Barclay Tagg | Horse Racing Free Tips

Derby Wrap: Authentic ‘Not Even Tired’, On to Preakness

A day after picking up his record-tying sixth GI Kentucky Derby win in a renewal as unorthodox as they come, trainer Bob Baffert said victor Authentic (Into Mischief) “wasn’t even tired” Sunday morning after going wire to wire and turning back odds-on Tiz the Law (Constitution) in Saturday’s Run for the Roses.

“I couldn’t believe it, I thought he might be a little tired today,” Baffert said. “He came out of it well.”

The triumph for Baffert was plenty unorthodox as well. After appearing to have a strangehold on the Derby in the spring, Baffert lost top contenders Charlatan (Speightstown) and Nadal (Blame) to injury. Late bloomer Uncle Chuck (Uncle Mo) then finished up the track in the GI Runhappy Travers S., eliminating him from Derby contention. Finally, in the Churchill Downs paddock Saturday, his Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) flipped and had to be scratched, leaving Authentic as his lone starter. The incident sent longtime Baffert assistant Jimmy Barnes to the hospital with a broken wrist, adding one final touch of emotion to Authentic’s win.

“Jimmy is going to need surgery, I think he’ll need eight screws in his wrist but he actually was here this morning. He’s a trooper,” Baffert said. “I was so emotional yesterday because I wanted him to be there. To me, that was most emotional Derby I’ve ever been involved in because of what happened during that little time frame. It was the most crazy 30 minutes I’ve had in racing.”

“Before May, I was looking so strong and then everything just went wrong,” Baffert continued. “And to pull it off like that was really exciting. Winning the Kentucky Derby is the biggest moment in a trainer’s life. When you win it, it erases everything that has gone bad.”

Roller Coaster Half-Hour for Spendthrift

The late scratch of Thousand Words also affected Spendthrift Farm, which co-owns the colt with Albaugh Family Stables and co-owns Authentic with My Racehorse, Madaket Stables and Starlight Racing.

“It was all so unbelievable. I walked over with the Albaughs and we’re all enjoying the moment and then, the next thing you know [Thousand Words] exploded and went over,” said Mark Toothaker, stallion sales manager of Spendthrift Farm. “The state vet walked over and said he was a scratch. So you had all the emotion of, you are within 20 minutes of having a horse getting ready to run in the Kentucky Derby that we picked out and we’re so excited and as we were walking through the tunnel, I said to our general manger Ned Toffey, ‘If there is a Derby God out there, maybe we can win.’ For Authentic to just keep giving it in the stretch, it was like he had an extra push.”

A trip to Baltimore for the GI Preakness S. Oct. 3 is slated as the next objective for both Authentic and Thousand Words, as the latter escaped his paddock fall without injury. Baffert said both colts will head to the shedrow of Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas to stay for the next few weeks so Baffert doesn’t have to ship them back to California in the interim.

“Being that the Preakness is a few weeks away, I thought it might be too hard on them to go back. So I have an assistant trainer, this D. Wayne Lukas guy here,” Baffert joked. “So they’re going to be in Wayne’s barn. We’re going to run them out of here. If they’re working well and all going well, they’ll go to the Preakness. I didn’t want to take them all the way to California and back. I want to give them every opportunity. We’re planning on [running] both if they’re doing well. Thousand Words, we’ll give him another chance at it. He didn’t have a scratch on him.”

Barnes Back in Action Sunday Morning

Barnes was back to work dark and early Sunday morning, albeit in a compromised capacity. He said he wasn’t going to say anything about his broken right wrist Saturday until he rolled up his sleeve and saw it at the wrong angle.

“When it happened, I wasn’t going to say anything. I was going to say I was OK. I knew it kind of hurt,” he said. “Then I pulled my sleeve up and saw it was pointing a different direction. So I pulled it back down and said, ‘I better say something.'”

Barnes watched the Derby on a phone in the ambulance on his way to Norton Audubon Hospital. He said the ER personnel knew he was connected to the Derby winner, and that the ER doctor actually was a co-breeder of Baffert’s two-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Midnight Lute (Real Quiet).

“He didn’t surprise me, the way he trains and the way you watch him move,” Barnes said of Authentic. “He’s just this big leaper. He’s got a huge stride on him. He just got out there motoring along. Johnny V rode him superbly. He committed early and if you’re going to go with him you’re going to be running fast. So they kind of backed off a bit, from what I saw. For him to straighten out and switch leads, because you look at his earlier races and he was very erratic in the stretch in numerous races. But Johnny V, when he pulled his stick through to the left hand and got after him, boy, he just leveled out and said, ‘They’re not going by me today.'”

Asked about the roller coaster of breaking his wrist in a scary paddock accident and then winning a Derby less than a half-hour later, Barnes said of horse racing, “You can be on the floor and then be up in the sky soaring.”

