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Background Hopes To Be Front And Center After Wednesday’s Indiana Derby

Trainer Mike Puhich is hoping his 3-year-old gelding Background is front and center after Wednesday's $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby. Background is 20-1 in the morning line for the field of 10.

Background is owned by the Giddyup Stables of Bob Rondeau, who retired three years ago after 37 years as the voice of the University of Washington athletics, and his wife Molly, an Indiana product whose grandparents lived in Shelbyville.

Puhich is based at the Pegasus Training and Rehabilitation Center just outside Seattle in Redmond, Wash., but this year is establishing a Midwest division that wintered in Arkansas and moved on to Kentucky. Background began his racing career at Arkansas' Oaklawn Park, winning on his second attempt while stretching out to 1 1/16 miles, then alternated a pair of thirds with a pair of ninth-place finishes.

“If you look at his form, it's pretty much similar to everybody else in the race,” Puhich said. “It's a competitive race. Everybody's still eligible for conditioned allowance races. They're a cut below right now the top 3-year-olds in the country. But I think this is the kind of race where somebody is hoping to have their horse step up and go to that next level. But right now, we're all on equal terms. I think it's a real competitive race — a race we feel we're going to be competitive in and that he fit in.”

Background last ran June 14 when ninth in an allowance sprint at Churchill Downs. Puhich was using the spot as a tightener for the 1 1/8-mile Indiana Derby but after that poor performance he thought a trip to Indiana Grand was out.

“He's run a couple of disappointing races, but he's had an issue with chronic allergies,” Puhich said. “His last start he had a lot of mucous. We tried a different type of herb on him. I was at wit's end with him, and he responded really well to it. We were going to use that last race as a prep for this race, but I pretty much wrote it off the way he ran. But he responded to it and 'scoped really clean. We figured, 'Let's go up and take a shot.' He's doing good. He's happy and as healthy as he's been for a long time. So, we're looking for a much-improved performance. He's going to need it.”

The Indiana Derby winner will receive 20 points toward qualifying for the Sept. 5 delayed Kentucky Derby. While Background is nominated to the Triple Crown, Puhich said, “He's got to be awful impressive to take that next step. But I think everybody in the race is hoping their horse does step up and shows something that 'why heck, we can still be dreaming here.' But right now, we're going to focus on this race, and see what happens.”

In an excellent betting race — Arkansas Derby fourth-place finisher Winning Impression is the 3-1 favorite — there's good money to be made to those who can handicap the Grade 3 race correctly.

Asked why horseplayers should use his horse, Puhich said, “Twenty-to-one is a really good price for him. I think he fits in there with anybody on paper, if you go back and look at his better races. If he runs his best race, he's going to be right there.

“But I also think that it's the type of race that after it's over — no matter who wins — you can look at it and say, 'Oh yeah, you can make a case for that horse.' Because everybody's got a live shot, in my opinion.”

Regular rider Tyler Baze has the mount.

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Mr. Big News’ Experience Should Play A Big Role In Saturday’s Blue Grass Stakes

After Mr. Big News finished fifth in the Fair Grounds' G2 Risen Star Stakes in February, trainer Bret Calhoun was excited about the 3-year-old colt's prospects heading down the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Unfortunately, a large number of entries meant that Mr. Big News was excluded from the Louisiana Derby in March.

“I felt like he had a big chance that day, but we got excluded,” Calhoun said on an NTRA conference call on Tuesday afternoon.

Calhoun shifted gears and entered the Chester Thomas-owned colt in the listed Oaklawn Stakes on April 11. Mr. Big News was sent off at odds of nearly 47-1 in the $200,000 contest, but Calhoun had a lot of confidence in his charge.

“I think Gabe Saez gave him the kind of trip he had been looking for (in the Oaklawn Stakes),” Calhoun said. “He wants to be more of a free-running horse and use his stride. He gained a lot of experience in his earlier races, being down on the inside and taking the kickback, and I think that prepared him for that race. The pace scenario set up for him that day, and he was able to get home a winner.”

Mr. Big News charged from near dead-last to win the Oaklawn by a half-length, earning a spot in the starting gate for the Arkansas Derby, rescheduled for the first Saturday in May. Calhoun elected to skip that race, as well as the opportunity to earn Kentucky Derby points when he shifted his home base to Churchill Downs, in the Matt Winn Stakes in late May.

