Jockey James Graham began his mount's training session by breaking inside of an unraced 3-year-old workmate. Around the far-turn, after the Derby hopeful completed five furlongs in 1:00.20, fellow stablemate Giant Awakening (Mor Spirit) was waiting for him around the 5 1/2 furlong pole. Running in concert, Confidence Game finished his work around the sixteenth pole and galloped out an extra quarter mile.

“At first when I looked at the final time, I was a little disappointed,” Desormeaux said. “Then I got back to the barn and went through the splits and I had a renewed sense of confidence–for a lack of a better term. He really started to pick it up late in the work even when he went fast early during the work. The gate works at Churchill are timed when the doors open so if you take into account that during a race there is a little bit of a run-up before the timer starts, he worked really well. I was definitely looking to get a lot of out of the work and I think we accomplished that. He needed it.”

Owned by Don't Tell My Wife Stables and Ocean Reef Racing, the GII Rebel S. victor completed splits of :24.60, :36, :47.80, 1:00.20, 1:13 and 1:25.60, with a gallop out of 1 1/4 lengths in 2:05.80. Desormeaux opted to bypass Saturday's GIII Lexington S. at Keeneland to train up for the Derby and said the colt would likely work back next Saturday.

Confidence Game with a serious one-mile move in 1:38.20 from the gate. #KyDerby pic.twitter.com/QSCpkBTQne

— Kevin Kerstein (@HorseRacingKK) April 14, 2023

Rich Strike Looks To Return Soon

RED TR-Racing's Rich Strike (Keen Ice) continued to prepare for his 2023 debut by working five furlongs in :59.80 early Friday morning over a fast track at Keeneland for trainer Eric Reed.

With Gabriel Lagunes aboard, the 2022 GI Kentucky Derby champ posted fractions of :23.80, :47.80, :59.80 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.40.

“Gabe said he was perfect this morning and worked the way he did before the Derby,” Reed said of Rich Strike, who is nominated to the 92nd running of Keeneland's GIII Ben Ali S. on Apr. 22. “I want to get him as tight as I can before his first time out against horses that have been running. If all goes well, that will point him for the GI Stephen Foster.”

Reed said the Ben Ali is in the mix for the 2023 debut along with next Saturday's GII Oaklawn H. and GII Alysheba S. at Churchill on May 5.

“I'll talk it over with [owner] Rick [Dawson] the next couple of days,” Reed said. “The Alysheba is probably the most likely spot. He would work again in nine or 10 days, and it would be at Churchill Downs.”

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In principle, the bare couple of minutes dividing anticipation from outcome at Saratoga on Saturday will be history tangibly in the making. From the flux of hopes and interests vested in the maturing Thoroughbreds that enter the gate, a single name will suddenly be petrified into the pantheon.

In reality, however, it's very seldom that we can know quite what it is we might be looking at. In terms of volunteering a stallion of due stature, for instance, it has to be acknowledged that the Travers overall shares a rather patchy profile with the GI Kentucky Derby either side of the last horse to win both, Street Sense in 2007. Take out Bernardini, who won the Travers the year before, and it's only recently that a couple of young stallions have begun to shore things up again for either race.

Poignantly, it does appear as though the spectacular flowering of Arrogate in 2016 was a legitimate signpost–only for the road to plunge clean off a cliff. Those bidding for his final crop of yearlings at Keeneland in a few days' time will be contesting a legacy that has very quickly evolved, from an unsurprisingly slow start, via the charismatic endeavors of Secret Oath and now Artorius.

(Listen to this column as a podcast.)

For the time being, at any rate, Artorius does feel like quite a good example of the way we tend to look into the future through the prism of the past. He brings a fairly irresistible narrative into the Travers, being even more lightly raced than was his sire when picking up the pieces against exhausted Triple Crown protagonists. And, being out of an elite Ghostzapper racemare, he does look tantalizingly eligible to salvage Arrogate's legacy, if only he can cope with this steep elevation in grade. Yet it's almost as though those high emotional stakes have somehow been loaded into odds that imply some ordained destiny.

