Wayne Scherr had tried to reach the Kentucky Derby via traditional ownership routes, buying young horses at yearling and 2-year-old auctions. But when the search for his Derby horse proved fruitless, he proposed a different avenue to trainer Chris Hartman.

“A couple years ago, he decided, why don’t we claim a horse?” Hartman recalled. “I said, ‘Wayne, they don’t run Derby horses for a tag. It just doesn’t happen. You don’t claim Derby horses. But I’ll be more than glad to look.’”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With no fans being allowed to attend Churchill Downs this week because of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been fervent interest in exactly who is being allowed to attend the Oaks and Derby.

The new 20-horse starting gate that Churchill Downs acquired to accommodate what is typically a large field for the Kentucky Derby is in use during morning training for this year’s contenders and will get a test run in a race this week.

Dutton and Time for Gold couldn’t have been more impressive winning their respective stakes races last Thursday, and they could hook up in the $75,000 Gottstein Futurity on Oct. 1. They would both be going around two turns for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile Gottstein.

Time for Gold would seemingly have an edge. She won the Barbara Shinpoch for 2-year-old fillies by 11 lengths and is bred to run all day. With three races, she also has more experience than Dutton, who won the $36,000 WTBOA Lads by nine lengths in his debut.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Collusion Illusion, who won the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 1, is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Sept. 27 as a prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

On Sunday at Del Mar, Collusion Illusion worked a half-mile in 48 seconds, his second workout since a nose win in the Bing Crosby.

The $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship is run at six furlongs and offers a fees-paid berth for the winner to the BC Sprint. The Bing Crosby had the same condition.

DEL MAR, Calif. - By the time Kiss Today Goodbye starts in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 6 his third-place finish in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 1 could be held in high regard.

Kiss Today Goodbye finished behind Thousand Words and Honor A. P. in the Shared Belief Stakes at a mile on dirt. Thousand Words and Honor A. P. are scheduled to start in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

The Shared Belief was Kiss Today Goodbye’s stakes debut. Kiss Today Goodbye closed from last of four to finish 1 1/4 lengths behind Thousand Words.

Bye Bye Melvin, winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Saranac Stakes going a mile, could stretch out to 1 1/4 miles in the Grade 1, $250,000 Belmont Derby Invitational on Oct. 3, trainer Graham Motion said Sunday.

“I think I’ll consider it now, having run against this competition and the way he handled it,” Motion said. “With what his sister has been able to do, I have more confidence to do it.” Bye Bye Melvin is a half-sister to Mean Mary, who has won three stakes from 1 1/4 miles to 1 1/2 miles. Most recently, she was beaten a head by Rushing Fall in the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga.

Trainer Steve Asmussen on Sunday was still marveling at how fast Yaupon ran in winning Saturday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga.
“How many horses go 1:08-and-two at Saratoga?” Asmussen said.

Not many.

Yaupon’s final time of 1:08.50 was the fastest of 14 Amsterdams run at six furlongs. The first 13 of those were run between 1994-2007 [the 2006 was not run at 6 furlongs]. From 2008-19, the race was run at 6 1/2 furlongs.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When trainer Bill Mott reached into the pocket of his rain slicker Saturday at Saratoga, he found his paddock pass to the 2019 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

“If that wasn’t an omen,” said Mott, who would ultimately win that Derby with Country House, who was put up to first by the stewards following the disqualification of Maximum Security.

No such aid was needed Saturday for Channel Maker, who was able to make an easy lead under Manny Franco en route to a 5 1/4-length victory in the Grade 1, $500,000 Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Mike Trombetta watched the replay of Saturday’s Grade 1 Forego Stakes at home Saturday night. After seeing the race again, Trombetta was even more awed by what his Win Win Win had accomplished earlier in the day at Saratoga.

Win Win Win rallied extremely wide, after dropping nearly 20 lengths behind the leaders, in the run down the backstretch to an improbable half-length victory over Complexity in a race decided on a sloppy racetrack during a driving rainstorm.