Tiz the Law in Good Shape, Next Start Undetermined

Sackatoga Stable’s beaten favorite Tiz the Law is scheduled to return to New York Tuesday with plans for a next start to be determined.

“I just looked him over,” trainer Barclay Tagg said. “His legs are good. He ate good. Everything’s good.”

The four-time Grade I winner, who went off as the 7-10 chalk Saturday, sustained only the second loss in his eight-race career, with both setbacks coming at Churchill Downs. He was third in last November’s GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. on a sealed sloppy track.

“The jock [Manny Franco] said that when he really had to get down and run, he was kind of swimming on that track. He didn’t like the track,” Tagg said. “You could see it in the stretch. He looked like he was going to go on by and win easy. His last [Beyer] number was a 109 [in the GI Runhappy Travers S.]. He bounced down to a 103 this time … I don’t want to say too much about the Preakness. I just want to see how he is. He’ll go back to New York and we’ll evaluate him.”

“He ran good and came out of it great. I was over at the barn this morning and all is well,” principal owner Jack Knowlton added. “I’ll have [the Preakness] discussion with Barclay and we’ll take a little time to see. My thinking is that we will [go], but we’ll have the horse dictate what’s going to happen. Certainly that would be my preference but we’ve just go to see how he comes out and see how he works when we have the next work in a couple weeks. We’ll have time for a couple works.”

Other Preakness Hopefuls

According to the Pimlico notes team, longshot third finisher in the Derby Mr. Big News (Giant’s Causeway) is likely headed to Baltimore. The three horses who had to scratch the week of the Derby–Art Collector (Bernardini), King Guillermo (Uncle Mo) and Finnick the Fierce (Dialed In)–are also Preakness-bound.

Among other potential Preakness horses are Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) and Dr Post (Quality Road), respectively first and fourth in Saturday’s GII Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga; Manitoba Derby winner Mongolian Wind (Mucho Macho Man), entered in Monday’s Gold Cup S. at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg; Lebda (Raison d’Etat), winner of the Miracle Wood S.and Private Terms S. at Laurel over the winter and most recently third in the Robert Hilton Memorial S. Aug. 28 at Charles Town; Pneumatic (Uncle Mo), last-out winner of the Pegasus S. Aug. 15 at Monmouth Park and fourth in the Belmont for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen; and the Baffert-trained Azul Coast (Super Saver), winner of the El Camino Real Derby Feb. 15 at Golden Gate and second to Authentic in the GIII Sham S.

The Federico Tesio S. Monday at Laurel is a ‘Win and In’ qualifier for Triple Crown-nominated horses to the Preakness. Happy Saver (Super Saver), undefeated in two career starts for trainer Todd Pletcher, is the 1-2 program favorite for the 1 1/8-mile Preakness prep.

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Hoping for a Horse to Lighten Our Darkness

Main street? It’s a two-way street. And for the one horse race that truly engages the American nation, that is literally a mixed blessing. A blessing that mixes our own enchanted way of life, culpably introspective as it can be, with the passing traffic of the wider world.

Right now, between pandemic and protests, there is a lot of turmoil out there. Nobody should be surprised, then, if society’s discords have been filtering through the backstretch gate in Derby week: whether through the annual migration of mainstream media, or protestors seeking their attention outside the track, or indeed the reaction of horsemen to these intrusions.

Barclay Tagg is an octogenarian horseman coping with the stress of handling the final preparations of one of the hottest favourites in Derby history. And his instincts, as a rule, would sooner tend to taciturnity even on his own territory-where his exceptional expertise is eloquently measured, given his limited resources through a long career, by the mere possibility of a second Derby.

Many horsemen were doubtless vexed that one of their number, while expressing anxieties he might legitimately feel over security, should have meandered into the apparent conflation of peaceful protests and riots, and rightly so. But when did anyone, least of all the man himself, nominate Tagg as unusually eligible to judge or solve the grievous divisions of a nation?

When a good horse walks into your barn, he doesn’t tend to be carrying a public relations manual. To amplify Tagg’s views is unfair, because it treats him, politically, as something other than a random demographic snapshot; and, in implying that he represents a whole sport, it’s unfair on horseracing, too.

Wherever you happen to find yourself on the political spectrum, I hope you have a warmly affectionate relationship with someone-an obdurately conservative grandparent, say, or an aggressively radical niece or nephew-that you would nonetheless prefer not to be chosen as spokesman for your friends and family.

