Phoenix Thoroughbreds' $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (Grade 1) runner-up Tiz the Bomb was tabbed as the 3-1 morning line favorite in Saturday's 95th running of the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club, the featured event on Saturday's “Stars of Tomorrow II” program at Churchill Downs.
Trained by two-time Kentucky Jockey Club-winning conditioner Kenny McPeek, Tiz the Bomb finished second by 1 ½ lengths to Modern Games in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf when he rallied from more than seven lengths off the early pace.
“We've always thought highly of him from the start,” jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. said. “Before the (Juvenile Turf) he handled things professionally when we were waiting behind the gate during the scratch situation. He ran a really good effort to finish second after we got back a little bit farther than we planned at the start.”
Bettors were rewarded with Tiz the Bomb's 7-1 mutuel price in the Juvenile Turf after Modern Games was mistakenly scratched from the tote system but allowed to run for purse money only.
Saturday's 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club will award points to the Top 4 finishers on a 10-4-2-1 scale toward a spot in the starting gate in the Derby. McPeek has made six starts in the Kentucky Derby and finished second in 1995 with Tejano Run.
“We've been on the Road to the Kentucky Derby before and it's always exciting,” McPeek said. “We have three really nice horses so far this year in Rattle N Roll along with Tiz the Bomb and Smile Happy, who are in the Jockey Club.”
McPeek won the 2018 edition of the Kentucky Jockey Club with Signalman and in 2001 with Repent.
The Kentucky Jockey Club will go as Race 11 of 12 with a post time of 5:56 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post is 1 p.m.
Here's the complete field for the Kentucky Jockey Club from the rail out (with jockey, trainer and morning line odds): Classic Causeway (Joel Rosario, Brian Lynch, 7-2); Guntown (Tyler Gaffalione, Steve Asmussen, 15-1); Rich Strike (Rafael Bejarano, Eric Reed, 50-1); Texas Red Hot (Julien Leparoux, Randy Morse, 12-1); Howling Time (Joe Talamo, Dale Romans, 7-2); Tiz the Bomb (Hernandez, McPeek, 3-1); Vivar (Florent Geroux, Brad Cox, 12-1); Smile Happy (Corey Lanerie, McPeek, 12-1); Red Knobs (Ricardo Santana Jr., Romans, 15-1); White Abarrio (Edgard Zayas, Saffie Joseph, 8-1); Ready Pursuit (Martin Garcia, Jerry Antonuik, 50-1); Ben Diesel (Jon Court, Dallas Stewart, 15-1); Mannix (IRE) (Edwin Gonzalez, Mark Casse, 20-1); and Call Me Midnight (Chris Landeros, Keith Desormeaux, 15-1).
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