Kentucky Derby 134 Update: March 14th

TOP STORIES:

- Champ War Pass Heads Tampa Bay Derby
- Asmussen's Z Fortune Favored in Rebel
- Distance Test for Top Trio in San Felipe
- Bone Chip Sidelines Autism Awareness

SOUTHEAST/CHAMPION WAR PASS FACES SIX IN TAMPA BAY DERBY – For the second consecutive year, the $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby (Grade III) at Tampa Bay Downs features the reigning 2-year-old champion in American racing.

Last year’s renewal saw Street Sense battle back to nip Any Given Saturday at Tampa to continue a journey that led to a victory in the $2 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.  Saturday’s 2008 running will feature Robert LaPenta’s unbeaten champion War Pass take on six rivals in the 1 1/16-mile test  Whether the son of Cherokee Run, who is trained by two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Nick Zito, will duplicate the success of Street Sense at Tampa Bay and later at Churchill Downs remains to been seen.  But LaPenta hopes that the speedy War Pass, who has been untested and untouchable in his previous five races, will get a test at Tampa Bay.

“We are a little concerned about that, but there’s nobody better at preparing a horse for the Derby than Nick Zito,” LaPenta said.  “War Pass had a pretty aggressive 2-year-old campaign and really what we are looking to do is just rest him and then slowly bring him back and condition him up to hopefully that mile-and-a-quarter (of the Kentucky Derby).”

War Pass has never trailed in collecting five victories by a total of 22 lengths.  That string includes a trio of wins over Louisiana Derby (GII) winner Pyro that included the Champagne (GI) and Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (GI), and a 7 ½-length romp in a one-mile allowance race late last month at Gulfstream Park that kicked off the colt’s 3-year-old campaign.  After the Tampa Bay Derby, the Wood Memorial (GI) at Aqueduct is scheduled to be the final Kentucky Derby prep for the champion.

Although War Pass scared away much of the serious opposition from the Tampa Bay Derby, the Zito colt’s six rivals will face accomplished horses in Atoned, the runner-up to Court Vision in last fall’s Remsen (GII) at Aqueduct who makes his 2008 debut, and Big Truck, runner-up to the Zito-trained Fierce Wind in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa for Kentucky Derby-winning training Barclay Tagg.

“Honestly, I don’t want it to be too tough a race,” Zito said.  “The Wood and the Derby, the real thing is coming.  Big Truck and Atoned are pretty good.  Nothing is a walkover in racing.”

SOUTH/ASMUSSEN’S Z FORTUNE FAVORED TO TAKE SPOTLIGHT IN REBEL – The “big horse” in the talented ranks of 3-year-olds in the bountiful stable of trainer Steve Asmussen is clearly Louisiana Derby winner Pyro, but most trainers would be happy to have current second stringer Z Fortune in their care.

Zayat Stable’s New York-bred son of Siphon suffered his only loss in four races in a runner-up finish to Pyro in the Risen Star (GIII) at Fair Grounds, but the Asmussen-trained colt is favored to have the spotlight all to himself in Saturday’s $300,000 Rebel Stakes (GII) at Oaklawn Park.

Eclipse Award-winning jockey Garrett Gomez has the mount on the winner of the Lecomte Stakes (GIII) at Fair Grounds, who drew the outside post in a field of nine.  The Risen Star has proven to be a high quality race as Visionaire rebounded to win last week’s Gotham (GIII) at Aqueduct after running third behind Pyro and Z Fortune in that race.

Significant opposition to Z Fortune could come from the Millard Seldin Revocable Trust’s Golden Yank, a troubled third in the $1 million Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs; Sacred Journey, who set a quick pace in the recent Southwest (GIII) before he settle for a dead-heat for third behind the victorious Denis of Cork; Southwest runner-up and California invader Sierra Sunset; and Four Roses Thoroughbreds’ Anak Nakal, who won the Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) last fall but flopped in his 3-year-old debut for trainer Nick Zito with an eighth-place finish behind stablemate Cool Coal Man in the Fountain of Youth (GII) at Gulfstream Park.

Other horses of interest include Marylou Whitney Stable’s Stone Bird, a half-brother to 2004 Belmont Stakes (GI) winner Birdstone who could be four-time Kentucky Derby-winner D. Wayne Lukas’ last chance to saddle a horse in this year’s “Run for the Roses,” and King’s Silver Son, an Asmussen-trained son of Mizzen Mast who rolled to an easy victory in his most recent start after he had finished second in four of his first five career outings.

DENIS OF CORK SKIPS REBEL – Mr. and Mrs. William K. Warren’s Denis of Cork was expected to be the Rebel favorite off his dazzling late-running victory in the Southwest Stakes (GIII), but trainer David Carroll and the colt’s managers decided early in the week to pass on Saturday’s race and take another route to the Kentucky Derby.

The son of Harlan’s Holiday will now make his final Kentucky Derby prep in either the $750,000 Wood Memorial (GI) at Aqueduct or the $500,000 Illinois Derby (GII) at Hawthorne.  Both races will be run on April 5.

