When the Phipps family decided to sell all their yearling colts at the 2019 Keeneland September auction, it wasn’t because they were intending to leave the business they had been involved in for nearly a century.
The decision to sell came three years after Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps had passed and his children Daisy Phipps-Pulito and Ogden Phipps were certainly planning to keep the stable going.
“This was just one of the ways we can sort of spread our risk a little bit,” Phipps-Pulito said.
This Saturday, after a one-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Kentucky Derby will be held on its traditional date. Tens of thousands of rowdy fans will once again gather under the famed twin spires of Churchill Downs in Louisville to celebrate the first Saturday in May and the rough-and-tumble 1 1/4-mile race that is synonymous with it.
But don’t call it “normal.”
Almost normal, maybe.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – On his march to becoming Thoroughbred racing’s all-time winningest trainer – a goal he will likely achieve this fall – the one race that has eluded Steve Asmussen is the Kentucky Derby.
Asmussen, whose 9,299 victories through Sunday put him within 146 of Dale Baird’s all-time record, is winless with 21 starters over 14 Derbies. Saturday, Asmussen will take another crack at the coveted prize when he sends out Super Stock, the Arkansas Derby winner, and Midnight Bourbon, the Louisiana Derby runner-up, in the 146th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Tyler Gaffalione finally took a leg up on Soup and Sandwich for the colt’s penultimate Kentucky Derby breeze on April 17 at Churchill Downs. It was the moment he’d been waiting for since Jan. 28, when he watched the gray colt win his debut by 7 1/4 lengths under Irad Ortiz Jr. at Gulfstream Park.
“I’ve been following this horse since his first race,” Gaffalione said. “I texted [trainer Mark Casse] after the race that day, and said, ‘If it ever comes up, I’d love a chance to ride this horse.’ ”
Among those who welcomed the elevation of the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby at Turfway into a 100-point Kentucky Derby prep after Churchill Downs’s acquisition of the track was Kentucky trainer Wesley Ward, who would rather stay home than chase points on the road. Ward did just that with Like the King, who won the Jeff Ruby and goes next in the Kentucky Derby.
“Them buying the track certainly is great for me, because it’s my winter home track,” Ward said. “I’ll keep them right here and under my thumb rather than going to another jurisdiction.”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Overshadowed by the Kentucky Derby and Oaks horses, champions Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver were relatively unnoticed as they turned in light training sessions Monday morning at Churchill Downs as their connections begin to consider their next target. They met in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap on April 17 at Oaklawn Park and were upset by Letruska, with Monomoy Girl second by a nose and Swiss Skydiver another 6 1/2 lengths back in third.
Like the King is looking for his first victory on dirt in the Kentucky Derby, and Wesley Ward will be saddling the colt as his first starter in the classic. But Ward has someone in his camp who knows the ins and outs of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby well, and who has given him additional confidence that his colt’s synthetic and turf abilities could be an asset.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Gregorian Chant briefly left the stakes division on Sunday at Santa Anita, long enough to win an allowance race at six furlongs on turf.
The winner of two turf sprint stakes earlier this year, Gregorian Chant could start in the Grade 3 Daytona Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on turf at Santa Anita on May 29, or the Grade 1 Jaipur Stakes at six furlongs on turf at Belmont Park on June 5.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Six months from now, As Time Goes By could be at the center of discussions regarding the older filly and mare division.
On Saturday at Santa Anita, As Time Goes By displayed the sort of performance in the Grade 2 Santa Margarita Stakes at 1 1/8 miles to suggest she belongs in that group. Winning her first stakes, As Time Goes By led throughout the $200,000 Santa Margarita, pulling clear through the stretch to win by 9 1/4 lengths as the 3-5 favorite.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Very quickly on Saturday at Santa Anita, Flightline gave trainer John Sadler and Hronis Racing intriguing depth to their 3-year-old male division.
Flightline won his debut in a maiden special weight race at six furlongs, disputing the pace before pulling clear to win by 13 1/4 lengths in 1:08.75.
“He might have as much potential as any young horse I’ve ever trained,” Sadler said, walking out of the winner’s circle. “But you don’t want to get too hyped until you run them.”
