, who finished a nose apart.

WEST/BAFFERT SENDS OUT THREE WITH DERBY HOPES - Three-time Kentucky Derby winner Bob Baffert has missed only one renewal of the “Run for the Roses” since his debut in 1996, but victories by any of three hopefuls Baffert will saddle this weekend would keep him solidly on this year’s road to Churchill Downs.

Bob and Beverly Lewis’ Point Determined is favored in a Friday allowance race at Santa Anita. Baffert’s son of 2002 “Horse of the Year” Point Given is coming off an impressive maiden romp over stablemate Royal Legacy in his first attempt at a two-turn distance on Jan. 13.

Royal Legacy, also owned by the Lewises, will seek his first victory as the morning line favorite in Friday’s sixth race at Santa Anita. The Richard Mandella-trained Presidential Cause, third to the Baffert/Lewis duo in the Jan. 13, is the second choice at odds of 5-2.

Baffert will also send out Stonerside Stable’s Bob and John in Saturday’s $100,000 Sham Stakes (GIII). Bob and John, winner of the Real Quiet Stakes and third to Brother Derek in the Hollywood Futurity (GI), looms as the favorite in the 1 1/8-mile Sham.

TRIPLE CROWN NOMINATIONS RELEASED SUNDAY, FEB. 5 - The roster of 3-year-old Thoroughbreds nominated to the 2006 Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown is set for release on Sunday, Feb. 5.

A total of 357 3-year-olds were nominated to last year’s renewals of the Derby, Preakness (GI) and Belmont Stakes (GI). That figure was smallest since 1996 and reflected a drop of 20 percent from the record nomination total recorded in 2003. The decline was attributed to the impact of Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome, which took the lives of an estimated 1,700 foals in 2002 - the birth year for 3-year-olds in 2005.

ROAD TO THE ROSES GAME OPENS THIS WEEKEND - Registration for the popular “Road to the Roses” Kentucky Derby Fantasy Game begins Feb. 5 at www.roadtotheroses.com.

Participants in the online fantasy game can win great prizes that include a VIP trip to the Derby or one of three qualifying spots for the Daily Racing Form/ NTRA National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas in Jan. 2006.

The first scoring race in the “Road to the Roses” Fantasy Game is the $75,000 Turf Paradise Derby on Saturday, Feb. 11.

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby 132 Update for 2006. The Update is published twice weekly. The Friday issue includes Kentucky Derby news and previews of weekend prep races, while a Monday issue will review the preps and news of the weekend.

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