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Max Player Works ‘Really Well,’ Covers Swift Five Furlongs In Company At Churchill Downs

George Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbred's $1 million Travers Stakes (Grade I) third-place finisher Max Player recorded a swift five-furlong move in :59.60 Monday morning at Churchill Downs in preparation for the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (GI) on Saturday, Sept. 5.

Max Player, who was recently transferred to the care of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen from New York-based conditioner Linda Rice, worked at 7:30 a.m. (all times Eastern) during the exclusive 15-minute training window for Kentucky Derby and Oaks contenders. Max Player, who breezed with jockey Florent Geroux up, began his work two lengths behind stablemate Allege and worked through fractions of :23.80 and :35.80. Max Player finished even with his workmate at the wire and continued to gallop out in front through six furlongs in 1:12.60.

“He worked really well behind his workmate,” said Geroux, who was filling in Monday for Max Player's Derby rider Ricardo Santana Jr. “I think he will like the 1 ¼-mile distance in the Derby. I was working the horse this morning because Ricardo is still at Saratoga. Steve has given me many great opportunities in my career so I always try to help when he needs me. I will be on (trainer) Bob Baffert's horse Thousand Words in the Derby.”

Also training during the special training window was Victoria's Ranch's King Guillermo, who galloped 1 ½ miles under exercise rider Edgar Medina for trainer Juan Avila. The son of Uncle Mo is scheduled to have his final move before the Kentucky Derby on Saturday morning.

Raymond Daniels and Wayne Scherr's former $100,000 claim Necker Island returned to the track following his walk day on Sunday with an easy jog under exercise rider Hillary Hartman. Necker Island, trained by Chris Hartman, is tentatively scheduled to work on Saturday with jockey Miguel Mena aboard.

Prior to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks training window, Lloyd Madison Farm's Major Fed galloped 1 ½ miles at 5:15 a.m. under exercise rider Margarito Fierro. Trained by Greg Foley, the $300,000 Indiana Derby (GIII) runner-up is scheduled to have his final work on Friday or Saturday. Approximately 45 minutes following Major Fed's gallop, West Point Thoroughbreds and Pearl Racing's $600,000 Arkansas Derby (GI) third-place finisher Winning Impression had a light 1 ½-mile gallop with trainer Dallas Stewart's exercise rider Emerson Chavez in the saddle.

Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister's $200,000 Ellis Park Derby runner-up Attachment Rate had a scheduled walk day following his half-mile move in :48.60 Sunday morning.

On the Longines Kentucky Oaks front, Mark and Nancy Stanley's graded stakes placed Tempers Rising galloped 1 ½ miles at 6:30 a.m. under Chavez. Also making an appearance Monday morning at Churchill Downs was Flurry Racing Stables, Qatar Racing Limited and Big Aut Farms' $200,000 Indiana Oaks (GIII) winner Shedaresthedevil, who jogged with exercise rider Edvin Vargas up for trainer Brad Cox. Her stablemate, Juddmonte Farms' $600,000 Alabama Stakes (GI) runner-up Bonny South, galloped 1 ½ miles under exercise rider Gustavo Abrego.

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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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Leparoux Eyeing Oaks-Derby Double In The Hoosier State

Two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Julien Leparoux will come into Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Ind., on Wednesday, July 8 seeking a record fifth win in the Grade 3 $200,000 Indiana Oaks with Nancy and Mark Stanley's Tempers Rising. He will also seek his second title in the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby aboard Winning Impression.

Leparoux is one of only four jockeys to win both stakes in the same year, having done so in 2011 with Wilburn in the Indiana Derby and Juanita in the Indiana Oaks. He is the only rider to win three straight runnings of the Indiana Oaks, coming home a winner with Family Tree in 2016, Overture in 2017 and Talk Veuve to Me in 2018.

Should Leparoux pull off the double, he'd be the first jockey to complete the Indiana Derby-Indiana Oaks parlay twice. With Dallas Stewart training both horses, he'd also become the second rider to sweep the races for the same trainer, as Martin Garcia did in 2010 on the Bob Baffert-trained Always a Princess and Preakness Stakes winner Lookin At Lucky.

Leparoux, who is riding regularly at Ellis Park for the first time after spending his summers at Saratoga for most of his career, has ridden West Point Thoroughbreds' Winning Impression twice, including finishing fourth at 20-1 odds in the May 2 Arkansas Derby in the gelding's last start. Of the three horses that beat Winning Impression, victorious Charlatan and third-place Gouverneur Morris are sidelined. Runner-up Basin is running in Keeneland's Toyota Blue Grass.