Certainly Churchill’s statement on Thursday could hardly have engaged more persuasively with the strife of its surrounding precincts, promising self-examination and self-improvement. As an Englishman, albeit one who feels so at home among them, I would not presume to lecture Americans on what may or may not be wrong with their country. I feel distressed by their divisions; and I do feel eligible to judge failures of leadership against rational and humane standards of universal application. But there are nuances of all this chaos that will necessarily be lost on me.

Even Kentuckians, after all, seem to have tangled the original threads of “My Old Kentucky Home”. There seem to be as many misapprehensions as misgivings about an anthem composed as a rebuke to slavery and a lament over its sorrows, according to this week’s Smithsonian Magazine Article, “The Complicated Legacy of My Old Kentucky Home.”

Anyhow, people in houses as lavishly glazed as England today should not throw stones. What I do know is that the 2020 Kentucky Derby visits onto our industry’s doorstep an unhappily authentic sample of the discontent of these times. Never mind the politics: those echoing stands will serve as a baleful reminder of our desperate need, collectively, for some redemptive exhibition of the nobility and inspiration we discover in the Thoroughbred.

Actually, for all the credit we owe those who have worked so hard even to get a show like this safely on the road, some words of reproof must also be heard in the eerie silence that will, unavoidably, complicate the emotions of those who achieve a career pinnacle with the 146th Derby winner.

Because the September Derby was a transparent and calculated gamble, and it has backfired. Back in the spring, Churchill plainly hoped to have those turnstiles rotating by now. Their statements at the time had little of the honesty and dignity of the one released on Thursday. Instead oily verbiage seemed to ooze off the page to coalesce on the floor in giant bald letters, spelling two words that had not appeared anywhere in the text: GATE MONEY.

Their unilateral decision forced other tracks into terribly awkward contortions. As a result, whatever he does in his “Classics”, Tiz The Law (Constitution) can never match all those who, as less-mature 3-year-olds, completed a five-week Triple Crown over 12 furlongs. As a first test of our ability to see out the crisis by working together, in the long-term interests of the whole sport, it was a pretty dispiriting start. For the integrity of the record, the venue should have been changed before the date. In the war, remember, the Epsom Derby was staged at Newmarket.

In the meantime, of course, horses like Charlatan (Speightstown) and Nadal (Blame) have been denied the opportunity that would have beckoned in May. But that’s sheer dice: whatever the date, some top sophomores are going to run out of luck at the wrong moment. Art Collector (Bernardini) jumped onto the September trail only to derail, heartbreakingly, at the 11th hour.

To that extent, Tiz The Law would deserve all possible exoneration if bearing the weight of an asterisk in the Derby annals. He has been the one constant of the crop. He was ready, willing and able in May; and here he is in September, still setting the standard. Tagg has done a masterly job already, the horse’s flame burning ever brighter even though ignited as early as February 1 in the GIII Holy Bull S.

Even so, I haven’t by any means given up on Honor A.P. (Honor Code). We don’t have quite the coast-to-coast match-up that he promised in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, but this stampede should bring that prodigious stride into play rather more efficiently than did that messy little rehearsal. His works since have been spectacular, and to see it all come together now would not only carve an apt memorial to his grandsire; it would also shine a light on the self-effacing man of honor who trains him. It’s been an unconventional preparation, for sure, but then the rulebook doesn’t really apply to this unprecedented Derby.

Divided and distanced, then, we turn to the horse to bring us together. Perhaps if enough people can admire the beauty and spirit of the Thoroughbred, and aspire to its courage and endurance, then a Derby that has absorbed so much bitterness could yet process it into some kind of healing balm.

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Kentucky Derby Notes: Tiz The Law, Tagg Hoping Track Dries Out For Friday Gallop

Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law jogged twice around the Churchill Downs main track Thursday morning with trainer Barclay Tagg alongside on a pony over a track turned sloppy by heavy rain that began before 4 o'clock (all times Eastern) and continued through 8 a.m.

The rain, that has been the main story the past two days during training hours, is forecast to be a nonfactor the rest of the week. Friday , for the 146th running of the $1.25 Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI) and five other graded stakes is forecast to be sunny with a high in the upper 70s and with Kentucky Derby Day expected to be sunny with the high in the low 80s.

ATTACHMENT RATE – Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister's Ellis Park Derby runner-up Attachment Rate had a light 1 ½ mile gallop in the slop Thursday morning at Churchill Downs. Attachment Rate will be trainer Dale Romans' 11th starter in the Kentucky Derby.

“We've run really well for a span of three years when Paddy O'Prado (third, 2010), Shackleford (fourth, 2011) and Dullahan (third, 2012) almost won the whole thing,” Romans said. “It's just an honor to be involved in the Derby and this horse keeps showing he's not reached his best, yet.”

AUTHENTIC/THOUSAND WORDS – Stablemates Authentic and Thousand Words each put in maintenance gallops Thursday morning, with the latter also schooling in the new 20-horse starting gate, as rain once again soaked the Louisville area.

