Miles D (Curlin), third at 18-1 in the GI Runhappy Travers S. last summer, closed out his sophomore campaign with a pair of wins, led by a promising decision in Aqueduct's 1 1/8-mile Discovery S. last time Nov. 27. The runner-up that day Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) resurfaced with a razor sharp win in the GIII Fred W. Hooper S. Jan. 29. Miles D completed his preparations for the Mineshaft with a four-furlong move in :48 3/5 (2/41) at Payson Park Feb. 12.

“This horse has done well,” trainer Chad Brown said. “He ran late in the year over at Aqueduct and put up a very nice win against a very talented horse [Speaker's Corner]. He's wintered well and now it's time to get his 4-year old season started. The race came up deeper than I thought it would. He's going to really have to fire off the layoff to beat these horses.”

Olympiad (Speightstown) looks primed for a career best following an eye-catching 7 1/4-length optional claiming victory for Hall of Famer Bill Mott in his two-turn debut at Gulfstream Jan. 15. The 3-1 Mineshaft morning-line favorite was previously a troubled fourth while making his stakes debut in a salty GI Cigar Mile H. Dec. 4.

Sidelined following a well-beaten eighth in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. Apr. 3, Untreated (Nyquist) has been perfect since returning to action, pairing up strong wins going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct Nov. 19 and Dec. 31, respectively.

Last term's GI Kentucky Derby fifth-place finisher and GIII Matt Winn S. runner-up O Besos (Orb) brings a three-for-five record at Fair Grounds to the table, including a narrow win off the bench in an optional claimer Jan. 2.

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“He had to run a little harder than we were hoping for,” trainer Greg Foley said. “He got banged around a little out of the gate. I don't know how much he loved it on the inside there.”

Now 8-3-1-1 with earnings of $320,224, all three of O Besos' wins have come at Fair Grounds with Brian Hernandez Jr. riding.

“We got that under his belt,” Foley said. “He looked great this morning, licked his tub, he didn't act like it took anything out of him. The horse looks amazing. He's put on 150 pounds of muscle in the right places. I couldn't be any happier with the way he looks.”

After the Kentucky Derby, O Besos ran second in the Matt Winn (G3) at Churchill Downs on May 29, 2021. Winning at 1 1/16 miles off the bench on Sunday, his connections are now considering their options for his next start.

“I just got to figure out what this horse really wants to do,” Foley said. “I'm not so sure he is a true long-distance horse. He might be a monster going seven-eighths or a one-turn mile.”

Speaking of past Kentucky Derby horses, Foley and his team are also weighing their options for Lloyd Madison Farms, IV's Major Fed, who was last seen finishing fifth in the locally run Tenacious Stakes the day after Christmas.

“Might be the same speech,” Foley said. “He could be great at one-turn. Other than that, all his brothers and sisters were really good turf horses, too, so we might stick him on the grass next time.”

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For instance, the pair that condensed Foley's maturing momentum in finally becoming his first and then immediately his second Derby starters, Major Fed (Ghostzapper) and O Besos (Orb), have both been restored to training after summer lay-ups. And then there's Sconsin (Include), whose hometown stakes success last Saturday not only had the winner's circle overflowing with family and friends but arguably confirmed her the most feasible pursuer of champion Gamine (Into Mischief) in the GI Filly and Mare Sprint at the Breeders' Cup.

“We've had a good run the last couple of years, and this year's been especially good,” Foley acknowledges. “But you know, I've just been blessed with some nice horses. Like anybody else, the horses will take you there if you can get them–and we've got a pretty good bunch right now. We're just trying to get a little better horse now, and keep this thing rolling along.”

Sure enough, Foley has been prospecting the second week of the September Sale with a diligence, and an eye, not so common among trainers nowadays. For this is an all-round horseman raised in the old school by his late father Dravo, himself a familiar figure on the Kentucky circuit for five decades as trainer of 1,123 winners. Foley has long since surpassed that tally, closing on 1,500, while sister Vickie excels them both (for now, at any rate) in having trained a Grade I winner, Hog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze) in the Woody Stephens S. a couple of years ago. Now Foley is grateful that sons Travis and Alex have taken the racetrack dynasty into a third generation, despite having demonstrated an eligibility for a different walk of life with an MBA and law degree, respectively.