“He ran a good race,” Leparoux said of Winning Impression's Arkansas Derby, which helped make the gelding the Indiana Derby's 3-1 favorite. “Obviously he hasn't run since. But he's got a big chance. He ran a big race over there. Hopefully we can get it done over there in Indiana.”

Leparoux has ridden Tempers Rising in her last six starts. That includes the Fair Grounds' series for 3-year-old fillies, when Tempers Rising was third by a total of a neck in the Silverbulletday, fourth in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra and second to Bonny South in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks.

A daughter of 2014 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern, Tempers Rising is a good horse to bet in the exacta, with a win, three seconds and a third in seven starts at or about the Indiana Oaks' 1 1/16-mile distance. The exception is a seventh-place finish in a Churchill Downs allowance in her last start.

“But for the last race, she's been very consistent for me,” Leparoux said of the Indiana Oaks' 10-1 shot. “I think the last race is a throwout, hopefully anyway. But she was running very good at the Fair Grounds this winter, running second in a stakes over there.”

First post for the 12-race Indiana Derby Day program gets underway at 2:20 p.m. ET. The Derby is slated as the 11th on the card with an estimated post time of 7:45 p.m. The Oaks will precede the Derby in Race 11 with an estimated post time of 7:10 p.m. A total of six stakes will be featured on the card, bringing purses for the day to nearly $1 million.

Spectators will be allowed to attend in accordance with State of Indiana and Indiana Horse Racing Commission guidelines. Reduced capacity for attendance will be in place and all guests are strongly encouraged to wear face masks in all locations. Face masks are required while indoors except for guests who are consuming food or beverages.

Live racing continues through Wednesday, Nov. 18. Action is held Monday through Thursday beginning at 2:20 p.m. Post times for the all-Quarter Horse programs is to be determined.

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Major Fed Tops Field Of 10 Seeking Derby Points In Wednesday’s Indiana Derby

A field of 10 has been drawn for the 26th running of the Grade 3 Indiana Derby Wednesday, July 8 at Indiana Grand. The race is part of the Kentucky Derby Championship Series with the top four finishers earning points toward the 2020 Kentucky Derby set for Saturday, Sept. 5. The Indiana Derby is carded as the 11th on the 12-race card with an estimated post time of 7:45 p.m. First post for the afternoon card is 2:20 p.m.

Leading the list of entrants for Indiana's richest horse race is Major Fed from the Greg Foley barn. The son of Ghostzapper finished second earlier this season in the Grade 2 Risen Star at Fairgrounds and returned in the next start for a fourth place finish in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. He competed in the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs in late May and will start from post eight with James Graham aboard.

Joining Major Fed as a contender for the Indiana Derby title is Winning Impression from the Dallas Stewart Stable. The grey Paynter gelding has not raced since early May, finishing fourth in his last start in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. Julien Leparoux gets the call aboard Winning Impression from post nine.

The entire Indiana Derby field, in post position order with jockey, includes: No Getting Over Me (Miguel Mena); Extraordinary (Luis Saez); Taishan (Rafael Bejarano); Earner (Stewart Elliott); Shared Sense (Florent Geroux); Background (Tyler Baze); Juggernaut (DeShawn Parker); Major Fed (James Graham); Winning Impression (Julien Leparoux) and Necker Island (Mitchell Murrill).

Leading into the Indiana Derby is the Grade 3 $200,000 Indiana Oaks. Heading the field is Graded Stakes winner Shedaresthedevil from the Brad Cox Stable. The Daredevil filly was a winner in the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park in March and came back for a third place finish in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes in early May. Her most recent start was a win against allowance company at Churchill Downs in early June. Shesarethedevil will be ridden by Florent Geroux from post six in the 10-horse lineup.

The Indiana Derby Day card features six stakes total with purses for the day just under the $1 million mark. The program begins at 2:20 p.m. with the 12th running of the $75,000 Hoosier Breeders Sophomore Stakes. Other stakes on the card include the $75,000 Hoosier Breeders Sophomore Fillies Stakes, the $75,000 Indiana General Assembly Distaff (Listed), and the $75,000 Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial (Listed). A special $100,000-guaranteed Pick 5 pool will be offered on the last five races of the program, beginning with the Indiana General Assembly Distaff in Race 8.

Indiana Grand recently received permission to allow spectators during live racing. The facility will operate at reduced capacity, in accordance with State of Indiana and the Indiana Horse Racing Commission guidelines. All guests will be strongly encouraged to wear face masks in all locations, but will be required to wear face masks while indoors except while consuming food or beverages. Doors will open at Noon on Indiana Derby Day.

Live racing continues through Wednesday, Nov. 18 with action held Monday through Thursday beginning at 2:20 p.m. Four Saturday programs are slated for all-Quarter Horse days set for July 4, Aug. 8, Oct. 23 and Oct. 24.

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