Kentucky Derby | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mr. BIg News ‘Full Of Energy’ In Workout Toward Preakness Stakes

Even though Kentucky Derby (G1) third-place finisher Mr. Big News earned a free roll in the 145th Preakness Stakes (G1) by virtue of winning Oaklawn Park's $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes, owner Chester Thomas and trainer Bret Calhoun said that has no bearing on their decision to run in Pimlico's famed 1 3/16-mile classic.

What does have bearing is a workout Mr. Big News had Friday at Churchill Downs, where he cruised a half-mile in 48 4/5 seconds under regular exercise rider Tony Quinones, registering the 22nd fastest of 76 works at the distance. Calhoun said he's seeing all the right signs.

“He was very sharp this morning,” he said. “I know it was cool. He went a little quicker than we wanted, but did it very easy, well within himself. He was full of energy, kind of what we wanted to see. It was what we wanted or better.

Calhoun said Mr. Big News will have a final workout on Saturday, Sept. 26. If all continues to go well, the Giant's Causeway colt will be heading to Baltimore. Yet to be determined is if he'll fly or van, he said.

“He's a fit horse; he doesn't need a lot,” Calhoun said of next week's work. “I'm not looking for fitness. Just maintain what we've got and hold his edge.”

Mr. Big News needed the sort of performance he displayed in the Kentucky Derby for his team to consider the Preakness.

“Absolutely,” Calhoun said. “The free ride in the Preakness was there, but he needed to prove that he belonged with that group of horses.”

Mr. Big News required four races before winning, then was fifth in the Fair Grounds' Risen Star (G2). The victory at 46-1 odds in the April 11 Oaklawn Stakes followed before Kentucky Derby aspirations were dashed — temporarily, as it turned out — by a disappointing sixth in Keeneland's rescheduled Toyota Blue Grass (G2) in July. Next on the agenda was to try grass, for which Mr. Big News is well-bred.

But rain left the Churchill Downs turf course too soft for Calhoun to feel they could get a true reading on the colt's affinity for the weeds. About the same time, it became clear that Churchill's new 20-stall starting gate would not be filled this Derby. And Calhoun loved how Mr. Big News was training.

As entry day for the Kentucky Derby approached, Thomas drew up a list of pros and cons on running.

“I had this long sales pitch I was going to give Bret,” Thomas said. “I didn't get very far into it when he said, 'Dude, you want to run in the Derby; we're going to run in the Derby.' I didn't even get to go through my list.”

“The closer we got to the Derby, knowing we could probably get in, I started really dialing in on the Derby in the back of my mind,” Calhoun said. “The weather forecast for Derby Week looked like more rain, so we thought the turf course would remain soft. And the horse was doing really, really good, and we knew he'd love the mile and a quarter.”

Off at 46-1, Mr. Big News was one of the longest shots in the Derby field of 15. He was in 10th early as Authentic was ripping off fractions of 22.91 seconds for the first quarter-mile, 46.41 for the half, 1:10.23 for six furlongs and 1:35.02 for the mile. Favored Tiz the Law hooked Authentic out of the turn for home but Authentic pulled clear lead, winning by 1 1/4 lengths, with Mr. Big News another two lengths back in third.

“There was no question in our mind that we'd be running for sure at the end of the race,” Thomas said of the Derby. “He made that move at the three-eighths pole, honestly, we thought we were going to win that thing for a second. Talk about a thrill. I'd like to say it was a cheap thrill, but it wasn't cheap because it's a lot of money to run in the Derby. But it was a heck of a thrill. But those horses dug in. Just give Authentic all the credit. I mean, what a horse. Those fractions, we're thinking we're sitting on a winner. I'm looking at those fractions and going, 'Yeah, yeah. All right! Time to go!' He made that move; it was so exciting. You never heard anyone scream louder for finishing third.

“So we're excited. This Preakness looks like it's going to shape up to be one of the tougher Preaknesses. And that's OK.”

