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Brisset Believes Extraordinary Has A Big Shot In Indiana Derby

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset's first words when asked about his Indiana Derby contender Extraordinary: “I love the horse.”

Extraordinary makes his stakes debut in the $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby at 1 1/8 miles Wednesday. The son of sprint champion Speightstown certainly was intended as a top horse, selling as a yearling for $750,000, with WinStar Farm and China Horse Club teaming with breeder Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings to race the horse.

Extraordinary is 10-1 in the morning line, but Brisset thinks the chestnut colt will be more like 6-1. Extraordinary found all kinds of trouble in his last start, a late-running fourth out of 12 in a Churchill Downs allowance race. The winner, Man in the Can, is running in Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass, second-place Dean Martini won the Ohio Derby and third-place Earner also is in the Indiana Derby.

“If you look at the replay the other day, he got in a lot of trouble,” the Keeneland-based Brisset said. “He broke sideways. I have no idea why. It was the kind of race, if you're not right up there, you're getting shuffled back. I think we'd have been up there with the winner to fight for the win. He only got beat (3 3/4) lengths and galloped out in front of everybody. The move he made from the three-eighths pole to the quarter pole, I thought it was very impressive.”

Extraordinary hurt his closing bid by running greenly through the stretch. “I don't like to make an excuse,” Brisset said. “I think we got tougher from that race. That's why we decided to go in there. Based on what we saw, we think we've got a shot.”

Extraordinary never began racing until Feb. 8. “We've been pointing to July, August and September,” Brisset said.

Does that include Sept. 5 – as in the rescheduled Kentucky Derby?

“We're giving him the opportunity to bring us there,” he said. “It's just a matter if he's good enough. It's a different year. Obviously, you don't want to peak too early. The horse was very late, didn't race as a 2-year-old. He won on talent, but it took him a couple of races to figure things out. You can feel he's doing just the minimum in the mornings.”

Brisset added blinkers for Extraordinary's last race and is satisfied with the result. The colt still doesn't work fast, the trainer said, “but it's the way he's doing it… He's showing us the right signs: That he's a two-turn horse, a dirt horse.”

WinStar Farm and China Horse Club know well that not every horse can even come close to being a Justify, their unbeaten 2018 Triple Crown winner (whom Brisset trained before the unraced 2-year-old was sent to Bob Baffert). Indeed, they have a Plan B, with Extraordinary entered in Monday's Fasig-Tipton sale of horses of racing age in Lexington.

“For the right price, they'll let the horse go,” Brisset said. “If he runs 1-2-3, I'm sure we'll get together and we'll talk. It's a long way before he gets sold.”

Brisset also entered Aurelia Garland in the Indiana Oaks but said she will scratch after finishing second in Sunday's Iowa Oaks.

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Blue Grass-Bound Pair Fire Keeneland Bullets

Finnick the Fierce (Dialed In) and Man in the Can (Can the Man) were the recipients of Saturday morning bullets at Keeneland as each wrapped up their serious work ahead of next Saturday’s GII Toyota Blue Grass S. in Lexington.

The one-eyed Finnick the Fierce drilled a half-mile in :46.20, the fastest of 90 works at the distance Saturday morning. The gelding, an adjudicated allowance winner at Oaklawn Apr. 4, was a sound third to the now-retired Nadal (Blame) in the GI Arkansas Derby May 2. He exits a third in Churchill allowance company June 13 in which Blue Grass hopeful Art Collector (Bernardini) was allowed to set a moderate pace and kicked home much the best.

Arkansas-bred Man in the Can won the state-bred restricted Rainbow S. Apr. 17 and the Arkansas Breeders’ Championship S. May 1 before besting next-out GIII Ohio Derby upsetter Dean Martini (Cairo Prince) in a June 12 allowance beneath the Twin Spires. The bay zipped five furlongs in :59.60 (1/18) Saturday in Lexington.

“He handled the track really well,” trainer Ron Moquett said. “I was really glad to see that. It should set him up well for the race.”

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Finnick The Fierce, Man In The Can Breeze In Advance Of Blue Grass

Arnaldo Monge and trainer Rey Hernandez's Finnick the Fierce and JRita Young Thoroughbreds' Man in the Can, two horses expected to make their next starts in the July 11, $600,000 Toyota Blue Grass (G2) during Keeneland's unprecedented Summer Meet, each turned in bullet works on the fast track at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday morning.

According to Keeneland clockers, Finnick the Fierce worked a half-mile in :46.20, the fastest of 90 works at the distance, and Man in the Can covered five furlongs in :59.60. His time was the fastest of 18 works at the distance.

Finnick the Fierce, a gelding by Dialed In, was third in the second division of the May 2 Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park and at Fair Grounds was fourth in the Jan. 18 Lecomte (G3) and seventh in the Feb. 15 Risen Star Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2). He is coming off a third-place finish behind another Toyota Blue Grass hopeful, Art Collector, in a June 13 allowance race at Churchill Downs.

