LEXINGTON, Ky. — Less than four months from the 148th running of the Kentucky Derby, we are in for an interesting and confusing prep race campaign.
Bob Baffert is the reason. Of course. The 69-year-old Thoroughbred trainer is facing a two-year suspension by Churchill Downs after his seventh Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit, tested positive for an excessive amount of an anti-inflammatory drug after the 2021 race. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has yet to decide whether to strip Medina Spirit of the May 1 win. And Baffert is threatening to sue Churchill Downs over the suspension.
Ah, horse racing.
Meanwhile, the 2022 Derby trail heats up right about now. The Lecomte Stakes is Saturday at New Orleans’ Fair Grounds. The Southwest Stakes is Jan. 29 at Oaklawn. February’s first Saturday brings the Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park, the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs and the Withers at Aqueduct. The Robert B. Lewis is Sunday, Feb. 6, at Santa Anita. All are races that award Kentucky Derby points to the top finishers.
Here’s the rub: Though suspended, Baffert can still enter colts in Derby prep races. Those colts cannot earn points, however. So even though the Baffert-trained Corniche has won both the Grade 1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar, he has zero Kentucky Derby qualifying points. The same goes for Newgrange, another colt in the Baffert stable, who won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on New Year’s Day.
Instead, Lexington’s Kenny McPeek is the trainer in a prime early spot with four capable colts: Rattle N Roll, who won the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last October; Smile Happy, who won the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs in November; Dash Attack, who won the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn on New Year’s Day and Tiz the Bomb, who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last November at Del Mar.
Churchill Downs morning-line oddsmaker Mike Battaglia made Smile Happy the 8-1 individual favorite for Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon. McPeek told the BloodHorse he is pointing the Runhappy colt toward the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19.
McPeek has kept Dash Attack in Arkansas to prep for the Southwest Stakes. Tiz the Bomb is likely to run in the Holy Bull. Rattle N Roll missed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with a minor injury, but the trainer told the Daily Racing Form the colt is “definitely still in the picture.”
The colt currently atop the points leaderboard is Pappacap, who ran second to Corniche in both the American Pharoah and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Trained by Mark Casse, he’s entered in the Lecomte this weekend. He is expected to receive a strong challenge from Epicenter, who won the inaugural running of the Gun Runner Stakes by 6 1/2 lengths at the Fair Grounds on Dec. 26. Epicenter is trained by Steve Asmussen, who won last year’s Lecomte with Midnight Bourbon.
It’s January, so there are plenty of others on the radar. Asmussen’s Chasing Time earned plenty of buzz off an impressive win at Oaklawn on Jan. 14. Two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O’Neill has Slow Down Andy, winner of the Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 11. Classic Causeway, trained by Brian Lynch, ran third in the Breeders’ Futurity and second in the Kentucky Jockey Club. The Dale Romans-trained Giant Game finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Jack Christopher is a perfect 2-for-2 for trainer Chad Brown, including an impressive Champagne Stakes win at Belmont Park in October. Scratched as the expected favorite from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile the day of the race, the colt underwent surgery for a stress fracture in his left shin and has not returned to the track.
“He’s going to be up against it, that’s for sure,” Brown told Thoroughbred Daily News. “We’ll see where he takes us and if he doesn’t make (the Derby) we have several other races we’d love to target with him.”
Yes, but the Kentucky Derby is still “the” race. Given the twists, both normal and otherwise, expect another crazy prep campaign. And we’re just getting started.