This, in fact, is a barn so steeped in horse lore that the man who sets the standards, and the tone, represents perhaps the most venerable culture–and perhaps the most vulnerable–in the training business today: the Kentucky “hardboot.” Vulnerable, of course, only for the very reason such horsemen are so venerable, namely an insistence on the kind of hands-on care that inevitably leaves them overshadowed by megabrand trainers with a cavalry of hundreds spread across time zones.

But nobody should misapprehend “hardboot” as implying anything stony or stubborn, when it more often yields the kind of classy demeanor, genial and modest, typified by Foley's refusal to disparage more industrial competition.

“I take my hat off to those guys,” he says courteously. “I don't know how they do it. They do a hell of a job. Of course, it's tough when you're running places like Churchill Downs, the best of the best are going to show up, and the big outfits all have young horses coming through all the time. So if you just got a handful, you've got to step up to run with them, that's for sure. But that's just the way it is. We're running with 40 to 45 head of horse right now. And I like that range: I'm all in one spot, taking care of them every day.

“And that can be kind our selling point, too. I pride myself on my care of the horses. They look as well as anybody's, I think, when you walk them over. And that came straight from my father. He was an excellent horseman, with an excellent eye. He raised some very good ones, too, he had a farm, and I was lucky enough at 18, 20 years old, that he trusted me enough to go off to the racetrack with them.”

So while racing is notoriously a quantity game, Foley is happy to concentrate on maximizing quality so far as possible; and more than happy that he has the right team to do so, with Travis as assistant trainer and the backing of longstanding patrons like Lloyd Madison Farms, the Wisconsin ownership group behind Sconsin.

Competition in the sales ring, mind you, is no less exacting than on the racetrack. But Foley, when talking to TDN, was cheered by having just landed a $100,000 brother (Hip 2034) to GIII Sunland Derby winner Cutting Humor (First Samurai) from the Claiborne consignment.

“Yeah, I finally got to buy a horse!” he says. “It's been brutal. I haven't seen that many people there in a lot of years. I guess people are just happy to be out again, and to have some kind of normalcy. But there's a lot of money out there, that's easy to see, and they're spending it, too. We're kind of middle-of-the-road buyers, we don't have the big money, and that was the first one I really had a chance to buy. Nice colt, the mare has already had some good ones, and I'm happy we got him.”

It was deep in the same sale back in 2008 that Foley found a Tiznow filly for $90,000. Named Sconnie, she broke her maiden second time out by seven lengths but disappeared after her next start.

“She was a beautiful filly, gorgeous,” Foley remembers. “And she could run, too. We had some bad luck with her. After her work one morning, in Churchill, she almost got to staggering walking off and scared me pretty good. We sent her off to the clinic and they found this heart defect, so we retired her right after that.”

Sconnie joined the small string of Lloyd Madison broodmares boarding on Alex Rankin's Upson Downs Farm, near the Foley family home in Oldham County. Her third foal is Sconsin, who really announced herself with an explosive allowance score at Churchill last summer, and won the GII Eight Belles S. before just missing the podium behind Gamine at the Breeders' Cup. She has since become plenty familiar with the rear end of the champion, but wins in the GIII Winning Colors S. and then in the Open Mind S. last weekend suggest that she might yet close the gap if ever granted an adequate pace.

“You'd be pretty hard pressed to find a prettier filly than Sconsin,” Foley remarks. “And I think she's in the top three fillies in the country, sprinting. I know we ran fourth at Saratoga [GI Ballerina H.], but that was in a paceless race against Gamine: they went :23, :45, and I'm eight lengths back off it. And on a speed-favoring track she was one of few horses that made up any ground that day. If you look at her races, it's when they go :21-and-change, that's when she wins. Maybe we're crazy, taking on Gamine in her hometown, she's an unbelievable filly, but let's hope somebody might go with her early. Like the other night, it was a short field but with two speed fillies. That made it good both for us and [runner-up] Bell's the One (Majesticperfection). We've had our little rivalry going on, but we got her this time.”

Bell's the One, of course, represents another small barn supervised by a veteran horseman bearing a surname greatly respected by the old school. Foley is full of praise for the way Neil Pessin has kept his star thriving, and enjoys their divisional rivalry behind Baffert's monster, who cost $1.8 million at auction.
It was a shame that Pessin was denied the usual carnival atmosphere when Bell's the One won a Grade I on the Derby undercard last September, and it was much the same for Foley–both in winning the Eight Belles the previous day, and then in finally realizing every Kentucky horseman's dream by making the walk over from the backside with a Derby runner.

