With three weeks remaining until the GI Kentucky Derby, the trio of Crown Pride (Jpn) (Reach the Crown {Jpn}) (six furlongs, 1:18.60), Cyberknife (Gun Runner) (five furlongs, 1:00) and Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb) (four furlongs, :48.40) worked at Churchill Downs Saturday.
Gold Square's GI Arkansas Derby winner Cyberknife worked at 9 a.m. outside of multiple stakes-placed stablemate Tommy Bee (Medaglia d'Oro). Cyberknife started two lengths behind Tommy Bee and completed fractions of :12.20, :23.80 and :47.20. Cyberknife finished even with Tommy Bee around the seven eighths pole and easily galloped out six furlongs in 1:15.40.
“I thought he looked great,” said trainer Brad Cox. “He's done well at Churchill in the past and really likes it here.”
About 90 minutes earlier, Magdalena Lessee's GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks S. winner Tiz the Bomb worked with jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. in the irons. He recorded an opening quarter-mile in :24.20 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.20.
Moments later, exercise rider Masa Matsuda breezed Teruya Yoshida's G2 UAE Derby winner Crown Pride six furlongs from the half-mile pole. The duo easily completed opening fractions of :14.60, :28.20, :54 and 1:06.20. Crown Pride steadily picked up his work around the turn and onto the backside before completing his move through seven furlongs in 1:32.40.
Winngate Stables' unbeaten GI Kentucky Oaks contender Kathleen O. (Upstart), meanwhile, worked four furlongs in :48.60 Saturday morning at Keeneland.
According to Keeneland clockers, the GII Gulfstream Oaks heroine galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 and six furlongs in 1:15.80 after clocking splits of :12.80, :25.60 and :37.40 under exercise rider David Jego.
“I was hoping to see just what I saw,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “She does not need a whole lot. She is coming off a race two weeks ago. [The time and the gallop out] were just what I was looking for. So far we are right on track.”
Tsunebumi and Sekie Yoshihara's Yuugiri (Shackleford), winner of the GIII Fantasy S., covered four furlongs in :50 at Keeneland with trainer Rodolphe Brisset aboard.
“You could see it a lot of times when horses would come here from Florida with the change in the air, the change in the weather that they would just blossom, and you can see it,” Brisset said. “She is doing that, and I am very pleased with her.”
Don't Tell My Wife Stables and trainer Keith Desormeaux's Bourbonette Oaks upsetter Candy Raid (Candy Ride {Arg}) worked four furlongs in :50.40 at Keeneland.
Slow Down Andy (Nyquist), winner of the GIII Sunland Derby, will miss the Kentucky Derby after recently spiking a temperature, according to a report in Horse Racing Nation.
Saturday's $1.25-million GI Arkansas Derby was supposed to be all about Secret Oath (Arrogate), who had so dominated her peers that trainer D. Wayne Lukas and owner/breeder Briland Farm decided to roll the dice and bypass what would have been a far easier task in the GIII Fantasy S. The betting public largely endorsed the idea, sending the chestnut off as the 7-5 favorite, but in the end, it was not meant to be, as Gold Square LLC's Cyberknife (Gun Runner) was the recipient of a cerebral ride from Florent Geroux and ran away in the final furlong to score an upset of the mildest variety. Barber Road (Race Day) snagged second on the wire from Secret Oath, who raced well behind a strong pace and made what appeared to be a winning bid on the turn, only to peak on the run and peter out in the final stages.
With the exception of Secret Oath, who was pinched back in tight between GII Rebel S. winner Un Ojo (Laoban) and Ben Diesel (Will Take Charge), the Arkansas Derby field was off to a level beginning and they lined up five across the track with a circuit to travel, with Chasing Time (Not This Time) ceding the advantage to the rail-drawn Kavod (Lea) as they raced into the first turn. 'TDN Rising Star' Doppelganger (Into Mischief) was part of the pace three or four wide, while Geroux tucked Cyberknife into fourth position.
Kavod had the call after a stiff opening half-mile in :46.54, at which point Geroux made a key decision to allow Cyberknife to take a gap one off the rail between Kavod and Chasing Time, a choice that looked that much better when the latter was one of the first to call it a day and began backpedaling with 3 1/2 furlongs to race. Cyberknife was asked to engage Kavod approaching the five-sixteenths marker and looked to have that one at his mercy, but Secret Oath was winding up with a marauding sweep into contention. But while the filly was being driven along to try to bridge the gap, Cyberknife was more or less on cruise control–albeit a bit green–as he rolled down towards the fence in upper stretch. Put to a Geroux drive at the eighth pole, Cyberknife weaved in and out, but was always maintaining a safe advantage to the line. Barber Road rallied from the back to complete the exacta, as Secret Oath ran out of gas in the final 50 yards.