“It's hard to tell because they both haven't had a chance to train on a dry track here,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “But they're all doing well.”

Both colts are aiming to give their Hall of Fame conditioner what would be a record-tying sixth Kentucky Derby victory Saturday. In addition to potentially giving Baffert a new milestone, Authentic and Thousand Words also are each vying to provide the powerful Spendthrift Farm operation its first triumph in the 10-furlong classic.

Spendthrift Farm co-owns Thousand Words along with Albaugh Family Stables and acquired a majority interest in Authentic in June to join forces with Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, and My Racehorse.

Even before Spendthrift bought into Authentic, they were already rooting for the colt since they stand his sire, Into Mischief, who topped the general sire list in 2019.

“(Authentic's) last work was very impressive, great gallop out. We couldn't be more excited about his chances and standing Into Mischief makes it double the fun if he were to pull this off,” said Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift Farm.

Where Authentic was already an established runner when Spendthrift joined the team, B. Wayne Hughes' operation got in on the ground floor with Thousand Words, having purchased the son of Pioneerof the Nile with the Albaugh family for $1 million out of the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling sale. After going off form earlier this year, Thousand Words righted the ship when he captured the Shared Belief Stakes on Aug. 1.

“His win in the Shared Belief seems to have to turned him into a different horse,” Toffey said. “He's a little bit more like we saw as a 2-year-old. He's worked well, he's much more aggressive in his works. Really excited about his chances.”

ENFORCEABLE – John Oxley's Enforceable emerged from the Casse Racing shedrow early Thursday, taking to the track around 5:50 a.m. to jog and gallop under assistant trainer David Carroll as heavy rain hit the area.

Trainer Mark Casse is driving up from his home in Ocala, Fla. and is expected to arrive in Louisville Thursday afternoon.

FINNICK THE FIERCE – With co-owner and trainer Rey Hernandez in the saddle, Finnick the Fierce skipped over the slop during his gallop as rain drenched the Churchill Downs track for a second straight morning.

The gelded son of Dialed In had made three prior starts beneath the Twin Spires with his best outing being a runner-up effort in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (GII) last November where he finished ahead of Grade I winner and Kentucky Derby favorite Tiz the Law.

“He always showed a lot of talent, he was very smart,” said Hernandez who owns Finnick the Fierce along with Arnaldo Monge. “When we ran in the Kentucky Jockey Club, it was pretty much the eventual top 3-year-olds in that race. And when you run second over the same track you run the Derby, it gives you a good feeling.”

HONOR A. P. – C R K Stable's Honor A. P. came out on the track at 7:30 a.m. during the special training time allotted to Oaks and Derby horses and galloped 1 ½ miles with exercise rider Javier Hernandez. The Honor Code colt also visited the paddock as part of his morning training routine.

“Everything's good,” trainer John Shirreffs said as he held a playful Honor A.P. for his morning bath.

KING GUILLERMO – Victoria's Ranch's King Guillermo had an unscheduled walk day Thursday and a decision to run in the Kentucky Derby is expected late Thursday afternoon.

MAJOR FED – Lloyd Madison Farm's Major Fed galloped a mile prior to schooling in the Kentucky Derby starting gate for trainer Greg Foley.

“Fred Schwartz, Jim Bakke and I have worked 24 years to watch one of our horses break from the Derby gate,” co-owner Tim Sweeney said. “The Foleys have worked three generations for this. To have one of our homebreds get us in the race is very satisfying. We are a longshot but we'll take a shot.”

MAX PLAYER – George Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbred Corp.'s Max Player, had a strong 1 ½-mile gallop over the sloppy track at 5:50 a.m. under regular exercise rider Juan Vargas.

“The horse is coming into the race in great shape,” said Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who is seeking his first Kentucky Derby victory after collecting two seconds and two thirds in 20 previous tries. “He goes over the racetrack very well. I think his energy level is great. Obviously, excited about Saturday.”

MONEY MOVES – The Todd Pletcher-trained Money Moves wore the D. Wayne Lukas saddle towel for a second straight morning as he galloped over the soggy Churchill Downs track during the special 7:30 a.m. training period for Oaks and Derby contenders.

Lukas is overseeing the preparations for Money Moves on behalf of his protégé Pletcher, who will remain in Saratoga for the conclusion of that meet this weekend. Owned by Robert LaPenta and Bortolazzo Stable, Money Moves will be making just his fourth career start when he breaks from post seven in the Kentucky Derby field Saturday.

“I need to analyze it a little closer but always in the Derby, everyone is trying to get position going into the first turn. Even though they have a new starting gate, that won't change,” Pletcher said. “He's a horse who has some tactical speed so I think we'll try and establish position going into the first turn and work out the best trip from there.”

