Betting The Horses

The Grade 2 Coolmore Lexington Stakes, held on April 17 at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, traditionally offers a chance for horses to make their final bids for the Kentucky Derby.  This year, however, it appears that none of the prospective starters have the graded earnings to start in the May 1 Run for the Roses.

Preference for starters in the Kentucky Derby is given to the top 20 in graded stakes earnings. Homeboykris is currently the 20th ranked horse with $230,000.  The winner of the Lexington Stakes gets $180,000, but as of yet, there are no prospective starters within $180,000 of Homeboykris.

Distorted Dave, trained by John Sadler, and Game on Dude, trained by Bob Baffert, appear to be the two early favorites.    Distorted Dave had his final pre-race work on Saturday, when he went six furlongs in 1:13.40 at Santa Anita. This will be Game on Dude’s first race for Baffert since an ownership change.

Other likely starters for the Lexington include Chief Counsel, Exhi, Call Shot, Krypton, Prince Will I Am, Uptowncharlybrown, Kettle River, and Workin for Hops.

Media will undoubtedly give coverage to Uptowncharlybrown, third place finisher at the Sam F. Davis and fifth place finisher at the Tampa Bay Derby.  His trainer, Alan Seewald, unexpectedly passed away at the age of 62 in his New Jersey home.  “We’re going to run this horse Saturday for him,” said Bob Hutt, the colt’s managing partner.

Tags: Horse Racing, John Sadler, Kentucky Derby