Yet who would presume to predict the future, when even the past can take so long to separate itself into coherence? Nobody, of course, could have foreseen the tragic denouement of Arrogate's tale. But most of us were pretty sure of where we stood with Gun Runner, when he staggered into third in the Travers, fully 15 lengths behind Arrogate: a horse that had shown his hand, precocious enough to run third in the Derby but apparently tapering off by this point. Gun Runner persevered, however, and after observing Arrogate reach the bottom of the barrel–presumably an oil barrel–in Dubai, he ran up to that sequence of five Grade Is by an aggregate 27 1/2 lengths.

And now here he is, poised to seal one of the most remarkable stud debuts of recent times with two runners–and don't forget that he would have a third, but for the local prohibition of Taiba's trainer–in a race that offers a pretty instructive snapshot of the shifting landscape among Kentucky stallions. Another young gun, Upstart, fields a son who has had this race in mind ever since that fleeting flirtation with an uncontested coronation on the home turn in the Derby; while Not This Time, consolidating his own outstanding start, matches Gun Runner with two: Epicenter, whose candidature for divisional honors makes a Grade I feel pretty imperative, and Ain't Life Grand.

Of the established elite, indeed, only Medaglia d'Oro can muster a candidate to emulate his 2002 success in outsider Gilded Age. To be fair, he also has a stake in proceedings through the dam of Ain't Life Grand, Cat Moves. This is the only mare owned by Peggy and Ray Shattuck, whose homebred GII Iowa Derby winner would hardly be as stupefying a result here as Rich Strike, himself of course by a Travers winner in Keen Ice, back at Churchill in May. While expectations for Rich Strike seem pretty much back to what they were on Derby day, Ain't Life Grand announced himself at Saratoga with a molten 45.88 workout last week, fastest of 79 clocked that morning.

Ain't Life Grand with Tammy Fox aboard | Sarah Andrew

Certainly the game could do with another fairytale. There's no need to dwell on the potential for awkwardness, in showcasing our best to the outside world, when three of eight runners are saddled by a trainer currently subject to such uncomfortable attention. Having been raised locally, this race is one he would prize perhaps beyond any other. But there you go: all of us have to accept that human capacity for anticipation is distinctly finite; and that fulfilment belongs to the complex, unpredictable realm of outcomes.

Setting all that aside, my own anticipations remain stubborn as ever. As Chad Brown would agree, he is only one of many whose dreams are centered on these three horses. And our community could seek no more flattering representation, to those beyond, than Brereton C. Jones and his family at Airdrie Stud, breeders of Zandon. And if this colt can mark the 50th anniversary of the farm's foundation by finally getting it all together here, even greater laurels would be on the line just down the road at Keeneland in the fall.

Yes, I know: all I'm doing is choosing a different script from the one that appears to favor Artorius so inexorably. I'm shoehorning Zandon's ostensible need for a particular tactical scenario, and a different kind of race from the cat-and-mouse of his latest start, into a storyline of far greater neatness and symmetry than tends to be indulged by this unsentimental, unpredictable world. But we're all sports fans first. We all enjoy our anticipation while it lasts. And we can leave dealing with all those business outcomes until such time as we know what they actually are.

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“He was on there because of routine stuff that we had a chiropractor work on,” Reed said “In Kentucky, with anything like that you have to report it to them. You have to report everything and I think it's going to get even stricter with HISA about to come in.”

Reed said that chiropractic work has been a part of Rich Strike's routine between races.

“We work on his back constantly,” Reed said. “He's a big muscular horse and it's part of what we do. We worked on him before the Derby as well. This is not a big deal at all. Beyond a doubt, he's fine and will be ready to go Saturday.”

Reed said this was the only time Rich Strike had appeared on the vet's list.

While still on the list, Rich Strike worked five furlongs between races at Churchill Downs May 30 in :59 flat.

To have a Kentucky Derby winner go on the vet's list just 15 days after his victory, does raise some questions. Why would a horse appear on the list after what seems like a routine matter? Do all horses that undergo chiropractic work have to appear on the vet's list? How long must they be on the list and what needs to happen for them to get off the list?

Answers were not forthcoming as it is the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's policy not to disclose any information about horses that make it onto the vet's list.

“The Commission does not discuss medical records and that includes veterinary records,” said Commission spokesperson Kristin Voskuhl.

Prior to the Derby, Derby starters Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), Charge It (Tapit) and Barber Road (Race Day) had spent time on the Kentucky list.