MR. BIG NEWS – Allied Racing Stables' Mr. Big News galloped about 1 ½ miles under exercise rider Simon Camacho Thursday at 7:30 a.m.

“We're taking a shot but I've never won a race I haven't entered,” owner Chester Thomas said.

NECKER ISLAND – With rain pouring down, Necker Island jogged two miles for the second day in a row under Hillary Hartman.

“With the rain and all, we decided to jog another day,” trainer Chris Hartman said. “He has done enough already.”

Necker Island, who will be ridden by Miguel Mena, is owned by the partnership of Raymond Daniels, Wayne Scheer and Will Harbut Racing.

NY TRAFFIC – On his second morning at Churchill Downs, John Fanelli, Cash is King, Paul Braverman and Team Hanley's Ny Traffic jogged once around over a wet Churchill Downs track at 7:30 and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. reported the horse was “doing well.”

The Cross Traffic colt has been steadily improving since adding blinkers following a third-place finish in the Risen Star Stakes (GII) Feb. 15. He has had three straight second-place finishes since that Fair Grounds race, including a narrow loss to Authentic in the Haskell Invitational (GI) July 18 in his most recent start.

“Blinkers seem to have really taken him to a new aspect,” Joseph said. “He's more steady in his races, more focused. He's been on the improve. All we need is one more improvement from him and he's going to be a horse that is going to make a name for himself Saturday.”

SOLE VOLANTE – Because of the second morning of a wet track, Reeves Thoroughbreds and Andie Biancone's Sole Volante continued his routine of jogging alongside the pony Thursday morning during the 7:30 a.m. special training time with his co-owner in the saddle. Andie Biancone, who also has been handling the training duties for her father Patrick Biancone, said the gelding continues to do well leading into Saturday's race.

SOUTH BEND – Sporting his new Kentucky Derby saddle towel, South Bend took to the track and galloped about 1 ¼ miles during the special 7:30 a.m. training session for Oaks and Derby horses and also stood in the new 20-horse gate.

South Bend was deemed a 50-1 longshot on the morning line, but his Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott knows a thing or two about pulling a Kentucky Derby upset. The Mott-trained Country House was elevated to the victory in last year's classic at odds of 65-1 after Maximum Security crossed the wire first but was disqualified because of interference.

South Bend is winless in eight starts this year and was most recently fourth in the Travers Stakes (GI).

“You know last year was very special and we had two very legitimate horses (with Country House and Tacitus),” said Kenny McCarthy, assistant to trainer Bill Mott. “This horse, he's a very consistent horse if you look at all his races and he tries hard every time. His Travers race was certainly not a bad race. He obviously needs to move forward off of that race but he seems to like this track here. We've seen over the years that some horses look like a cinch coming in but they couldn't get it done.”

STORM THE COURT – Exline-Border Racing, David Bernsen, Susanna Wilson and Dan Hudock's Storm the Court galloped 1 ¼ miles under Thomas Dubaele, assistant to trainer Peter Eurton.

Following training, Storm the Court had a paddock schooling session that earned a thumbs up from Eurton.

In the Derby, Storm the Court will be ridden for the first time by Julien Leparoux. Flavien Prat, who has ridden Storm the Court in eight of his nine starts including a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI), opted not to travel to Churchill Downs where he won last year's Derby on Country House.

“When Flavien told us he wasn't going, we knew Julien was one of the best riders around (who didn't have a Derby mount) and we didn't go any further,” Eurton said.

TIZ THE LAW – Sackatoga Stable's morning line Kentucky Derby favorite Tiz the Law jogged two miles with Heather Smullen aboard with trainer Barclay Tagg accompanying the two on his pony.

“I wish I could have done more with him, but couldn't because we've had two days of hard rain,” Tagg said. “He'll gallop tomorrow and he'll school in the paddock today during the fourth race.”

Tiz the Law's only career defeat to date came in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) last year at Churchill when he was third. When asked if he was a different horse this year, Tagg said: “He's the same horse. He's more experienced, of course. I don't think it was a lack of experience that got him beat last year. It was an off track and he came out a bit slow. The pace cooked him. He's been pretty nice ever since.”

Smullen, who has served as Tiz the Law's regular work rider, was impressed with Tiz the Law from the get-go.

“It was his 2-year-old year and he did everything so easily,” Smullen said. “Other horses are working hard and he goes along at a nice easy pace.”

WINNING IMPRESSION – West Point Thoroughbreds and Pearl Racing's Winning Impression jogged a mile Thursday at 5:30 a.m. for trainer Dallas Stewart.

“We're all good,” Stewart succinctly said.

