Kentucky Derby Blog

Crisp won the Santa Anita Oaks 2010. Crisp ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.50, outfinishing pacesetter All Due Respect by a neck. Blind Luck, the 2-5 favorite, closed from last on the backstretch to finish a neck behind All Due Respect.

Sent off the 5-1 third choice in the seven-horse field, Crisp paid $13.60, $8 and $2.80 while starting the $1 exotics worth $47.80 (exacta), $99.20 (trifecta) and $644.80 (2-4-5-6 superfecta). All Due Respect gave back $8.20 and $3.20 at 6-1, and Blind Luck returned $2.10 to her disappointed backers.

Owned by Los Angeles’ Michael Talla, Crisp capped last season with a maiden victory in her second start and began her three-year-old season with a one-length win in the Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) on January 10 at Santa Anita before the Las Virgenes.

Bred in Kentucky by James Jones and Randy Swanson, Crisp improved to three wins in five career starts and earnings of $252,120. She is the first starter for her dam, the unraced Sir Cat mare Cat’s Fair.

Blind Luck has cemented her position as a clear leader in the three-year-old filly division, and the Pollard’s Vision filly will try for her third straight Grade 1 win and fourth overall on Saturday at Santa Anita Park in the $250,000 Santa Anita Oaks (G1).

Blind Luck, who was nominated to the Triple Crown, made her fans sweat in her most recent start, closing from last to win the Las Virgenes Stakes (G1) by a nose in the final stride of her season debut on February 13 (video).

Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Blind Luck won the Oak Leaf Stakes (G1) in October before a third-place finish in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) on November 6 at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita Park meeting. She closed her two year-old season with a dominant seven-length win in the Hollywood Starlet Stakes (G1) on December 20 at Hollywood Park.

Owners Mark DeDomenico, John Carver, and Hollendorfer purchased Blind Luck privately after she won her career debut by 13 1/4 lengths in June at Calder Race Course. Since the purchase, she has rewarded her current connections with four wins, one second, and one third in six starts.

Other entrants include Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) winner Crisp, Grade 3-placed winner All Due Respect, and impressive debut winner Sister Dawn.

March 06, $250,000, 3yo, f, 1 1/16M, Santa Anita Park, 3:38 PM PT

From both a visual and speed figure perspective, the performance of the weekend was Eskendereya running away from the field at Gulfstream Park. Buddy’s Saint certainly has an excuse for his poor performance as he got bumped and pinched pretty badly as the field went into the first turn. Without that trouble would he have won? Seems unlikely considering how good Eskendereya looked during his stretch drive, but he probably would have finished better than 9th. Runner-up Jackson Bend ran another solid race, although he never threatened the winner for the top spot.

Eskendereya, who figures to move way up in the Kentucky Derby rankings, has now won three of five races with one second. He more than doubled his career earnings to $275,700 with the winning purse of $150,000.

Sent off as the third choice, Eskendereya paid $9.80, $4.20 and $3 while topping a $35.20 exacta. Jackson Bend, second in the Holy Bull (gr. III) at Gulfstream to begin his season Jan. 23 for trainer Nick Zito, returned $3.60 and $2.10. Aikenite, also from the Pletcher stable, was $3.60 to show.

Todd Pletcher’s Connemara closed from dead last to pass a tiring pace setter, Ranger Heartly, in mid-stretch. Connemara made his big move from the half mile mark to the ¾ mile mark, clicking of an internal fraction of 22.86, and then came home in average splits to take the prize. Haimish Hy ran the final eighth of a mile fastest of the field and nabbed 2nd at odds of 25/1. Connemara will likely move forward from this race (although the race came up pretty slow in terms of a speed figure) but as for the rest of the field, it’s difficult to see any as serious contenders for the Derby.

Distreetly Mine set the pace and then held off all comers for the win at the Fair Grounds in a race that saw the top four horses at the 6f mark finish in that same order. Ron the Greek and Stay Put were able to rally from the back of the field to grab 5th and 6th place, but they never posed a serious threat to win this race at any time. Not sure where to rank the performances in this race given the Merry-Go-Round nature of the pace given the fact that some of the early races of the day saw some scorching fractions on the board but the Risen Star featured anything but that. The leaders hit six furlongs in 1:13.44 and the mile in 1:38.17. For comparisons sake, three year old fillies went 1:11.75 for six and 1:38.54 for the mile in the Grade 3 Silverbulletday. The come home time in the Risen Star wasn’t bad but the early pace was pedestrian. Perhaps the Louisiana Derby will tell us more.

Paul Pompa Jr.s D’ Funnybone opened up his 3-year-old season in style, cruising to a professional one-length win as the even-money favorite in the $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II)Feb. 20 at Gulfstream Park.
A two-time grade II winner in New York as a 2-year-old, D Funnybone disappointed in his season finale last year when finishing last in the Grey Goose Breeders Cup Juvenile (gr. I) on Nov. 7. But that race was over Santa Anitas Pro-Ride surface, giving the D’wildcat colt an excuse and his connections hoped that he would return to form on dirt.

Breaking from post 7 under Edgar Prado, D Funnybone rated well in the early going, racing in third while Wildcat Frankie set the pace and Hear Ye Hear Ye tracked in second. The opening splits were :22.37 and :45.10.