The participation of Major Fed, another Lloyd Madison homebred, brought full circle a friendship with patrons (Fred Schwartz, Jim Bakke and Tim Sweeney) Foley had first encountered through their mutual friend Rob Lloyd, who would host his Wisconsin buddies at the Derby every year.

“They went from never having owned a horse to becoming my main clients,” says Foley. “First-class people. They've been a dream to train for. Obviously [the September Derby, behind closed doors] was much different from other years, but I was thrilled to be in the race and we had a good time. Major Fed got pinballed around early, and got very keen. He needed to sit and finish, but he was only a length or so off the lead coming to the first bend and I knew then we were in big trouble.”

Major Fed faded to tenth but a stylish allowance win on his return in June suggested that he will reward his team's patience after another absence since. Foley is aiming him at an allowance race on Oct. 1.
Having waited so long to renew the Foley clan's Derby history–Taylor's Special (Hawkin's Special), bred by his father, didn't get home in 1984 after winning the GI Blue Grass S.–the barn wasted no time in finding a colt to sample a proper Derby day in O Besos, who outran his odds for an outstanding fifth in May. And certainly his Fair Grounds form with Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) and Mandaloun (Into Mischief) looks none the worse for the rest he was given after finishing second in the GIII Matt Winn S. on his only subsequent start.

“O Besos actually just came back into the barn a couple of days ago,” Foley reports. “He looks great, and we're looking forward to later on this fall and early next year with him. He's run right up there with all those good horses that are still going now. In the Derby, when he came there saving ground on the inside, he made my hair stand up for a second, I thought we maybe had a good shot of winning. He was one of the few that made up any ground that day, and that was after being a little keen out of the gate which I think took away a little bit from his kick. He's filled out and grown up, from the little time off, and we're excited about having a big year with him [at four].”

So after all those years of incremental toil, it really does feel as though this admirable horseman is breaking into the next level. No doubt he has been helped by the next generation, with Travis excelling in client relations and recruitment. Foley admits that his son initially came aboard “just to give me a hand for a little while” while pondering career options, only to discover an inherited flair for the horse. Things played out similarly with Alex, who also helps out when his work for Steve Asmussen permits.

“I didn't keep them away but I did think they would wind up being lawyers or in business,” Foley says. “But anyway they found their way back over here and I'm happy they did. I grew up with it, and Vickie the same, as we were learning to walk. Years back, that's where trainers came from: it just ran in the family. So I guess it must be in the blood a little bit, they've taken to it so well.”

The boys' generation, of course, nowadays features among the opposition as well. But Foley, again, politely resists the invitation to agree that expensive horses, sent to younger trainers, will set them new puzzles that he has solved hundreds of times before.

“I would think experience would come in very handy,” Foley concedes with a chuckle. “But I can't knock anybody that comes up with good horses. You have to earn your way up. The horse is the whole thing. If you don't have a horse that can run, it doesn't matter who has them. It's just like if you're a football coach, basketball coach: you've got to have players to win ball games.”

Be that as it may, it's plainer than ever that Foley will reliably draw out the potential of whatever stock enters his seasoned hands.

“It took me a while to get to the Derby, but one thing about it, you want to do it again,” he says. “Sure enough, I was lucky enough to come back this year, and I hope it can become a habit.”

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Heading the list of seven entrants for the Indiana Derby is Fulsome from the Brad Cox Stable. The three-year-old Into Mischief colt owned and bred by Juddmonte Farms of Kentucky comes into Indiana on a three-race win streak. He scored an allowance win at Keeneland in early April followed by a win in Arkansas in the $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes. His latest trip to the winner's circle was in the Grade 3 $150,000 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs in late May. Fulsome has drawn post one and will be guided by Florent Geroux, who won the 2020 Indiana Derby aboard Shared Sense for Trainer Cox.

Joining Fulsome as a likely favorite is Mr. Wireless from the Bret Calhoun Stable. The Dialed In gelding finished second in his last start, the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lone Star and is two for four this season. Mr. Wireless has drawn post seven and will be ridden by Ramon Vazquez. Trainer Calhoun was the winner of the 2019 Indiana Derby with Mr Money.

Missing from the entries is O Besos from the Greg Foley barn. O Besos had been pointing to the Indiana Derby at Churchill Downs, but a last-minute decision was made to skip the race.