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Derby Notes: Tiz The Law Splashes Through First Day At Churchill Downs

Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law, the 3-5 morning line favorite for Saturday's $3 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (GI), made his first on track appearance of Derby Week on a soggy Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs.

With trainer Barclay Tagg escorting alongside on a pony, Tiz the Law jogged to the frontside of the track and then galloped once around under Heather Smullen during the 7:30-7:45 a.m. (all times Eastern) training window for Derby and Oaks horses.

Before returning to the barn, Tiz the Law visited the Derby starting gate in the chute for a brief get-acquainted session.

Also making their initial Derby Week appearances on track were Ny Traffic, Money Moves and South Bend who arrived on the same flight from Albany, New York, with Tiz the Law on Tuesday.

ATTACHMENT RATE – Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister's Attachment Rate was on the track at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and galloped 1 ½ miles with Faustino Herrarte in the saddle.

“We'll continue to gallop two more days and be ready for Derby,” trainer Dale Romans said.

Attachment Rate is scheduled to school in Race 6 on Wednesday.

AUTHENTIC/THOUSAND WORDS – Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert was on hand at Churchill Downs Wednesday morning to see for himself how his Derby duo of Authentic and Thousand Words were progressing in advance of the 1 ¼-mile classic.

Thousand Words, who is owned by Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm, hit the track first, going out during a heavy round of rain just after 6 a.m. The son of Pioneerof the Nile turned in a routine gallop with Authentic also galloping twice around the Louisville oval when he emerged during the special 7:30 a.m. training slot for Derby and Oaks horses.

“It's a wet track so you really can't tell if they like it or not, but so far everything seems well,” Baffert said of his duo. “It's gone smooth, that's what you want.”

Both Thousand Words and Authentic are coming into the Kentucky Derby off victories in their most recent outings with the former taking the Shared Belief Stakes over Grade 1 winner Honor A. P. Aug. 1 and Authentic annexing the Haskell Stakes (GI) July 18.

“They're coming off of wins and that's very important,” Baffert said. “And you need to, you need to be at your best right now. That's why they're doing well.”

The early speed Authentic has flaunted in his five career starts likely will be put to the test Saturday as he will break from the far outside post in the 18-horse field.

“He's got so much natural speed and that's such an important part of the Derby,” said Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift Farm, which also co-owns Authentic along with My Racehorse, Madaket Stables, and Starlight Racing. “He should be able to put himself in a good position. And we'll see how he goes down the stretch.”

ENFORCEABLE – With trainer Mark Casse set to arrive in Louisville Thursday afternoon, assistant trainer David Carroll continues to oversee the preparations for John Oxley's Enforceable as he again worked to keep the colt from doing too much during his gallop Wednesday morning.

“Mentally he's in a great place, I couldn't be any happier with him,” said Carroll, who himself sent out the third-place finisher in the 2008 Kentucky Derby with Dennis of Cork.

Enforceable will break from post No. 3 in the Kentucky Derby but his running style figures to have him well back in the early going.

“Personally I would like to see him a little further out in the draw but we couldn't be asking for him to be doing any better,” Carroll said.

FINNICK THE FIERCE – There is no guesswork involved for Rey Hernandez when it comes to evaluating how his charge, Finnick the Fierce, is progressing in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby. The trainer and co-owner is the relatively rare breed who gets on his horses himself, and what he has felt from the chestnut gelding in of late is giving him confidence as they collective dive into their deepest waters yet.

Hernandez guided Finnick the Fierce during his routine gallop Wednesday as the two took the track during the special 7:30 a.m. training slot for Oaks and Derby contenders.

“I think it's a big plus (getting on your own horses) because you can feel how they're doing and you know everything about them,” Hernandez said. “It's to your advantage.”

Finnick the Fierce has gained a sentimental following because of the fact he is missing his right eye, the result of a congenital cataract.

“Just in the beginning we tried to be really careful with him, how we approached him on his blind side,” co-owner Arnaldo Monge said. “Rey did a great job when he was breaking him of giving him the confidence that everything was going to be OK. Kudos to Rey for how he handled this horse in the beginning.”

HONOR A. P. – C R K Stable's Honor A. P. , the 5-1 second choice on the Kentucky Derby morning line, galloped 1 ½ miles with exercise rider Javier Hernandez aboard at 7:30 a.m. after visiting the starting gate for the first time.

“He's doing good, excellent,” trainer John Shirreffs said. “The gate was a good learning experience for him. He needed that.”

MAJOR FED – Lloyd Madison Farm's Major Fed galloped 1 ½ miles at 5:15 a.m. Wednesday with Margarito Fierro in the saddle.

The son of 2004 horse of the year Ghostzapper is likely to school in the paddock Thursday.

