The Kentucky Derby march rolls on this Saturday with a trio of races around the country offering qualifying points for the Run for the Roses. The Withers Stakes at Aqueduct, the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream and the Robert B. Lewis Stakes will each reward the winner with 10 points.
The second, third and fourth finishers will earn 4, 2 and 1 point on a sliding scale. All of these Graded events will be run at a mile and a sixteenth and this is an important first step for the hopefuls.
Since the Kentucky Derby march focused on a point structured, getting a head start in that direction has been pivotal. When a runner can earn Derby qualifying points early, it takes a lot of pressure off the connections moving forward.
The owners and trainers may not be locked into certain races just because they need points. The bigger stables can map their Kentucky Derby march with numerous horses if runners earn points early.
In recent years, the Withers has not been very high profile. Most of the recent winners were not factors in the spring. Back in the day, things were quite different. Man o’ War won the Withers in his heyday and one of the fastest runners in history, Dr. Fager, took the 1967 Withers.
The Holy Bull is a different story. Formerly called the Flamingo Stakes, Go for Gin won this race in 1994 and parlayed the success to the Kentucky Derby. Closing Argument won the Holy Bull in 2005 and nearly blew up the tote board at Churchill when he was second in the Kentucky Derby at 86-1. The very next year, Barbaro won the Holy Bull with a 93 Beyer Speed Figure. He then took the Florida Derby and the Kentucky Derby before breaking down in the Preakness.
The Robert B. Lewis took on that name for the long-time Bob Baffert owner. It was previously named the Santa Catalina and is a prep for the Santa Anita Derby. A couple of Lewis winners continued their Kentucky Derby march and succeeded the first Saturday May. Ferdinand and Bill Shoemaker teamed for a win in the Catalina and won the Derby in 1986. I’ll Have Another won the 2012 Lewis and then won the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
The Grade 3 Withers Stakes will likely feature a couple of Todd Pletcher students in Win With Pride and Bonus Points.
Win With Pride has the pedigree to be a star. He is the first foal out of his dam Love and Pride, who won multiple Grade 1 events and earned nearly a million. Research Win With Pride’s family and Preakness winner and over $3 million earner Bernardini shows up.
Bonus Points doesn’t have a super flashy pedigree like Win With Pride but the foundation is there. Go deep in his family and Grade 1 winner and over $1.6 million earner Include materializes.
Pletcher is also looking at the Holy Bull with his trainee Fact Finding, who won his debut at 6-1 and then won his only other two races. Fact Finding showed a new wrinkle winning at Gulfstream in December when he won the $75,000 Smooth Air on the front end in the slop.
Fact Finding will have to beat Classic Empire. The Eclipse Award winner has won four of his five races and the only loss came when the rider fell off. He was impressive winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile but he was losing ground that day and held on by just a neck.
J Boys Echo, trained by Dale Romans, is also looking toward the Holy Bull. The colt cost nearly $500,000. He wanted no part of sprinting when troubled in his debut. He then overcame trouble graduating and was dueled into submission in his last race. J Boys Echo has three siblings that banked six figures and his dam was a Grade 2 winner.
Gormley will be looking to rebound in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes. His Kentucky Derby march took a sour turn in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile but he had a valid excuse that day when he bobbled at the start. Despite being washy in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes last month, Gormley won in game style.
Mastery looms the one to beat in the Lewis. He was a poorly-kept secret as he won this debut and he won his next race inching away late. In his first Graded effort, Mastery sat an ideal two-hole trip and drew off to win the Los Alamitos Futurity by over seven lengths. He has trained the proverbial hole in the wind for the Lewis including a best of 30 morning bullet workout on January 30.
Look for a more extended run down in the coming days.