“Great effort with some high hopes for him,” Geroux commented. “We always thought he was very talented. Looks like he finally put it together and he's probably not even 100%, as he was zig-zagging down the lane. I'm hoping he's going to be a little straighter on the first Saturday in May. But, a very talented horse.”
Demoted from an apparent debut victory sprinting at Churchill Sept. 25, Cyberknife was a green second at 2-5 beneath the Twin Spires Nov. 5 before graduating by a half-length at odds-on in his first go at two turns at the Fair Grounds Dec. 26. A well-beaten sixth with blinkers added for the GIII Lecomte S. in New Orleans Jan. 22, Cyberknife regrouped with a three-length allowance tally in the Big Easy Feb. 19 and targeted this event. His 'TDN Rising Star' stablemate Zozos (Munnings) shipped to the Fair Grounds off a 10 1/4-length Oaklawn allowance success to be runner-up to top GI Kentucky Derby hopeful Epicenter (Not This Time) in the GII Louisiana Derby Mar. 26.
Lukas was making no excuses for Secret Oath.
“We got outrun today,” the Hall of Famer said. “Made that big move [on the second turn] and I thought she would sustain it, but she didn't. The race didn't unfold like you'd hope it to. It just didn't come together. We got bumped at the start and that got her back too far and then she made that monster move. It's hard to sustain it. She might have run that quarter pretty damn fast.”
Pedigree Notes:
Cyberknife is yet another feather in the cap for his boom stallion, who has now sired 10 stakes winners and six graded scorers (now three at Grade I level) from his first crop that has already yielded 37 individual winners.
Cyberknife is the second of Saturday's three Kentucky Derby prep winners to emerge from the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase, having hammered for $400,000. Hailing from the female family of G1 Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed (Tiznow), GSW Witty (Distorted Humor) and Grade I winner and Darley Japan sire American Patriot (War Front), Cyberknife is out of a six-time stakes-winning mare who is also responsible for a 2-year-old colt named Tapit Shoes (Tapit) and a colt by Horse of the Year Authentic foaled Mar. 4.
Saturday, Oaklawn Park ARKANSAS DERBY-GI, $1,250,000, Oaklawn, 4-2, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:50.42, ft. 1–CYBERKNIFE, 119, c, 3, by Gun Runner 1st Dam: Awesome Flower (MSW & MGSP, $556,593), by Flower Alley 2nd Dam: Formalities Aside, by Awesome Again 3rd Dam: Well Dressed, by Notebook 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($400,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL). O-Gold Square LLC; B-Kenneth
Ramsey & Sarah K. Ramsey (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Florent
Geroux. $750,000. Lifetime Record: 6-3-2-0, $860,000. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.Werk Nick Rating: A+.
2–Barber Road, 119, c, 3, Race Day–Encounter, by Southern
Image. 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($15,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV). O-WSS
Racing, LLC; B-Susan Forrester & Judy Curry (KY); T-John
Alexander Ortiz. $250,000.
3–Secret Oath, 117, f, 3, Arrogate–Absinthe Minded, by Quiet
American. 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O/B-Briland Farm, Robert
Mitchell & Stacy Mitchell (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas. $125,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, 3/4, 4HF. Odds: 5.80, 10.00, 1.40.
Also Ran: Doppelganger, Kavod, Ben Diesel, We the People, Un Ojo, Chasing Time. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Gold Square LLC's Cyberknife (Gun Runner) will make his next start in the $1.25-million GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park Apr. 2, trainer Brad Cox told the Oaklawn press office.
A $400,000 acquisition by owner Al Gold out of the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase, the chestnut is unbeaten in two starts going long outside of stakes competition, having graduated in his first route attempt at the Fair Grounds Dec. 26 before tacking on a three-length allowance victory at the New Orleans oval Feb. 19. In between those efforts, he was a well-beaten sixth in the Jan. 12 GIII Lecomte S. Cyberknife worked five furlongs in 1:00 flat at the Fair Grounds Mar. 12.
“He's probably going to continue to work down [at the Fair Grounds], but we've pretty much zeroed in on the Arkansas Derby,” Cox said. “He's a tough horse to deal with, he always has been. He's gotten better. He appears to be improving. I thought his last race was a step forward. Got a really good figure the last race. I think it's going to stack up and probably be one of the better ones in the Arkansas Derby and if he runs that race, I think he's a player.”
Cox's other main GI Kentucky Derby hope is 'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings), who is being pointed at the GII Louisiana Derby Mar. 26.
Nominations to the Arkansas Derby, which offers 170 points (100-40-20-10) on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, close this Friday, Mar. 18.
Fastest two minutes in sport? You'll excuse us a bitter laugh here. By the time Mandaloun (Into Mischief) leaves the gate Saturday for the GIII Louisiana S., he'll be 382,968 minutes into a GI Kentucky Derby without end. And, with no sign of anyone putting their attorneys back in the holster, it's plainly going to be a while yet before we know whether Mandaloun will finally be anointed the 147th winner of a race that drives so many millions of dollars of investment in our industry.
