Kentucky Derby Blog

Out of Bounds rallied in the stretch to beat 1-2 favorite Secret Circle by a half-length in the $100,000 Sham Stakes, the first Kentucky Derby prep of the season at Santa Anita on Saturday. 10-1 shot Out of Bounds with Garrett Gomez aboard ran a mile in 1:34.56 and paid $22.60, $5.80 and $4.40. Secret Circle, last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint winner, returned $2.80 and $2.10, while Longview Drive was another half-length back in third and paid $4 to show.

Secret Circle, who led briefly into the stretch, lost for the first time in four career starts for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

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Machen trained by Neil Howard and ridden by Edgar Prado, won the Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial on the opening night of the spring meet at Churchill Downs. Machen, the fifth choice at 5-1 in the field of nine, covered the mile over a fast track in 1:35.47. He returned $15.40.

Dominus was second, 21/4 lengths in front of J J’s Lucky Train. Travelin Man, the 8-5 favorite, faded to sixth.

The 87th running of the Derby Trial won’t produce a runner for Kentucky Derby for the sixth straight year since Don’t Get Mad in 2005.

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Churchill Downs historically has kicked off its spring race meet one week before the Kentucky Derby, but this year they’re making a much bigger deal of it–they’re running a full card under their recently installed lights that will be headlined by the $200,000 Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial.

First post time for the 11-race program, which kicks off the Churchill Downs’ 39-day spring meeting, will be 6 p.m. EDT with the Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial going off as the eighth race on the card with a 9:39 p.m. post time.

In theory, the Derby Trial is supposed to be a last shot for horses to qualify for the Kentucky Derby but even for a winning entry it would be a very long shot to make the field one week later. Still, the Derby Trial is attractive not only for its association with the most famous race in the sport but also it’s generous prize money. Furthermore, it’s a good springboard for a horse looking to compete in the Preakness Stakes or Belmont later this summer.

Here are the contenders for Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial.

Derby Kitten, with Julien Leparoux aboard, won the $200,000 Lexington Stakes, surging past the leaders in the stretch in the rain at Keeneland. Making his first start on a synthetic surface, the turf colt produced a strong stretch kick for Julien Leparoux and returned $20.40, $6.60 and $3.60 at odds of 9-1.

Despite his impressive performance, the Lexington marked his graded debut, so his winner’s check of $120,000 is his sum total of graded earnings. Barring a flurry of last-minute defections, the Mike Maker trainee has little chance of making it into the Kentucky Derby field.

Nor will the Lexington offer much more help to Silver Medallion, who was aiming to book his spot in the Kentucky Derby. Silver Medallion ranked 24th on the graded earnings list going into the weekend’s races, with $184,334 to his credit, and hoped to pad his bankroll with a top effort here. But Silver Medallion didn’t help his cause after all, winding up fourth as the 6-5 favorite, and pocketing only $10,000.

2011 Coolmore Lexington Stakes (Grade III) takes place at Keeneland on April 23rd, 2011. It is race 9 and the post time is 5:20 PM.

With being downgraded from a grade II to a grade III this year and the purse reduced from $300,000 to $200,000 this year, the Lexington is more likely, for most, to serve as a possible prep for the Preakness in four weeks. But Silver Medallion among the six entered has a realistic chance to make the Derby starting gate. None of the remaining five Lexington entrants have any significant graded earnings.

Check out the contenders, post positions, and morning line odds.