“I thought it was a little quick back from Arkansas, and he was being a little finicky eating for four or five days,” Calhoun explained. “I decided that the (Kentucky) Derby wasn't until September, so it would be best to have him at 100 percent.”

Initially, the plan had been to target the Indiana Derby on Wednesday night, since Triple Crown contender Maxfield was said to be pointing to the Blue Grass at Keeneland. When Maxfield defected, Calhoun decided to stay closer to home and enter the rescheduled Blue Grass Stakes on July 11.

“A lot of people may not believe in him because the Oaklawn win came in the mud,” Calhoun said. “His physical and mental maturity have improved a lot… I'm excited like the rest of the horsemen are to be back racing at Keeneland.”

Though Saez was handed a 30-day suspension by stewards in Indiana, he has been granted an exemption to ride Mr. Big News in the Blue Grass this Saturday.

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Indiana Derby Favorite Winning Impression A ‘Dallas Stewart Prototype’

West Point Thoroughbreds president Terry Finley was asked how much he is thinking about the delayed Kentucky Derby with his partnership's 3-year-old gelding Winning Impression, the 3-1 favorite in Wednesday's $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino.

“Sure, yeah, we are,” Finley said of the Arkansas Derby fourth-place finisher. “Especially with Dallas Stewart at the helm and the repertoire he has with these kinds of horses.”

That would be distance-thriving horses who come running late to pick up a good part of the pieces while speedier rivals stagger home. Prime examples: Commanding Curve, second in the 2014 Kentucky Derby at 37-1; Golden Soul, second in the 2013 Kentucky Derby at 34-1; Tale of Verve, second in the 2015 Preakness at 28-1. West Point campaigned Commanding Curve, as well as the Stewart-trained Macho Again, second in the 2008 Preakness at 39-1.

“He reminds us a lot of Commanding Curve — just kind of getting there, getting there,” Finley said.

If Winning Impression wins the 1 1/8-mile Indiana Derby, he'll claim one credential that Commanding Curve never achieved: being a stakes-winner. One thing that helps is Winning Impression has more versatility to stay near the early lead if needed, while Commanding Curve was dependent on a fast pace to set up his closing kick.

“Ever since he went two turns, he's been a very consistent horse — and run with the best,” said Jeff Lifson, West Point's executive vice president for Midwest Operations. “He is a Dallas Stewart prototype: Gets better and better and better. He was never a flashy 2-year-old. As soon as he went two turns, it was like, 'This is what I was meant to do.'

“The fun part is looking at the Thoro-Graph (handicapping) sheets. He has a pattern very similar to Commanding Curve. If the sheets are at all predictive, he's going to run massively big at Indiana — if he's getting better, and he seems to be getting better.”

West Point was a minority partner in Always Dreaming, the Todd Pletcher-trained colt who got really good early in his 3-year-old season, carrying his speed to four impressive victories to start off 2017, capped by the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby. He was never the same horse after that.

By contrast, Winning Impression is an example of a horse benefiting from the coronavirus forcing the Kentucky Derby to be postponed from May 2 until Sept. 5.

After a pair of fifth-place finishes sprinting last November, Winning Impression promptly won a 1 1/16-mile maiden race in New Orleans. That was followed by a second and third at the Fair Grounds and a disqualification from first to fifth for interference in an Oaklawn Park allowance race. But his team had seen enough to take the next step.

Winning Impression's stakes debut came on May 2 in the Arkansas Derby, in which he finished fourth by a total of nine lengths at 20-1 odds. The first- and third-place finishers that day, Charlatan and Gouverneur Morris are on the shelf and runner-up Basin is going in Keeneland's Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday.

“He's a nice horse,” said the Louisville-based Stewart. “He ran great at Oaklawn — won and got disqualified but he ran terrific. He ran great in the Arkansas Derby, has trained very consistent and this race will tell us a lot where we're at. He's doing well and he needs to run. We'll see where we're at in September, but right now we're just focused on this race. I think he fits real well in there, and we'll take it from there.”

Julien Leparoux, who rode Winning Impression in the Arkansas Derby and once in New Orleans, has the mount. Winning Impression drew post 9 in the field of ten 3-year-olds.