“We're just passing the race,” Foley said through correspondence with Jennie Rees, Eclipse Award winning turf writer. “We checked him out, didn't really find anything. (But) I wasn't going to run him if he wasn't 100 percent. No sense entering him when I'm not going to run him. I don't think it's anything bad. Maybe the work the other day jammed something up a little. He wasn't lame or off or anything. The exercise rider didn't like the way he went, and I didn't either. You don't want to put him in a race like that when I didn't like the way he went a few days before it.”

The entire field for the Indiana Derby, in post position order with jockey, includes Fulsome (Florent Geroux), WW Crazy (Victor Santiago); Starrininmydreams (Luis Saez); Convention (Francisco Arrieta); Sermononthemount (James Graham); Full Charge (Adam Beschizza); and Mr. Wireless (Ramon Vazquez). Estimated post time for the Indiana Derby is 8:25 p.m.

Also featured on the 12-race card is the 26th running of the Grade 3 $200,000 Indiana Oaks, slated as the 11th race on the card. A total of 11 sophomore fillies have been entered into the race with the early nod going to the inside filly Will's Secret. Ridden by Jon Court, the Will Take Charge three-year-old finished third in her last start in the Grade 1 $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. She is owned by breeder Willis Horton Racing and trained by Dallas Stewart and will start from post one.

Sitting directly to the right of her in the starting gate will be California invader Soothsay from the Richard Mandella barn. The Distorted Humor filly is two for three this year after going unraced at two. Her last start was a second-place finish in the Grade 2 $200,000 Sumer Oaks Stakes at Santa Anita. Flavien Prat guides Soothsay from post two.

The entire field for the Indiana Oaks, in post position order with jockey, includes Will's Secret (Jon Court); Soothsay (Flavien Pratt); Oliviaofthedesert (Brian Hernandez Jr.); Malloy (Adam Beschizza); Lovely Ride (Gabriel Saez); Sweet Pearl (Luis Saez); Li'l Tootsie (James Graham); Marion Francis (Florent Geroux); Lady Aces (Umberto Rispoli); Moon Swag (DeShawn Parker); and Forever Boss (Robby Albarado). Estimated post time for the Oaks is 7:43 p.m.

Indiana Derby Day will feature numerous activities to complement the racing program, including five $1,000 Megabet Win Wagers on the Indiana Derby, courtesy of the Indiana Thoroughbred Alliance. The twilight card will also feature a $500 Indiana Derby Hat Contest, Cigar Rolling Station, $1,000 Derby Warriors Handicapping Contest, Strolling Entertainment, and a community food booth featuring sno cones and cotton candy with all proceeds going to the Shelbyville High School Girls Basketball program. Free parking and free general admission will be offered for all racing fans with ample seating available on a first come, first serve basis.

The 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing is currently in progress through Monday, November 8. Racing is conducted Monday through Thursday with a first post of 2:25 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. Thursday racing begins at 3:25 p.m. Six select Saturdays are offered for all-Quarter Horse racing beginning at 10 a.m. Indiana Champions Day, featuring the top Thoroughbred and Quarter Horses in the state, is set for Saturday, Oct. 30 with a start time of 12 p.m. For more information on events and racing, go to www.indianagrand.com.

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“He did great. It was just maintenance,” Geroux said afterward. “He went 48 and 1:01, so he's doing good. We'll see how the race shapes up.”

The Brad Cox-trained Fulsome started his career with four turf races, winning a maiden race and finishing fourth in a stakes in New Orleans, before impressively capturing his dirt debut when a Keeneland allowance race came off the turf. He is now 3-for-3 on dirt, following up with Arkansas' $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes on Kentucky Derby Day and Churchill Downs' Grade 3 Matt Winn.

“He transferred over to the dirt well in April at Keeneland,” said Cox, perennially among Indiana Grand's leading trainers. “I'm glad it came off the turf; it was in the mud. He gave us the confidence to press forward on the dirt, so it's been very rewarding this spring.”

Cox said they were looking both at the grass and the two-turn mile distances available in turf maiden races when Fulsome began his career.

“A little bit of both. He just never shined a whole lot early on when he was chasing Mandaloun around there last fall,” he said with a laugh in reference to Juddmonte's Kentucky Derby runner-up. “It took him a little while to come to hand. He's not a real big horse, and I thought the grass might be a little kinder on him, that he could handle it a little better. He ran well on the grass, but he definitely has stepped up on the dirt.”