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With exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes up, Rich Strike visited Belmont's dirt training track at 9:30 a.m. with the accompaniment of outrider Juan Galvez and his pony Stormy, making two laps the wrong way round.

“He settled down a lot the second time round. A lot of that was trying to get him used to the pony. You could see the farther he went the better he accepted the pony,” trainer Eric Reed said. “I think by the end of the week they'll be good buddies and on race day he needs a buddy. He'll sleep the rest of the day. I know he's tired, he just doesn't show it.”

Going forward Rich Strike will school in the paddock in the morning before training on the main track.

“He's so routine oriented. We're in a new place, so we can set his routine here and in two days, he'll be fine,” Reed said.

Reed said if Rich Strike continues to move forward their long-term target would be the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 27 at Saratoga.

“The owners always wanted to run him in the Travers and I think it's a good spot for him,” Reed said. “If all the horses are freshened and ready that could be a heck of a field in the Travers with Epicenter, Zandon, Early Voting and whoever comes out of this race. It could be a great, great race.”

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“He’s such an amazing horse,” Garcia said following the work. “He worked awesome. I’ve worked a lot of nice horses for trainer Bob Baffert in California and this horse is just as special. He’s doing amazing for the Preakness.”

Baffert was on hand to watch Authentic’s work. The Derby winner is scheduled to fly from Louisville to Baltimore on Tuesday.

Owned by the partnership of Spendthrift Farm LLC, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables LLC, and Starlight Racing, Authentic won the GI TVG.com Haskell S. in his start just prior to the Derby. He sports a record of 6-5-1-0 with his only career loss coming at the hands of Honor A. P. (Honor Code), who has since been retired, in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby.

Derby fifth-place finisher Max Player (Honor Code) also worked Monday at Churchill, getting four furlongs in :49.80 in preparation for the Preakness. Owned by George Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds, GIII Withers S. winner Max Player was third in both the GI Belmont S. and the GI Runhappy Travers S. He is trained by Steve Asmussen.

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Stud farms want their prized first-crop horses to fly out of the gates early with 2-year-old winners and black-type runners and end their first seasons with a Grade l winner or two atop the freshman sire list. Darley’s Nyquist (Uncle Mo), who won the Derby in 2016, is on his way, currently leading all N.A. first-crop sires by progeny earnings after his daughter Vequist won the Gl Spinaway S. at Saratoga Sunday by 9 1/2 lengths. Another daughter, Lady Lilly, was third in the race. Before them, the Nyquist colt Gretzky the Great had won the Soaring Free S. at Woodbine in late August, putting Nyquist at the top of the list by number of black-type winners, too.

Like Authentic, Nyquist was also a fast colt who was probably better at shorter distances than a mile and a quarter, and he was more precocious than Authentic, who won his lone start last year. Nyquist, in contrast, won each of his five races at two, including three Grade l races: the Del Mar Futurity; FrontRunner S.; and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. At year’s end, he was named the champion 2-year-old colt.

He carried his form into the spring, winning the seven-furlong Gll San Vicente S. at Santa Anita in a rapid 1:20.71 before taking the Gl Florida Derby at Gulfstream, which has turned into a better “sire-making race” than the Kentucky Derby itself. Since 1990, graduates of the race include proven and promising sires Unbridled, Unbridled’s Song, Harlan’s Holiday, Empire Maker, Scat Daddy, Quality Road, Dialed In, Take Charge Indy, and Constitution. In contrast, Street Sense and American Pharoah are the only Kentucky Derby winners who didn’t win the Florida Derby during this span that are comparable, but note that American Pharoah, despite a bunch of graded winners already, is still searching for his first Grade l winner with his first crop now three.

Nyquist won the Kentucky Derby next, and in retrospect, he had some fine horses behind him that day, including subsequent Classic winners Exaggerator (2nd; Preakness) and Creator (13th, Belmont S.), Horse of the Year Gun Runner (3rd; Breeders’ Cup Classic). Also included among Derby also-rans that day, Mohaymen (4th), Brody’s Cause (7th), Mor Spirit (10th), Outwork (14th), and Whitmore (19th), among others.