Carroll said he believes that Denis of Cork, a colt he describes as “big, leggy and light-framed,” would benefit from more time between races.

“This was a tough decision,” said Carroll.  “There’s really not a right or wrong way to go.  In the end, you’ve got to live with it.  We just think this in the horse’s best interest.”

Denis of Cork is unbeaten in three starts over three different tracks.

KODIAK KOWBOY ROLLS IN RETURN – Vinery Stable and Fox Hill Farm’s Kodiak Kowboy, third in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and winner of the Bashford Manor (GIII) at Churchill Downs, launched his 3-year-old campaign on a successful note with a six-length romp in an Oaklawn Park allowance race on Friday.

The Steve Asmussen-trained son of Posse, Canada’s champion 2-year-old of 2007, cruised to a six-length victory over Sebastian County and two other rivals in a six-furlong allowance race.  Kodiak Kowboy covered the distance over a “fast” track in 1:10.21.

WEST/BIG THREE FACE DISTANCE TEST IN SAN FELIPE – A trio of Kentucky Derby candidates, all wagering interests in Pool 2 of the Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager, get a chance to answer a fundamental question regarding their Derby potential in Saturday’s 71st running of the $200,000 San Felipe (GII) over Cushion Track at Santa Anita.

George Schwary’s Georgie Boy, winner of the San Vicente (GII); Jeff Harmon and Tom Kasparoff’s Bob Black Jack, an easy winner of the $250,000 Sunshine Millions Dash; and Cubanacan Stables’ Gayego, winner of the San Pedro, have all achieved stakes success and bring solid success into the 1 1/16-mile race.  But no member of that trio has won, or even run, at a two-turn distance.

With only 50 days remaining before the Kentucky Derby, there will be some urgency in the camps of all three horses as they make their respective debuts at a two-turn distance.

The question looms very large for Bob Black Jack, who set a world record of 1:06.53 for six furlongs in his Jan. 26 victory over Cushion Track in the Sunshine Millions Dash.  But trainer Jim Kasparoff, the brother of the California-bred’s co-owner, thinks Bob Black Jack is capable of rationing his blazing speed under jockey David Flores.

“He’s been relaxing great,” said Kasparoff.  “I think his mental outlook will allow him to sit wherever he wants.  David has breezed him a bunch of times and seems to think that he could settle and sit in fourth if he had to.”

Veteran trainer Kathy Walsh has similar feelings on the challenge facing Georgie Boy.

“You never know until you run a horse two turns, there’s no doubt about it,” said Walsh. “You certainly know one that’s rank to train, and kind of a head case, and this horse is anything but that. He relaxes and does everything right.”

The San Felipe field (with jockey) includes, in order of post position: Gayego (Mike Smith), Southwest (Corey Nakatani), Bob Black Jack (Flores), Georgie Boy, Rafael Bejarano, Indian Sun (Alex Solis), Go for Cover (Michael Baze), Chop House George (Joe Talamo), Shediak (Julien Leparoux) and High Stakes Silver (Martin Garcia).

Triple B Farms’ French-bred Shediak makes his United States racing debut and is an intriguing member of the San Felipe field.  The son of Selkirk arrived in the barn of trainer Doug O’Neill in late January following a 2-year-old campaign that saw him win at first asking for trainer Andre Fabre before he finished second in a Group Three event and completed his campaign with a runner-up finish in the Group One Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

Georgie Boy closed at 20-1 in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, while Bob Black Jack closed at 49-1 and Gayego ended the pool at odds of 111-1.

AUTISM AWARENESS OFF KENTUCKY DERBY TRAIL – Johnny Toboada’s Autism Awareness, the 62-1 upset winner of last week’s El Camino Real Derby (GIII), has suffered a bone chip that knocked him off the Kentucky Derby trail before he really got started on the road to Louisville.

Trainer Genaro Vallejo said the colt was scheduled to undergo surgery to remove the chip on Friday at northern California’s Golden Gate Fields.

“The doctor said it happened during the race,” said Vallejo.  “He should be able to go back and race and be strong.”

Autism Awareness, a $1,000 sales purchase, lost the first 12 races of his career before a maiden victory at Golden Gate.  He is not nominated to the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown.

LIBERTY BULL TEPID CHOICE IN WINSTAR DERBY – Liberty Bull, winner of the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park, was installed as a lukewarm choice in Sunday’s $600,000 WinStar Derby at New Mexico’s Sunland Park.

The colt drew the outside post in a field of 10 entered in the WinStar Derby.  Liberty Bull finished in a dead-heat for third behind Denis of Cork in the Southwest Stakes in his most recent start and will be ridden by Eusebio Razo Jr.

The 1 1/16-mile race features a pair of contenders from the barn of Steve Asmussen in Poni Colada and Ablaze with Spirit.  The former won the recent Borderland Derby at Sunland Park by eight lengths, but prior to that was sixth to Liberty Bull in the Smarty Jones.