In the Matt Winn, Fulsome beat O Besos, one of his Indiana Derby rivals. O Besos, who finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby, is ridden by Indiana Grand's meet-leader Marcelino Pedroza.

“He ran a good race at Churchill,” Geroux said. “He was going to go by him (O Besos) pretty easily at the end. I was kind of tracking him all the way. He had a very nice turn of foot that day. Hopefully he can repeat and do the same thing at Indiana.”

Geroux rode Fulsome in his first three starts on grass.

“I think he's probably a touch better on the dirt,” he said. “He was not very quick. So Brad and Juddmonte didn't feel there was a great need to sprint him on the dirt, having him all the way back and eating dirt. So that's why he ran a few times on the turf, around two turns. And when he was ready to take on the dirt, they switched him over and he's been pretty good since then. His numbers show he's better on dirt, but I think he's very versatile. He can be close up to the pace and also be farther back — and he's good on both surfaces.”

Geroux and Cox, the 2020 Eclipse Award-winning trainer, teamed to sweep last year's Indiana Derby with Shared Sense and Indiana Oaks with Shedaresthedevil, who in her next start won the Kentucky Oaks. Now they'll try to repeat with Fulsome and Oaks contender Marion Francis, winner of a Churchill Downs allowance race in her last start.

“It was great last year,” Geroux said. “We brought some nice horses over there. It's easier when you're the favorite, or one of the favorites, to win these types of races. But it looks like he should be the favorite for the Indiana Derby. I don't know who's coming, but my guess is that he would be the favorite.”

The Grade 3 Indiana Derby will be joined by five other stakes on the card, bringing stakes purses for the day to $840,000. The Indiana Derby will be slated as the 12th race on the card with an estimated post time of 8:25 p.m. The Grade 3 Indiana Oaks will be carded as Race 11 with an estimated post time of 7:43 p.m.

The 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing is now in progress and continues through Monday, Nov. 8. Live racing is conducted at 2:25 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, with first post on Thursday set at 3:25 p.m. A special Indiana Champions Day highlighting the state's top Thoroughbred and Quarter Horses will be held Saturday, Oct. 30, beginning at noon. More information about the 2021 racing season is available at www.caesars.com/indiana-grand.

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O Besos, who finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby and second in Churchill Downs' Matt Winn (G2), had his final serious training move Tuesday morning at the Louisville track. With Indiana Grand's meet-leader Marcelino Pedroza aboard, the chestnut colt powered five-eighths of a mile in 1:00.20 in company right after the track opened for training at 5:30. The work was designed to start at the half-mile pole and end at the seven-eighths pole past the wire.

“I put a horse with him just to get him to focus and have a good work,” Foley said. “I wanted a good, solid work this morning, a good gallop out. The other horse broke off probably two, three lengths in front — a little further than I intended to — but it went great. They didn't go real quick the first quarter. But the half went in 48 (seconds), the five-eighths in a minute-and-change and three-quarters in 1:12-and-two, I believe. The jock liked it a lot. He said, 'We're ready to go.'”

Pedroza confirmed that assessment.

“He galloped out just like he was before the Derby, galloped out really strong,” he said. “I'm really confident in him now, the way he worked today. I like him a lot.”

Foley's horses won four races in a two-day span during Churchill Downs' closing week, including 2020 Indiana Derby runner-up Major Fed in an allowance race and Bango in the $110,000 Kelly's Landing Stakes as part of a three-bagger on June 25. Two days later, Yes It's Ginger took the $75,000 Chicken Fried Stakes at Lone Star Park near Dallas. Overall, the stable won 10 races, with another 12 seconds, while earning more than $1 million in purses at the recently concluded Churchill meet.

Asked if he believes in mojo, Foley said, “I really do. When it's going good, it's just funny the way things go. It just seems like you can't do anything wrong. And when it goes the other way — I've been on the end of that, too — it just seems like you can't do anything right. But right now, we're rolling along. We've got some good horses, though, the best I've had in a long time. That helps more than anything.”

Foley is hoping that O Besos can top last year's second-place finish by Major Fed in the Indiana Derby won by Shared Sense. O Besos already has improved on Major Fed's 10th in the 2020 Kentucky Derby.

O Besos will again face Matt Winn victor Fulsome, trained by 2020 Indiana Derby winner Brad Cox.

“We're going over there to run good,” Foley said. “We're not just going over there to run. The horse that beat us in the Matt Winn is going to be over there, so we've got to turn the tables on him.

