Should the new quarter crack cause trainer Jimmy Jerkins to not enter Quality Road, there are plenty of Derby bubble horses waiting on the sideline. We can say with almost certainty the Derby will have a full gate of 20 starters.
Sitting on the side lines and next in line with $100,000 in graded stakes earnings is Summer Bird. Having only three lifetime races, Summer Bird would earn is way into the Derby by way of his third-place finish in the gr. 2 Arkansas Derby April 11 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. While the light resume and a slow work today at Churchill throw up red flags, his Arkansas Derby performance is worth taking a closer look. In that race he broke slowly, was five wide in the first turn and made a strong stretch run to finish a length behind the winner Papa Clem and Old Fashioned. He also achieved a 99 Beyer Speed Figure in that race at 26-1 odds, so there some trifecta players very happy with Summer Bird that day who cashed the $271.80 tickets.
He also looks like he can get the 1-1/4 mi. Derby distance after we saw his late run in the 1-1/8 mi. Arkansas Derby and he is a son of 2004 Belmont Stakes (gr. 1) winner Birdstone. Because of the long 1-1/2 mile distance of the Belmont, winners are particullary attractive as sires. Birdstone stands at the prestigious Gainseway Farm in Kentucky for a fee of $10,000.
I'll have to see something more though, to have him on my Derby trifecta but I'll be pulling for Drs. K.K. and V.D. Jayaraman, whose distinctive blue silks with the red ball on the back have long been familiar in to Ark-La-Tex racing fans at Oaklawn, Lone Star, and Lousisiana Downs.
Waiting just below Summer Bird is trainer Todd Pletcher with Join The Dance and Take the Points. Pletcher has already qualified Lexington Stakes (gr.2) winner Advice and Dunkirk, who was second in the Florida Derby (gr. 1) behind Quality Road.
3 comments:
Brock, where does Giant Oak sit in the play? P.S. Pioneer looked sharp again. Pete
Brock where do you get quarter crack I'm still paying 30 bucks.
Pete;
Trainer Chris Block has decided to withdraw Giant Oak from the Derby to concentrate the colt on the summer campaign or maybe a return to the turf. I liked Giant Oak based on his 2nd in the Illinois Derby and the fact that he's by Giant's Causeway. I think it's only a matter of time before Giant's Causeway has a Derby winner.
We might see Giant Oak next in the gr. 1, $1M Haskell Inv. the first week of Aug.
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