MAX PLAYER – George Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbred Corp.'s Max Player, who worked Monday and walked Tuesday, returned to the track during the second set for trainer Steve Asmussen and jogged once around under regular exercise rider Juan Vargas.

Asmussen, who is still seeking his first Kentucky Derby victory despite being Churchill Downs' winningest trainer, thinks the biggest difference between running the Derby in September rather than May is that by now many of the horses already have sorted themselves out.

“This late in the year, I think horses are a lot more sorted out in what they are going to do,” Asmussen said. “It's going to be interesting. There are certain people in the race, riders you know their tendencies. I don't think pace is going to be as fast as it could be because of that. We'll be watching how the track plays this week.

“This is unprecedented to say the least. We feel fortunate to have Max Player, a horse of his talent that is doing this well right now.”

MONEY MOVES – Robert LaPenta and Bortolazzo Stable's Money Moves had one of the most heralded set of eyes in the sport keeping watch on him as he got his first feel of the Churchill Downs track during his gallop on Wednesday.

With his trainer Todd Pletcher remaining in New York at his Saratoga base this week, the lightly raced son of Candy Ride (ARG) is having his Kentucky Derby preparations handled by the legend that is Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas. That Lukas is now acting as an “assistant” of sorts for Pletcher is the equivalent of Obi Wan Kenobi readying Luke Skywalker's light saber given that the latter famously cut his teeth working for the four-time Kentucky Derby winning trainer.

“I just did what I was told,” said Lukas, who celebrated his 85th birthday Wednesday. “I sent him out there and he had a good maintenance gallop. We'll school him in the gate tomorrow. Todd just said 'Run him like you would any of your others'.”

“First of all he's a great friend for doing it,” Pletcher added by phone. “They've gone out of their way to accommodate us. Part of the decision making process of going with this horse was that one of the challenges was with the staff. It's been a difficult time for our staff in general all year losing the visa workers and (Lukas) was able to accommodate us and, that way, we don't have to go through the quarantine process coming back.”

Lukas recently returned to his barn after battling the COVID-19 virus, and he makes no bones about how hard the illness hit him. The resilience Lukas has shown in his recovery, however, is par for the course for the man who had made a career out of pulling off extraordinary feats.

“He's a remarkable man. My biggest concern was I knew he had a bout with COVID-19 and I didn't want to be a burden in any way on him,” Pletcher said. “But I could tell from talking to him that his voice was strong and he was feeling good compared to the week before. That was my main concern was I didn't want to be a burden for him.”

Money Moves comes into Saturday with just three career starts to his credit and none against stakes company. The bay colt has held his own against older horses, though, finishing second last time out in an allowance optional claiming race at Saratoga on July 25.

“He came into us with high expectations and I thought he ran very impressively to win his first two races,” Pletcher said. “Unfortunately after that he got sick and we missed several weeks of training so it kind of knocked out the original schedule that we hoped for.

“By the time we got him back, we were in kind of a difficult position because we didn't feel like he was quite ready to run in the Peter Pan off the long layoff. We were in a tough spot. We ran him 1 1/8 miles first time around two turns against older horses and he fared pretty well. It was a very tough race, he was almost able to win and his figures came back strong. After that, it started to look like it might not take any points to get into the Derby, so the ownership group expressed interest in monitoring how he's training and he trained well. We got together after his last breeze and weighed the pros and cons and they felt like we don't get these opportunities but once in a horse's life, so let's take a shot.”

MR. BIG NEWS – Allied Racing's $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes winner Mr. Big News galloped about 1 ½ miles Wednesday morning at 7:30 for trainer Bret Calhoun.

“He's bred with a lot of turf on both sides of the family,” Calhoun said. “He worked over the turf here twice and I don't think we'll get a good grip of how good he would handle the surface with how soft it is. He's breezed great over the dirt here and was very impressive over the winter at Oaklawn.”

NECKER ISLAND – Raymond Daniels, Wayne Scheer and Will Harbut Racing's Necker Island jogged two miles early Wednesday morning in the rain with Hillary Hartman aboard for her husband, trainer Chris Hartman.

Necker Island, who represents the first Kentucky Derby starter for the 47-year-old Hartman, drew post 11 for the Run for the Roses and is listed at 50-1 on the morning line.

A two-time winner in 10 starts with both of those victories coming at Churchill Downs, Necker Island will race without blinkers for the first time Saturday. Miguel Mena has the mount.

NY TRAFFIC – Haskell Invitational (GI) runner-up Ny Traffic had his first gallop over a wet Churchill Downs track at 7:30 a.m. and then visited the starting gate with trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and co-owner John Fanelli looking on. The gray Cross Traffic colt, who also is owned by Cash is King and Paul Braverman, arrived on a flight from New York Tuesday shortly before he drew post 15 of 18.