“I thought our horse was a little keen that day, a little wired up for some reason. We've been working on that, to get him to relax a little more. That's kind of why we wanted the company today. Marcelino said he did that really well, finished up the work good and galloped out really good.”

Trainer Bret Calhoun also worked his Indiana Derby horse (Mr Wireless) and Indiana Oaks filly (Lovely Ride) very early Tuesday at Churchill. Calhoun wasn't wanting either horse to do much, and he got his wish. Lovely Ride, going first, was clocked going an easy half-mile in 50.60 seconds. Mr. Wireless went more leisurely, to where the move was more of a “two-minute lick” than a workout, which Calhoun said was fine with him.

Gabriel Saez was aboard both horses. He rides Allied Racing's Lovely Ride in the Indiana Oaks, where she seeks her fourth straight victory while making her stakes debut. Mr. Wireless comes into the Indiana Derby off of a close second in the Texas Derby under Ramon Vazquez, who will ride him at Indiana Grand.

“We intended it to be pretty easy,” Calhoun, who won the 2019 Indiana Derby with Allied Racing's Mr. Money, said of the works. “It was a hot, humid morning. We didn't want much. I think they're both fit and ready.

“Lovely Ride obviously is a bit more aggressive, but a nice easy work. Nice gallop out. Just smooth and easy. Mr Wireless, a little bit of pilot error there. He gets pretty strong going to the pole. Gabe had a pretty good hold on him and he didn't let him do too much this morning, which was fine with me. That horse had some hard races and shipped. So I was happy with everything.”

Fulsome will have his final workout Wednesday morning.

“He's coming up to this race real well,” Cox said. “He's going to breeze (Wednesday) and will ship up probably Sunday evening. But we're very pleased with how he's training.”

The 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing is now in progress and continues through Monday, Nov. 8. Live racing is conducted at 2:25 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, with first post on Thursday set at 3:25 p.m. A special Indiana Champions Day highlighting the state's top Thoroughbred and Quarter Horses will be held Saturday, Oct. 30, beginning at noon. More information about the 2021 racing season is available at www.caesars.com/indiana-grand.

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Trainer Brad Cox has nominated 10 to the Indiana Derby, including Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality. The grey son of Tapit last started in the third leg of the Triple Crown and is three for four in 2021, only missing the win in the 2021 Kentucky Derby where he finished fourth. Other horses nominated from the Cox Stable include Mandaloun, second place finisher in this year's Kentucky Derby and Fulsome, who has won his last three starts, including the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Greg Foley has nominated O Besos, fifth place finisher in this year's Kentucky Derby. The chestnut son of Orb finished second in his last start in the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Steve Asmussen has nominated Super Stock, a starter in the Kentucky Derby. The Dialed In colt finished fourth in his last start, the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lone Star Park. Prior to his start in the Kentucky Derby, Super Stock won the $1 million Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.

A total of 14 horses on the Indiana Derby nomination list are Graded Stakes placed, eight of which are Graded Stakes winners.

The Indiana Oaks has been set up with 29 nominations. Nine of the fillies on the list are Graded Stakes placed with several California connected horses on the list. Ken McPeek has nominated Crazy Beautiful, winner of the Grade 2 Summer Oaks at Santa Anita in her last start. Another filly capturing attention on the list is Army Wife, who won the Grade 2 $250,000 Black Eyed Susan at Pimlico in her last start. The Declaration of War filly is trained by Mike Maker. Will's Secret has also been nominated from the Dallas Stewart Stable. The Will Take Charge filly finished third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks in her last start.

The Indiana Derby program will include several activities, including five, $1,000 Indiana Derby Megabet drawings, courtesy of the Indiana Thoroughbred Alliance. The early evening card will also include a Cigar Rolling Station, Indiana Derby Hat Contest, strolling entertainment, and extended outdoor food and beverage outlets. Estimated post time for the Indiana Derby is approximately 7:45 p.m.

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Trained by Brad Cox, Fulsome ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:42.88 and paid $5.40 to win as the 8-5 favorite in his third consecutive victory. Second betting choice at 9-5, O Besos, coming off a fifth-place finish in the G1 Kentucky Derby, was second, with the Derby's eighth-place finisher, Helium, third at 5-2 odds.

Southern Passage, Ready to Pounce, Game Day Play and Sittin On Go completed the order of finish. Hello Hot Rod was scratched.