Note that both Brody’s Cause (Giant’s Causeway), now at Spendthrift, and Outwork (Uncle Mo), at WinStar, were represented by black-type winners over the weekend as well, Brody’s Cause with Glll Iroquois S. winner Sittin On Go at Churchill on the Derby undercard and Outwork with Samborella in the $150,000 Seeking the Ante S. at Saratoga a day earlier.

Arrogate, the colt who would be crowned champion 3-year-old of that year, was notably absent from the Derby field. In fact, on the day Nyquist won the Derby, Arrogate had made only one start, a third-place finish in a maiden special at Los Alamitos, and the careers of these two champions are studies in contrast. One was a fast and early developing colt whose career peaked as an undefeated Kentucky Derby winner of eight races, while the other made his name in 10-furlong races through the second half of his 3-year-old season and as an early 4-year-old before retiring as the leading N. American money earner. His first yearlings are selling now.

The Derby was the apex in Nyquist’s career. He had three more starts, never won again, and retired to Darley for the 2017 breeding season with a record of eight wins from 11 starts and $5,189,200 in earnings, and he brought plenty of cachet to the table for commercial breeders at $40,000 as a champion 2-year-old, early spring 3-year-old, and Kentucky Derby winner–exactly the race form both breeders and buyers look for. And like Authentic, he’s by the right kind of sire.

UNCLE MO

Nyquist was a member of Ashford-based Uncle Mo’s first crop and led a group of seven black-type winners for Uncle Mo that made him the leading freshman sire of 2015. That remarkable crop would eventually yield 25 black-type winners from 157 named foals, an exceptional 16%, and four Grade l winners, including Gomo, Unbridled Mo, and Outwork in addition to Nyquist.

To date, Uncle Mo is represented by eight Grade 1 winners through six crops of racing age (including 2-year-olds of 2020) versus seven for Into Mischief through nine crops, though in fairness to the latter, his first four crops contained only a total of 140 named foals.

Both stallions are clicking in high gear now, and this year Into Mischief is comfortably atop the general sire list, with Uncle Mo in third place. Into Mischief leads all stallions with 24 black-type winners, but Uncle Mo leads by number of graded stakes winners, with 12. Uncle Mo stood for $125,000 this spring.

Like Into Mischief with Goldencents, Uncle Mo’s sons are showing early life as stallions. Aside from Nyquist, with seven winners through Thursday afternoon, Outwork also has seven winners and a black-type winner and is in fifth place on the freshman list, and Uncle Mo’s less-heralded New York-based son at Sequel, Laoban, is in 12th with four winners and a black-type winner as well.

Uncle Mo was an exceptional 2-year-old, a man among boys both in physique and race class. He was a champion at two, winning the Gl Champagne S. by almost five lengths in 1:34.51 and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by a little over four lengths. Unlike Nyquist, he wasn’t able to make the Derby and had a spotty record at three in an abbreviated campaign, but his subsequent success as a stallion has repaired his reputation as a racehorse and put him among the best stallions in the country.

Nyquist, therefore, has quite a bit going for him, and yearling buyers responded to the Darley stallion at the sales last year, making him the leading first-crop sire with an average price of $225,061–more than five times his stud fee–for 49 sold from 66 offered.

Thirteen of those 66 yearlings, or about 20%, were from A.P. Indy-line mares, and so far Nyquist’s three stakes horses are from this group. Gretzky the Great, a $295,000 RNA, is from a Bernardini mare; Vequist, a $120,000 RNA, is from a Mineshaft mare; and Lady Lilly, a $280,000 sale, is out of a Pulpit mare. Uncle Mo himself has sired seven stakes winners on the cross, including Grade I winner Mo Town and two Grade II winners from Bernardini mares.

Because Darley also stands Bernardini, an exceptional broodmare sire for his age, this is a cross we’re likely to see more of in the future, because, believe it or not, Gretzky the Great is so far the only foal of racing age by Nyquist from a Bernardini mare.

The title for leading freshman sire will probably come down to the Breeders’ Cup races, as I noted in this space discussing Taylor Made’s Not This Time two weeks ago. His daughter Princess Noor also became a Grade l winner Sunday, winning the Del Mar Debutante like an exceptional filly, and the matchup with Vequist will be highly anticipated.

Of course, between now and then a lot can and will happen, but Nyquist couldn’t be in a better spot as the freshmen sires turn into the homestretch. He’s leading.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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