“It's a good race, it's a legitimate race,” Finley said. “There are no superstars in there. But the horses who figure to run well in here are very, very similar to what we are at this point in their careers. If we run well, we'll have a little stronger circle around the first Saturday in September.”

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‘Unlucky The Last Two Races,’ Major Fed Tries To Get Back In Gear In Indiana Derby

Trainer Greg Foley believes Major Fed is an extremely good horse, the lifelong Louisvillian even allowing himself thoughts of having his first Kentucky Derby starter after Lloyd Madison Farms' 3-year-old colt impressively won a 1 1/16-mile maiden race on New Year's Day.

But now is crunch time. Belief isn't enough. The Churchill Downs-based Foley says he needs to be proven right in Wednesday's $300,000, 1 1/8-mile Indiana Derby, in which Major Fed will break from post 8 in the field of 10. The son of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper is the 7-2 second choice behind 3-1 favorite Winning Impression.

“If this horse can't run good in this race, we don't need to think about the Kentucky Derby anymore,” Foley said. “Not saying we have to win, but we have to run really good in it. If he doesn't, our Derby hopes are probably at the end. But the horse is going great, and we're expecting a big race.”

Major Fed ranks 17th on the leader board with 30 points toward qualifying for the delayed Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs. A win in the Indiana Derby — worth 20 points —would virtually assure Major Fed a spot, with still time for one more prep race.

Named for 20-time Grand Slam singles winner Roger Federer, Major Fed won on his second attempt after adding blinkers and stretching out in distance at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. That encouraged Foley to run him in a division of the Grade 2 Risen Star, with Major Fed a bit wide on both turns but closing well to finish second by a total of a length.

The march to the Derby then hit a couple snags.

Major Fed drew the rail in a 14-horse field in the Louisiana Derby, breaking slowly to trail the field then coming extremely wide on the far turn to finish a rallying fourth. The trip only got worse in his next start, Churchill Downs' Matt Winn. Breaking from the extreme outside in the 10-horse field, Major Fed was wide and wider on both turns, languishing home last through the stretch.

“I think he's been very unlucky the last two races,” Foley said. “He went from the 1 hole in the Louisiana Derby. He turned his head when they broke and he got left. He was five lengths behind the next-to-last horse going into the first turn, so he had to be 15, 20 lengths out of it. I thought with a decent break that day, if he doesn't win then he's right there. Then the last race, we were in the outside hole, the total opposite. The ground kind of broke out from under him leaving there so he didn't get away great.

“I think you can draw a big line through that race. Maybe I'm wrong. If he doesn't run well in this one, I'd say maybe he just isn't that type. But I don't see that… He's no bad gate horse. He's smart. He doesn't do anything wrong. It's just whatever you want to call it. Bad luck is all I can call it.”

James Graham, the 2019 leading rider at Ellis Park, will ride Major Fed in a race for the first time.

“He's a good rider, and I'm confident in him,” Foley said. “I want somebody who is going to sit still and finish on the horse. I mean, James can ride a variety of ways, but I think he's a good 'sit still and finish strong' rider – and that's what I want on this horse.”

Graham was aboard for a sparkling workout at Churchill Downs, when Major Fed cruised five-eighths of a mile in 1:01 on June 25.

“He worked really well. He picked up, and he kept picking up, which you're going to need in a really good horse,” Graham said. “I liked the way he went off. He went off in 12-flat, picked up down the lane, picked up again on his gallop out. So, I was really happy with that.

“He showed he could run a little bit in a couple of races at the Fair Grounds. He got not a great trip the last time he ran, ran against some good quality. Let's see if we can muster up some more points. He's a solid horse. He does everything you need.”

This year's road to the historic delayed Kentucky Derby is littered with defections to some of the most prominent contenders, including the winners of the Arkansas Derby (Charlatan), Louisiana Derby (Welles Bayou), Rebel (Nadal), Matt Winn (Maxfield) and a division of the Risen Star (Mr. Monomoy).

“He deserves a crack at it,” Graham said. “Because come September, who's going to be left around? We don't know. Hoping some of the heavy heads have to go and take a little bit of a break come September, which I doubt they will. But it's just the way it is. Everybody is pointing to September. If the horse runs good in the Indiana Derby, he's got a good chance to go on to the Kentucky Derby.”

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