Helium, winner of the G2 Tampa Bay Derby in March, set the fractions, going :23.75, :48.69 and 1:13.26 for the first six furlongs under Julien Leparoux. Longshot Game Day Play applied pressure under David Cohen, with O Besos making a move on the leaders on the turn for home.

Fulsome began moving up approaching the far turn, rallied wide into the stretch and won geared down at the end after passing the mile marker in 1:36.78.

“I was pretty confident he could take some dirt in his face and got him to relax early,” said Geroux. “I was just hoping they were going fast up front after the slow break. He was able to go past those horses easily to win.”

This was the third consecutive victory for Fulsome, who made his first four starts on turf, winning just once in a maiden race at Fair Grounds on Jan. 16, 2021. He made his dirt debut at Keeneland on April 10 in a race that was taken off the turf because of rain. He drew off that day to win by  3 1/2 lengths in the slop and and came three weeks later to win the $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths at Oaklawn Park.

“He had two solid works here at Churchill after winning the Oaklawn Stakes,” said Cox. “We were very confident in him by the way he was training. He got off a step slow but he really finished up fast today and was impressive doing so.”

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The late-running O Besos, just 5 1/2 lengths off the mark on the first Saturday in May, was previously a good third in the GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby Mar. 20.

“We love running at Churchill and this race gives us plenty of options going forward,” trainer Greg Foley said. “He worked an easy half-mile [in :49] Monday morning and is doing well from the Derby. We can lead him over for the race right from Barn 11.”

The GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby winner, meanwhile, suffered his first career defeat in the Derby, finishing 10 1/2 lengths adrift of Medina Spirit (Protonico).

The in-form Fulsome (Into Mischief) is perfect in two attempts since switching to dirt, headed by a win in the Oaklawn S. May 1.

The post Derby Runners Return in Matt Winn appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The 1 1/16-mile Matt Winn shares the Saturday spotlight with the $150,000 Regret (G3), $150,000 Aristides (Listed), $150,000 Blame, $150,000 Shawnee, $150,000 Audubon and $110,000 Douglas Park Overnight Stakes. The action-packed program gets underway at 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern) and the Matt Winn is carded as Race 9 at 4:55 p.m.

O Besos, a 3-year-old son of Orb, closed into the early Kentucky Derby pace but flattened in the final furlong to cross the wire fifth. Trained by Greg Foley, O Besos had several options on the table following the Derby but opted to stay at Churchill Downs for the Matt Winn.

“We love running at Churchill and this race gives us plenty of options going forward,” Foley said. “He worked an easy half-mile (in :49) Monday morning and is doing well from the Derby. We can lead him over for the race right from Barn 11.”

Jockey Marcelino Pedroza, who rode O Besos to a third-place finish in the $1 million TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) and in the Kentucky Derby, has the call in the Matt Winn from post No. 3.

Chief among O Besos' rivals in the Matt Winn is D J Stable's $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner Helium. The Mark Casse trainee finished 10th in the Kentucky Derby. He'll be ridden in Saturday's race by Julien Leparoux from post 2.

Also entered in the Matt Winn field is Juddmonte's $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes winner Fulsome. Trained by Brad Cox, Fulsome broke his maiden on turf but was transitioned to dirt in April at Keeneland when a first-level allowance event changed surfaces due to inclement weather. Fulsome defeated six rivals by 3 ½ lengths that day, which catapulted him to a 1 ¼-length win in the Oaklawn Stakes on May 1.

Florent Geroux has the mount from post 5.

The complete field for the Matt Winn (from the rail out with jockey and trainer): Ready to Pounce (Brian Hernandez Jr., Neil Pessin); Helium (Leparoux, Casse); O Besos (Pedroza, Foley); Southern Passage (Corey Lanerie, Dale Romans); Fulsome (Geroux, Cox); Hello Hot Rod (Francisco Arrieta, Caio Caramori); Sittin On Go (Joe Talamo, Romans); and Game Day Play (David Cohen, Robertino Diodoro).

Churchill Downs' admission gates will open Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and tickets, starting at $5, are available on www.ChurchillDowns.com/tickets. For those outside the Louisville area, all 11 races are scheduled to be televised on Fox Sports 2 from 12:30-6 p.m. Fans can also watch the live simulcast feed and wager on www.TwinSpires.com, the official ADW of Churchill Downs Incorporated.

The post Derby Fifth-Place Finisher O Besos Headlines Saturday’s Matt Winn Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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