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Geroux Hoping To Ride Momentum From ‘Amazing’ Derby Week To Churchill Riding Title

It was a monumental Kentucky Derby week for jockey Florent Geroux whose seven victories, including four graded stakes wins, vaulted him to a tie atop the Churchill Downs jockey standings with Tyler Gaffalione as the 14-day meet resumed Thursday.

“This year has been rough for everyone in the world,” said Geroux, who notched five wins on Kentucky Oaks Day. “Just being here to have the Derby, even if it was in September, with no spectators, was amazing. Because at the beginning of the year, when everyone was staying at home, you thought that was pretty much impossible… it turned out to be an amazing week.”

Geroux's swift start to the September Meet included a 15-1 upset victory with Shedaresthedevil in the $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI). In the race prior, the $500,000 La Troienne presented by Oak Grove Racing and Gaming (GI), Geroux bested seven rivals aboard champion Monomoy Girl. His day was capped off with a rail-skimming rally aboard Diamond Oops in the $250,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint presented by Sysco (GII).

“It was an amazing day but, at the end of the day, I wasn't pleased knowing Mundaye Call got beat in the Eight Belles as the even-money favorite,” Geroux said.

In total, Geroux's mounts banked $1,843,419 in purse money during the supercharged Kentucky Derby Week of races. Geroux and Gaffalione held a three-win cushion over Ricardo Santana Jr. in the riding standings. September Meet's defending champion, Corey Lanerie, scored a trio of wins on Kentucky Derby week.

In the trainer standings, Brad Cox won six races with 13 starters and held a two-win margin over Mike Maker. Albaugh Family Stables, G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and Lothenbach Stables are tied in the owner's race with two wins each.

Thursday's nine-race card at Churchill Downs had a first post of 12:45 p.m.

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Mr. Big News ‘Definitely’ Aiming For Preakness; Pegasus Winner Pneumatic Training Forwardly At Saratoga

Trainer Bret Calhoun termed Allied Racing's Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Mr. Big News “probable” for the Preakness Stakes but that a final decision likely will be made after the colt works later this week.

“Right now he came out of the Derby well; we're definitely pointing that direction,” Calhoun said at Churchill.

Mr. Big News rallied from 10th to finish third in the Kentucky Derby, 3 1/4 total lengths behind victorious Authentic and two lengths behind heavy favorite Tiz the Law. The Giant's Causeway colt earned a free spot in the Preakness Stakes by virtue of winning Oaklawn Park's $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes at 46-1 odds, almost identical to his Derby odds. In between those races, Mr. Big News was sixth in Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes won by Preakness candidate Art Collector.

Calhoun said the Preakness decision will be almost solely made on “just how he's doing,” not on the other horses showing up.

“I want him to be coming into the Derby just like he came into the Derby,” he said. “If he's going that good, we'll run. Who else is running really doesn't have a big bearing. We're getting to the end of the 3-year-old races, so my options are either run him there, go to the turf or back off. I really don't want to run him against older horses at this point in time. So if he's doing really, really well, like he was coming into the Derby, we'll definitely run in the Preakness.”

Of the Derby, Calhoun said, “At the three-eighths pole I got pretty excited. I thought he might win the whole thing. I knew they were going pretty fast in front him, and I thought they might back up to him. He was moving pretty good to them. But the 1-2 finishers are very, very good horses and when they straightened up, they went on and we didn't close the gap very much from there.”

Two years after they finished a very close third in the Preakness with Tenfold, owner Ron Winchell and trainer Steve Asmussen will be back in the 1 3/16-mile classic with Pneumatic. Tenfold closed out of a fog that obscured the view of much of the 2018 Preakness, coming up three-quarters of a length shy of Kentucky Derby winner Justify, who went on to take the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown.

Pneumatic worked five-eighths of a mile Sunday over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track in 1:01 2/5. The Uncle Mo colt will remain there with assistant trainer Scott Blasi until shipping to Pimlico.

“He's training really well,” Asmussen said. “Obviously we were encouraged with his Pegasus. We thought it was his strongest race to date. It appears the Derby participants have come out in good order, and the Preakness ought to be a great race.”

