WILL HE >JUSTIFY= the HYPE?
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SATURDAY, APRIL 7, 2018 BLUE GRASS COULD BE WHITE OUT WILL HE >JUSTIFY= Assuming a potential snowstorm Friday night doesn=t put a THE HYPE? damper on things, a full field is set to go postward in Saturday=s GII Toyota Blue Grass S. The conversation about contenders must start with $1-million KEESEP yearling Good Magic (Curlin), who broke his maiden emphatically in the GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile at Del Mar en route to Eclipse Award honors. Heavily favored in the GII Xpressbet Fountain of Youth on seasonal debut at Gulfstream Mar. 3, he settled for a non-threatening third with no obvious excuse. Flameaway (Scat Daddy), second in the Mar. 10 GII Tampa Bay Derby behind expected scratch Quip (Distorted Humor) after annexing the GIII Sam F. Davis S. there in February, took a rained-off renewal of the GIII Bourbon S. in the Keeneland slop last October. Cont. p3 Justify | Benoit Photo IN TDN EUROPE TODAY ASTUTE AGENT HAS GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE >TDN Rising Star= Justify (Scat Daddy), almost certainly the Kelsey Riley sat down with Australia based Frenchman most highly regarded horse in the world to have not yet taken Louis Le Metayer to get his thoughts on various aspects of on stakes company, will get his class test on Saturday when he the Australian racing scene. Click or tap here to go straight faces the likes of MGISW Bolt d=Oro (Medaglia d=Oro) in the to TDN Europe. GI Santa Anita Derby. A 9 1/2-length jaw-dropping debut winner going seven panels here Feb. 18, the $500,000 KEESEP yearling made short work of optional claimers in the slop over an additional furlong Mar. 11. Originally slated to ship to Oaklawn for next week=s GI Arkansas Derby, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert opted to keep the colt at home after Grade I-winning stablemate McKinzie (Street Sense) was ruled out of this race and taken off the GI Kentucky Derby trail. Already favored in last month=s third Derby future wager pool at 6-1, Justify could go even shorter in the final pool that closes Sunday if he reproduces anything close to his first two efforts against the tougher company. The aforementioned Bolt d=Oro is certainly no slouch, and had a very good case for the juvenile Eclipse Award last year after taking the GI Del Mar Futurity and GI FrontRunner S. The $630,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grad settled for third after blowing the break in the GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile, but returned to battle McKinzie to within a head in the GII San Felipe S. Mar. 10. Bolt d=Oro and McKinzie made contact repeatedly in the stretch that day, and after a long deliberation the stewards put up Bolt d=Oro in what was a much-talked-about decision. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Saturday, April 7, 2018 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN News and Features Editor Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN Assistant Editor Bobby Klatt ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Rachel McCaffrey Churchill Downs changed the Kentucky Derby sign on Friday to reflect the 144th “Run Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution for the Roses.” | Coady Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES Social Media Strategist EST Race Click for TV Justina Severni 3:38p Gazelle S-GII, AQU TJCIS PPs TVG Director of Customer Service 4:00p Commonwealth S.-GIII, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG Vicki Forbes 4:11p Excelsior S.-GIII, AQU TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 4:35p Shakertown S.-GII, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG Marketing Manager 4:44p Carter H.-GI, AQU TJCIS PPs TVG Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen 4:50p Providencia S.-GIII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG Director of Information Technology 4:57p Appalachian S. Pres. by Japan Racing Assoc.-GII, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG Ray Villa 5:10p Madison S.-GI, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 5:17p Bay Shore S.-GIII, AQU TJCIS PPs TVG Bookkeeper 5:45p Central Bank Ashland S.-GI, KEE TJCIS PPs NBCSN Terry May 5:55p Wood Memorial S., Pres. by NYRA Bets-GII, AQU TJCIS PPs NBCSN [email protected] 6:23p Toyota Blue Grass S.-GII, KEE TJCIS PPs NBCSN WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 7:12p Santa Anita Derby-GI, SA TJCIS PPs NBCSN International Editor 7:50p Royal Heroine S.