Liberty Reigns in Winstar Derby

Kenneth Maier's LIBERTY BULL (Holy Bull) raced three wide into the second turn, was carried out even farther at the top of the stretch, and drew away to win the lucrative $600,000 WinStar Derby by two lengths on Sunday despite his extended journey. With Gerard Melancon in the saddle, the Tom Amoss-trained gray finished the 1 1/8-mile feature event in 1:49 4/5 to almost quadruple his earnings to $403,592. He brought only $30,000 from his current owner as an OBS April two-year-old.

Sent off the 3-1 second pick, Liberty Bull was worth $8, $4.60 and $2.80 while keying the $1 exotics that paid $27.80 (exacta), $121.30 (trifecta) and $854 (10-9-3-4 superfecta). Screen to Screen (Deputy Wild Cat) challenged early pacesetter No Jepordy (Storm Boot), who posted splits of :23 2/5 and :48, before taking over through six furlongs in 1:12 2/5. The early leader regained the advantage through a mile in 1:37 2/5, but couldn't hold off the winner while fading to fourth. Screen to Screen, however, held on to the second spot at 7-1 to return $8.20 and $6, while Ablaze With Spirit (American Spirit) moved up from running in fourth to just miss the runner-up spot by a neck. Show was worth $2.80.

No Jepordy held fourth by a neck himself over Deputyville (Deputy Warlock), who was followed by Cape Time (Cape Canaveral), Poni Colada (Volponi), Banker's Way (Burbank) and Winsome Charm (Silver Charm). Capetown Royal (Cape Town) was scratched.

Liberty Bull, whose line now reads 6-3-2-1, began his career at Calder with Chad Stewart, running second in his career debut. Under Amoss' tutelage, the three-year-old captured his initial start at Churchill Downs before finishing second in the Sugar Bowl S. at Fair Grounds. Making his 2008 debut in the Smarty Jones S. at Oaklawn, Liberty Bull pulled off the neck score before a dead-heat third in the Southwest S. (G3) over that same track prior to the WinStar Derby.

Bred in Kentucky by Lawrence and Janis Levin, Liberty Bull is out of the winning Dehere mare Lasting Sensation and has an unnamed yearling half-brother by Slew City Slew.