Roussel Looks On As Recapturetheglory Gets Feel For Churchill Downs Track

Illinois Derby (Grade II) winner Recapturetheglory stepped onto the one-mile track at Churchill Downs for the first time since last fall as the contender for the $2 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) adjusted to his new surroundings with a Tuesday morning gallop over the Louisville oval.

Trainer Louie Roussel III, who co-owns the son of Cherokee Run with New Orleans auto dealer Ronnie Lamarque, looked on as Recapturetheglory galloped two miles over a “fast” surface with assistant trainer Lara Van Deren in the saddle. The colt arrived at Churchill Downs on Monday following a van ride from Chicago.

“It’s really great to be back,” Roussel said. “To me this is the premier race in America and the people here are great, and we’re looking forward to it.”

If Recapturetheglory makes it into the starting gate in the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 3, it will mark Roussel’s third start in the race and his first since Risen Star finished a troubled third to the victorious filly Winning Colors and runner-up Forty Niner in Kentucky Derby 114 in 1988. Roussel and Lamarque came to Churchill Downs with hopes of running Kandaly in the 1994 Derby, but the colt was scratched on the afternoon of the race because of concern about a “sloppy” track. Roussel also saddle Beau Rit to finish 13th in the 1981 Kentucky Derby.

“It’s a very tough race to win,” said Roussel. “You have to have your horse at a peak – not two days before the race, but on the first Saturday in May. He’s got to be able to run his best race, and you’ve got to bring a horse here that is coming off of these other races and hope that he can improve. Because if he’s coming off of these prep races, even though you’re winning and you’re running good, if he cannot improve for that first Saturday in May it’s no good.”

Recapturetheglory, who Roussel said was named with the exploits of Risen Star in mind, is stabled in the same stall in Barn 42 that was home to Risen Star in the days prior to the 1988 Derby. After his third place finish in the “Run for the Roses,” Risen Star would go on to win the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, the final jewels of the Triple Crown.

Roussel’s latest Kentucky Derby hope notched his first career victory in his third career start last fall at Hawthorne Race Course, and followed that win with a strong runner-up finish to Cool Coal Man in an allowance race at Churchill Downs on November 3. Recapturetheglory did not compete again until Feb. 29, when he finished third in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race on grass at Fair Grounds.
“I trained this horse all winter at the Fair Grounds,” said Roussel. “I really had a lot of confidence in him and he was really doing well, but I just couldn’t get a prep race before the Louisiana Derby on the main track. Every time one came up, they couldn’t fill it. The alternative was to try him on turf and he ran a real good race that day. He may have been a little short off the bench, but I really don’t think he got hold of the turf day that – he was slipping a little bit.”

E.T. Baird was aboard Recapturetheglory for his front-running victory in the Illinois Derby, and Roussel said the Chicago-based jockey would be back in the saddle aboard his colt for the Kentucky Derby. He said Recapturetheglory would probably have his first work over the Churchill Downs track on Thursday or Friday.

“I got here with Risen Star about a week before the Derby, but this time I wanted to get here and get at least two or three good weeks galloping on this track,” said Roussel. “I’m going to work him twice here. He’ll go two five-eighths (works) – maybe a three-quarters. And then we’ll be set.”

Recapturetheglory will carry a record of 2-1-2 in six races and earnings of $333,080 into the Kentucky Derby. His earnings in graded stakes total $300,000, which ranks him 13th in order of preference for likely contenders for the Kentucky Derby. The race is limited to 20 starters, with preference given to horses with the largest total of earnings in graded stakes events.

With Monday’s arrival of Recapturetheglory, there are now 13 Kentucky Derby hopefuls on the grounds at Churchill Downs. The top three finishers in the Arkansas Derby – Gayego, Z Fortune and Tres Borrachos – also arrived at the track on Monday. Others stabled at Churchill Downs include four Derby contenders trained by Nick Zito – reigning 2-year-old champion War Pass, Cool Coal Man, Anak Nakal and Stevil – and a pair trained by Bill Mott in Court Vision and Z Humor. Others on the grounds include Denis of Cork, Halo Najib and Racecar Rhapsody.

That number is expected to increase on Thursday when trainer Graham Motion ships Courtlandt Farm’s Adriano, winner of the Lane’s End Stakes (GII) at Turfway Park, from Keeneland to Churchill Downs. WinStar Farm’s Colonel John, the Eoin Harty-trained winner of the Santa Anita Derby (GI), is scheduled to ship to Louisville on Monday, April 21.