-GII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 8:22p Santa Anita Oaks-GI, SA TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 15 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • APRIL 7, 2018 Santa Anita Derby cont. from p1 Larry Best=s $1.05-million OBSMAR acquisition Instilled Regard (Arch) was a close third behind BC Juvenile runner-up Solomini (Curlin) and McKinzie when the stewards reversed the order of finish between those two stablemates in the GI Los Alamitos Futurity in December. He made a strong case for the strength of this year=s California contingent when an easy winner of the GIII Lecomte S. at Fair Grounds Jan. 13, but was a somewhat puzzling fourth in the GII Risen Star S. back there Feb. 17. Finishing one spot ahead of him that day was >Rising Star= Noble Indy (Take Charge Indy), who came back a game winner of the GII Louisiana Derby. Blue Grass S. cont. from p1 Good Magic at Keeneland | Coady Photo Dale Romans boasts wins in the 2012 and 2016 Blue Grass, and saddles Free Drop Billy (Union Rags) for this one. The Albaugh Family Stables colorbearer will look to complete the same double his connections= Brody=s Cause (Giant=s Causeway) completed when he took the 2015 GI Claiborne Breeders= Futurity in the fall and following year=s Blue Grass. Doug O=Neill played spoiler in last year=s Blue Grass with the star-crossed Irap (Tiznow), and has two chances for an upset this time around with GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks one-three finishers Blended Citizen (Proud Citizen) and Arawak (Uncle Mo). The Southern California-based sophomores seem strong again this year and will be represented in this spot by Kanthaka (Jimmy Creed). A powerful winner of the GII San Vicente S. around one turn Feb. 10, he was a distant third behind Bolt d=Oro (Medaglia d=Oro) and McKinzie (Street Sense) in the GII San Felipe S. a month later. TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 15 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • APRIL 7, 2018 ENTICED HEADLINES WOOD MEMORIAL Enticed | Sarah Andrew Enticed (Medaglia d=Oro), a smart winner of the GIII Gotham S. Mar. 10, returns to the Big A as the horse to beat for Saturday=s GII Wood Memorial S. The son of MGISW It=s Tricky (Mineshaft) made up for a puzzling fourth as the favorite in the GII Holy Bull S. with a 2 3/4-length tally over Old Time Revival (Brethren) in the one- turn mile Gotham. Last year=s GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. hero, the 6-5 choice on the Wood Memorial morning-line, stretches out to 1 1/8 miles for the first time here. AWe're happy with him and we're there trying to win an important race,@ said trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, who captured this race with Frosted in 2015. AEven if it doesn't have Grade I status, we feel like it is a Grade I. It's a huge race for a horse in his career, especially for a stallion prospect." Bob Baffert ships in Restoring Hope (Giant=s Causeway) following a good-looking restricted maiden win with blinkers off going 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita at third asking Feb. 2. The Hall of Famer took the New York route to Louisville with previous Wood Memorial winners Congaree (2001) and Bob and John (2006). "We've always been very high on him and he worked really well the other day so I thought we'd take a shot,@ Baffert said. AWe're like everybody else, we're trying to see if he fits. We took the blinkers off and he came back and ran well [last time out]. Now, he's training like a good horse, so that's why he's there.@ Vino Rosso (Curlin), perfect in two starts at two including a debut win in South Ozone Park, followed a third-place finish in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. Feb. 10 with a lackluster fourth with blinkers added in the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby last time Mar. 10. Cont. p5 5-time G1 winner by Dynaformer UNDEFEATED first-crop 3yoANALYZE IT made his highly-anticipated seasonal debut Friday, winning the $150,000 Transylvania S. (G3) in dominant fashion on opening day at Keeneland to remain untested in his first three starts with a combined margin of victory of 15 ¾ lengths. Watch race Classic Bloodlines, Classic Performance Inquiries to Ben Walden (859) 221-8757 Dermot A. Carty (859) 559-4928 www.AdenaStallions.com | (859) 987-1798 Dynaformer - Matlacha Pass, by Seeking the Gold | $20,000 S&N TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 15 • THETDN.COM SATURDAY • APRIL 7, 2018 Enticed cont.