“I thought he went well,” Joseph said. “The track was a little sloppy, so I was undecided if we were going to gallop or jog today, but looking at the weather, there's more rain on the way, so we may jog tomorrow and I decided to go on and gallop. He went well. He was nice and relaxed. He showed good energy. He stood in the gate. So far, all is well.”

Ny Traffic, who has not been worse than third in five starts in 2020, has shown improvement in each of his races and his connections are hopeful he can perform well in the Kentucky Derby and are pleased with how he has trained since the Haskell July 18.

“He's done well. He's trained forwardly. He has a good series of breezes in,” Joseph said. “Our preparation as far as a race horse coming into a race has gone as well as we could have asked. The Haskell was his best race as far as handicapping figures. He's going to need to improve to compete with horses like Tiz the Law and Honor A. P., but we feel with the spacing of his races he should have improvement again. You never know for sure. Each race he's made a little jump and if he makes another little jump again, he's right there among the leaders.”

SOLE VOLANTE – Reeves Thoroughbreds and Andie Biancone's Sole Volante continued his routine of jogging alongside the pony Wednesday during the 7:30 a.m. special training time with his co-owner in the saddle. Andie Biancone also has been handling the training duties for father Patrick Biancone, who is staying in South Florida.

SOUTH BEND – With his Kentucky Derby gear still being constructed, South Bend took to the track with his usual Bill Mott saddle towel as he galloped during the special 7:30 a.m. training session for Oaks and Derby horses.

A late entrant to the Derby fray, South Bend heads into Saturday's test off a fourth-place finish in the Travers Stakes (GI) at Saratoga on Aug. 8. Though he is winless in eight starts this year, the bay colt has flashed potential, most notably running second in the Ohio Derby (GIII) June 27 while still in the barn of his prior trainer Stanley Hough.

Campaigned by Sagamore Farm through his first 11 starts, including a victory in the Street Sense last fall at Churchill Downs, South Bend was acquired by a partnership group that includes Gary Barber, Adam Wachtel, Peter Deutsch and Leonard Schleifer of Pantofel Stable.

“He was previously with Stanley so he's trained over this track (Churchill Downs) many times,” said Kenny McCarthy, assistant to Mott. “This horse, it was a bit of a last-minute decision to go into the race but having said that, I think initially when the horse was purchased, that might have been in the back of their minds to try and get themselves a Derby horse. Obviously with the defection of Art Collector, they figured let's take a shot.”

STORM THE COURT – Exline-Border Racing, David Bernsen, Susanna Wilson and Dan Hudock's Storm the Court galloped a mile and half under Thomas Dubaele at 7:30 Wednesday morning.

Winner of last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI) at 45-1, Storm the Court is winless in five starts since.

“It is part of growing up,” trainer Peter Eurton said of the 2020 campaign. “He matured early even though he is a late May foal. He has been running well and figuring things out. This would be the perfect time for him to do that.”

Storm the Court, who is housed in the same stall as 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos, will brerak from post four as a 50-1 morning line proposition under Julien Leparoux.

“It is a quality field,” Eurton said. “Art Collector not entering Tuesday was a big loss for the public and the Derby.”

TIZ THE LAW – Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law galloped once around the sealed track under Heather Smullen and then visited the starting gate for trainer Barclay Tagg.

Tiz the Law drew post 17 and was installed as the 3-5 morning line favorite, the shortest such price in Mike Battaglia's since the entry of Easy Goer and Awe Inspiring in 1989.

“There was a lot of tension at the table as the numbers drew down,” said Jack Knowlton, head of Sackatoga. “It was down to the two or 17 and I think the 17 is a great spot.”

Prior to Tuesday's draw and the 3-5 morning line assignment, Battaglia's lowest priced program favorite was Empire Maker at 6-5 in 2003. The winner that year was Funny Cide, owned by Sackatoga and trained by Tagg.

Funny Cide represented Tagg's first Kentucky Derby starter.

“They're both fast. They're different types,” Tagg said comparing Tiz the Law with Funny Cide. “He's kind of a stockier horse than Funny Cide but distance doesn't seem to faze him. He's not as tough to train as Funny Cide, Funny Cide was a very hard horse to ride and very hard horse to train. This horse just does what you ask him to do. He's strong, he's on the muscle but he's a real pleasure to work with.”

WINNING IMPRESSION – West Point Thoroughbreds and Pearl Racing's Winning Impression galloped 1 ½ miles at 6 a.m. Wednesday with Emerson Chavez on board.

“We're ready for the Derby,” Chavez said on his walk back to trainer Dallas Stewart's Barn 34.

Winning Impression is 50-1 on the morning line for Saturday's “Run for the Roses.”

The post Derby Notes: Tiz The Law Splashes Through First Day At Churchill Downs appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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