Pneumatic won his first two starts at Oaklawn Park, then was third in Churchill Downs' Matt Winn Stakes (G2) won by the highly regarded Maxfield. After a fourth in the revamped Belmont Stakes, eight weeks later he captured Monmouth Park's Aug. 15 Pegasus. Now he'll have seven weeks before the Preakness.

“We made a conscious decision, because of how well he ran in the Pegasus from the timing after the Belmont to the Pegasus, to try to follow a similar plan that he responded to,” Asmussen said, “(having) nothing but respect for how good of a race it's going to be.”

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Art Collector’s Foot Healing Well, Drury Says ‘All Systems Go’ For Preakness Stakes

Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector remains on track for the Oct. 3 Preakness Stakes (G1) after missing the Kentucky Derby (G1) with a minor foot issue.

Art Collector worked a half-mile in 48.10 seconds on Saturday at trainer Tommy Drury's Skylight Training Center base under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. Drury said the son of 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini likely will ship into Churchill Downs within the next few days and work over that track this weekend.

“He seems good,” Drury said. “He breezed over the weekend, just kind of a maintenance half-mile. Brian felt he was as good as he's ever been. As long as everything is going right, we're going to shoot for Baltimore. But as always, we're going to let him take us along. We're going to get him settled in here (Churchill Downs) and make sure everything is OK, and at some point over the weekend I'd guess he'll go five-eighths. I'd say if everything goes well there, we're on target for the Preakness.”

Art Collector, who would have been the co-second choice behind Tiz the Law, was not entered in the Kentucky Derby after nicking a piece of flesh off his left front heel in training.

“He just grabbed the back of his quarter,” Drury said. “The thing was sensitive and sore to the touch. There was a little flap there that needed to be trimmed away. We knew when we trimmed it away, it was going to be even more sensitive, and the right thing to do was sit that one out and put it behind us.”

Drury said Art Collector missed three days of training.

“We were able to get him right back to the track,” he said. “I jogged him the first day and he was back to galloping. It wasn't that he had some major issue, it was just bad timing. There wasn't much we could do for it Derby Week with the medication rules. To run, it would have just been for ego. If you don't win the Kentucky Derby, then it doesn't matter. Nobody wants to talk to the guy who finishes fifth.

“At least for me, I don't want to just lead one over there just to be leading them over there. I want to take my best shot. Had he been a $10,000 claimer could we have patched him up? Sure we could have. But is that the right thing to do for the horse? Absolutely not. Now we're going to go into the Preakness and we're going to take our best shot. I'm not thinking about a race. I'm thinking about a career. Bruce has already said he's more than willing to run this horse next year. So why would we do something stupid at this stage of the game?”

The lifelong Louisvillian might have missed out on what would have been his first Kentucky Derby starter, but he said trainers make such decisions all the time outside the spotlight.

“Have I thought, 'What if?' Sure I have,” Drury said. “That being said, I slept better that night than I did the entire two weeks leading up to the race. I was very comfortable with the decision I made, and I'm very comfortable where the horse is. We want him to be good for the long haul and not just one race.”

Now the trainer is looking forward to his possible Triple Crown debut in the Preakness.

“The timing of it is good,” he said. “The thing I like is that he doesn't have to take his racetrack with him. I would expect him to do that in Baltimore as well. I'm just looking forward to giving him the opportunity to run against those horses. He may or may not have run well in the Derby had he been there. We're certainly not going to take anything away from the winner. He ran a huge race. But we're looking forward for our opportunity to go after him.”

Drury said he's really glad now that Art Collector ran back in the Aug. 9 Ellis Park Derby at 1 1/8 miles instead of training up to the Derby off of the July 8 Blue Grass.

“Absolutely,” he said. “This didn't really interfere with our schedule a whole lot. We missed a couple of days and we were right back at the track. He's been training very forwardly. He worked good Saturday, so it seems like at this point, it's all systems go.”

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