LEXINGTON, Ky. _ For Tommy Drury, the prospect of earning the first graded stakes win of his career in something like the Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland is something almost unthinkable.
"If we can win a race at Keeneland every year that's one of my goals," said the 48-year-old trainer on Friday. "Just to lead one over in a race like this, gosh, words can't describe it."
Yet the Louisville native has a definite shot when he sends co-second choice and improving Art Collector to the post for the $600,000 Kentucky Derby prep.
"And it's not just me, it takes a lot of people to get these horses to the races," Drury said. "My staff is excited. I'm excited. It's just good stuff all the way around for us."
Saturday will have plenty of good stuff, with six graded stakes races on the card, including the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes. Venetian Harbor is the 6-5 morning-line favorite in a six-filly field for the Kentucky Oaks prep. Trained by Richard Baltas, Venetian Harbor was second in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn on May 1 after winning the Grade 2 Las Virgenes at Santa Anita.
Rushing Fall is the 6-5 favorite to win the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes for the second year in a row. Also trained by Chad Brown, Rushing Fall has won nine of 12 lifetime starts, including the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park on June 3.
Guarana is the even-money favorite for the Grade 1 Madison Stakes. Trained by Chad Brown, the 4-year-old filly has won four of five lifetime starts, including the Grade 1 Acorn and Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks last year.
Alms, a 3-year-old filly trained by Michael Stidham is the 6-5 favorite for the Grade 2 Appalachian. Alms won her first four races before finishing fifth in the Tepin Stakes at Churchill on May 23. And at 5-2, Wildman Jack and Bound for Nowhere are co-favorites for the Grade 2 Shakertown Stakes.
Swiss Skydiver, who would be only the second filly to run in the Blue Grass, is the 3-1 favorite for the 1 [-mile feature on the dirt.
"I don't think (trainer) Kenny McPeek would be running the filly if he wasn't really happy with her," Drury said. "You figure he could have very easily gone to the Ashland with her but he chose not to, so she's got to be training lights out right now."
But Drury is happy with Art Collector, who at 5-1 is co-second choice with Rushie, third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on June 6.
Art Collector had won one of five races as a 2-year-old for trainer Joe Sharp before being moved to Drury's barn at the Skylight Training Center in Goshen. Owner Bruce Lunsford was originally going to send Art Collector to trainer Rusty Arnold, but after the coronavirus pandemic appeared, kept the colt with Drury, who often prepares horses for other trainers.
Since then, the son of Bernardini won a pair of allowance races at Churchill, the second on June 13 by 6 { lengths over Shared Sense, who won the Indiana Derby on Wednesday.
"He's kind of a lighter-raced horse than some of the others, but seems to be coming into his own," Drury said. "And you know, gosh, the way that 2020 came about, having a fresh horse this time of year has turned out to be a good thing."
Drury credits jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., who rode Art Collector as a 2-year-old. "He kind of mentioned early in the year that this colt's really mature and kind of grown up from last year," said the trainer. "It looks like that's what he's done."
A Louisville native whose father, Jerry, galloped and trained horses, Drury says he isn't thinking about what it means to have a potential Kentucky Derby horse.
"Just to have a horse in the Blue Grass, that's huge," he said. "I want to make sure and focus on this race and enjoy this moment. That's really all we're thinking about right now."