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As things stand, we're potentially looking at one of the luckiest animals in Turf history: a dual Grade I winner who has yet to pass the post first in a Grade I race. He was last seen, of course, in that dramatic Haskell S., which fell into his lap after Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) was disqualified for his tangle with Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow). The latter, conversely, has accumulated a dispiriting sequence of near-misses since his last visit to the winner's circle, on this card last year, in the GIII Lecomte S.
Given our ongoing travails, and the resulting perceptions among the wider public, our community owes a great debt to Midnight Bourbon for his balletic recovery from the brink of catastrophe at Monmouth Park. As a potential lifeline for the precarious Man o' War line, moreover, he should in due course offer another valuable service in the replication, at stud, of that extraordinary athleticism.
We're not going to run out of sons of Into Mischief any time soon, after all. One way or another, then, a lot of neutrals will be heading to Midnight Bourbon's corner as the two rivals each attempt a personal reset in what will, on the anniversary of their first, be their sixth showdown.
But you have to feel sympathy for Mandaloun, too. At the best of times, finishing second in the Derby is a bittersweet distinction. It's one that has been shared by some great names, for instance Native Dancer and Nashua within a couple of years of each other, as well as by many that can only make you scratch your head. And nobody, regardless, would want to satisfy a lifetime quest in quite this way, as connections of Country House (Lookin At Lucky) will doubtless attest.
On the day, their horse proved better equipped for the defining challenge of the American Thoroughbred than all bar one of 20,000-odd other foals in his crop. Country House was desperately unlucky to be denied any further opportunity of wresting attention from that ever-distracting horse, Maximum Security (New Year's Day). Set for a relaunch at four, only to be derailed by laminitis in February, he duly finds himself standing on most generous terms (despite being inbred to the matriarch No Class) at Darby Dan. If there's any justice, someday one of his sons will secure him overdue respect in the Derby.
Midnight Bourbon's last visit to the winner's circle was in the 2021 Lecomte | Hodges Photography
If that happens, it won't be through a superior preparation. Country House was a Bill Mott masterpiece. It was only in this equivalent week that he broke his maiden; he then contested the second and third legs of the New Orleans trial series, catching the eye of many a wiseguy handicapper with the promise of better yet in the extreme test awaiting at Churchill.
In the process he contributed to the striking vigor of the Fair Grounds sophomores, in recent times. Last year the GII Louisiana Derby produced four of the first six on the first Saturday in May. True, these included a Californian shipper, but the overall strength of the Crescent City cohort certainly heightens interest in the return of Proxy (Tapit), who went missing after being sandwiched between Midnight Bourbon and Mandaloun in both the Lecomte and the GII Risen Star. Some really heartening breezes this winter allow us to hope that Proxy might yet live up to his name, and plug a gap for the Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) barn.
But no graduate of the Fair Grounds Classic rehearsals has lately made a greater impact than Gun Runner–for whom the Lecomte, through Pappacap and Cyberknife, now represents the first big test of the theory that his stud debut was especially spectacular because his stock will emulate the way he thrived with maturity himself.
Pappacap prior to his second in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile | Horsephotos
As his second-ever winner, Pappacap was among the most precocious of the surprisingly precocious gang that secured Gun Runner the freshman title; but the Rustlewood Farm homebred can be expected to consolidate on both sides of his pedigree. His mother achieved her only graded stakes placing at the end of her third campaign; his second and third dams, unusually enough, are both by sons of that doughty influence Roberto; while his fourth is by another in Pleasant Colony. In other words, this is a horse bred to stick around. (He also has the honor of starting out No. 1 on colleague T.D. Thornton's TDN Derby Top 12.)
It's a big day, then, for the Winchell family, who stand Gun Runner with Three Chimneys and will be hoping to see Midnight Bourbon elaborate his own stud credentials. Because they also present the most obvious danger to Gun Runner's Lecomte pair in Epicenter (Not This Time), whose apt emergence in the Gun Runner S. over Christmas showed him to be very comfortable with pouring the speed coals into this hot surface.
Throw into the mix Trafalgar (Lord Nelson), a promising flagship for his classy hometown barn, and this looks another instructive edition of the Lecomte S. I love the cyclical nature of the Classic trail, with all its familiar staging points, coast to coast; and the return to the same card of two of the 2021 protagonists marks another ring through the trunk of the great old Triple Crown tree.
Because it's never really just about those two breathless minutes in Louisville. Those are the tiny apex of a huge pyramid that spreads out through the patient dreams of so many different people, past and present.
With everything that's going on–condensed by the tragedy of the horse that held off Mandaloun in the Derby–we must always conduct ourselves with due respect for the generations of predecessors who made our sport what it is. This race, remember, is named for the only horse ever to beat Lexington. And if we don't prove worthy of our heritage, in the perennial quest for a Derby colt, someday we will suddenly find that it's two minutes to midnight.