A colt by Can the Man, Man in the Can has won his past three races: Rainbow Stakes on April 17 and Arkansas Breeders' Championship on May 1, both at Oaklawn, and an allowance race at Churchill on June 12. The latter win was by 1½ length over eventual Ohio Derby (G3) winner Dean Martini.

Ron Moquett was pleased with the work turned in by Man in the Can, who will be his first starter in Keeneland's most famous race.

“He handled the track really well,” Moquett said about the Arkansas-bred. “I was really glad to see that. It should set him up well for the race.”

Asked about the COVID-19 pandemic that is resulting in the Toyota Blue Grass being run in July during the unique Summer Meet, Moquett said, “We're living in uncertain times. With everything going on, it's been a really good thing to know we can continue to do what we need to do, and that's to take care of these horses.”

Moquett said Grade 1 winner Whitmore, who has earned more than $3 million, is scheduled to turn in a second work at Keeneland on Sunday. He said the 7-year-old gelding by Pleasantly Perfect, who races for Robert V. LaPenta, Southern Springs Stables and Head of Plains Partners, is being pointed at the Oct. 2 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2) on opening day of Keeneland's Fall Meet with the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Keeneland the ultimate goal.

Among the other potential Summer Meet stakes horses that worked Saturday are:

July 10 stakes

Maker's Mark Mile (G1) – M and J Thoroughbreds and Riverside Bloodstock's Emmaus (IRE) (4 furlongs on turf in :50.40) for trainer Conor Murphy; Calumet Farm's Everfast (4 furlongs on turf in :50.20) for trainer Jack Sisterson.

July 11 stakes

Central Bank Ashland (G1) – Juddmonte Farm's Bonny South (5 furlongs on dirt in 1:00.40) for trainer Brad Cox.

Shakertown (G2) – Owner and trainer Wesley Ward's Bound for Nowhere (5 furlongs on turf in 1:05); Amy Dunne, Brenda Miley, Westrock Stables and Jean Wilkinson's Leinster (4 furlongs on turf in :50.2) for trainer Rusty Arnold; Inchy Bridge Stables' Sabador (FR) (4 furlongs on turf in :51.00) for trainer Conor Murphy; Jim and Susan Hill's Totally Boss (4 furlongs on dirt in :48.20) for Arnold.

Appalachian (G2) Presented by Japan Racing Association – Michael and Reiko Baum's Ivyetsu (4 furlongs on dirt in :49.00) for trainer Rusty Arnold; Manganero Bloodstock'sMariafoot (GB) (4 furlongs on dirt in :49.20) for trainer Cherie DeVaux; Marc Detampel, TSF Thoroughbred Racing and Rebecca Hillen's Outburst (GB) (4 furlongs on turf in :51.00) for trainer Eddie Kenneally; Merriebelle Stable's Walk In Marrakesh (IRE) (4 furlongs on turf in :49.00) for trainer Ignacio Correas IV.

July 12 stakes

TVG Elkhorn (G2) – Silverton Hill's Hellorhighwater (5 furlongs on turf in 1:05) for trainer Darrin Miller; Bloom Racing Stable's Henley's Joy (5 furlongs on turf in 1:01.80) for trainer Steve Asmussen.

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‘It’s Anyone’s Game’: Moquett Puts ‘Arky-Bred’ Man In The Can On Road To The Derby

JRita Young Thoroughbreds' four-time winner Man in the Can will take his next step on the Road to the Kentucky Derby in the $600,000 Blue Grass (Grade 2) on July 11 at Keeneland following his 1 ½-length allowance victory Friday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

“That sure was an impressive turn of foot,” trainer Ron Moquett said. “I wasn't expecting him to go off as that big of a favorite but he ran against some stiff Arky-bred competition in his last couple of starts at Oaklawn. I think the bettors saw that before the race and that's why he ended up going off favorite. He definitely deserves a shot in the Blue Grass. There have been so many top Kentucky Derby contenders that have gone off the trail this week that it's really anyone's game.”

The rescheduled Blue Grass will award the Top 4 finishers 100-40-20-10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Should Man in the Can qualify for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby (G1), he would become the first Arkansas-bred to run in the race since Barbizon Streak, who finished 16^thin 1971.

Another improving 3-year-old who won an allowance event this week at Churchill Downs was Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector. The 3-year-old son of Bernardini collected his third lifetime victory with a powerful 6 ½-length score on Saturday, only 34 one-hundredths of a second off the track record after he blitzed a final time of 1:41.35 for 1 1/16 miles.

“He's certainly getting better at the right time,” trainer Tommy Drury said. “That is as impressive as it gets to kick clear as he did. I asked Bruce to let us enjoy this one for a couple of days and then we'd get together and talk about our next options.”

The next stop on the Road to the Kentucky Derby is Saturday's $1 million Belmont Stakes (GI), which is expected to be headlined by Florida Derby (GI) winner Tiz the Law.

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