Derby Watch: Zulu looks to jump start Pletcher’s classic hopes

Certain aspects of the Kentucky Derby trail have become a given during the journey toward the first Saturday in May.

Injury and/or ailment is going to take out at least a couple promising contenders. Trainers are going to be peppered as to whether their path is really best (Why only two starts? Why only one two-turn race?). And seven-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher will have multiple contenders make a significant impact in the prep races.

This year, the last of those assumptions hasn’t come true yet, which might be the most intriguing story of early 2016. Pletcher, he of the 43 Kentucky Derby starters, he who has not saddled a horse in the classic just once (2003) since 2000, only has Grade III Sam F. Davis winner Destin on this year’s Road to Kentucky Derby leader board. Destin earned a single qualifying point with his fourth-place run in the Lecomte Stakes.

For all his outward stoicism, history says it would be a stunner for Pletcher’s young runners to stay quiet for too long. To that end, he has lightly raced Zulu taking on a salty bunch of five others — including unbeaten Mohaymen — in Saturday’s Grade II, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and it wouldn’t be the first time a Toddler with sparse credentials jumped up in this very spot to put himself on the map.

Owned by Stonestreet Stables, Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor, Zulu has made two prior starts, winning both at Gulfstream Park. The son of Bernardini broke his maiden in front-running fashion going 6 furlongs last Dec. 5 and then splashed to a 7¼-length triumph in a 7-furlong test over a sealed, sloppy track Jan. 15.

The competition he has defeated has been nondescript, but flash back one year ago and pretty much the same was said of Pletcher-trainee Itsaknockout. Itsaknockout, like Zulu, was stepping into stakes company for the first time after winning his first two starts at Gulfstream and went on to take the Fountain of Youth via disqualification en route to becoming one of Pletcher’s three Kentucky Derby starters in 2015.

Zulu will likely be joined in the front tier of the Fountain of Youth by Awesome Speed and Awesome Banner so his tractability should get tested in this short field. He is the type of horse trainers like to say ‘could be anything’ at this point.

He might end up being the catalyst that gets the flood gates open for the man who seemingly never lacks for quality or quantity.

The Derby Dozen

1. Mohaymen: The son of Tapit has been a brilliant and versatile runner in his four-race career, so for him to lose Saturday will probably require some circumstance to go against him more than him simply regressing. “It’s going to be his toughest race to date,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “We don’t have to improve, but it’s more experience and hopefully we get the win.”

2. Nyquist: Trainer Doug O’Neill reiterated this week that the Grade I Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on April 2 is set to be the final Kentucky Derby prep for his unbeaten juvenile champion. The spacing between the San Vicente, which Nyquist won on Feb. 15, and the Florida Derby is similar to that of O’Neill’s 2012 dual classic winner I’ll Have Another, who won the Robert B. Lewis on Feb. 4 and the Santa Anita Derby on April 7 of that year.

3. Mor Spirit: Remains a candidate for the Grade II San Felipe Stakes on March 12 after a workout gone wrong Tuesday in which he was eased by jockey Gary Stevens. “We over-thought it a little bit,” trainer Bob Baffert told Santa Anita Park’s publicity staff of the aborted drill. “Sometimes I work him with earplugs and sometimes I don’t. I don’t want him to do that much. He has them on when he leaves the paddock, then we take them out before he goes to the gate. It keeps him calm. He just lost interest (Tuesday); he’ll do that, but he’s all right.”

4. Brody’s Cause: His stablemate, Cherry Wine, had to miss the Fountain of Youth Stakes this weekend after spiking a slight temperature but this son of Giant’s Causeway continues to work steadily toward the Grade II Tampa Bay Derby on March 12. His latest drill was a 5-furlong move in 1:01.16 at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 21.

5. Exaggerator: This son of Curlin has become that horse who leaves you feeling that the next time out could be his coming out party: which is good and bad. Having upside to build on is the name of the game right now but will he be able to go up one more level? Trainer Keith Desormeaux will gladly get away from Nyquist and run Exaggerator next in the Grade II San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park on March 12. “If Nyquist runs next in Florida, I’m fine with that,” Desormeaux said. “I don’t ever want to have to run against him for $200,000 again.”

6. Gun Runner: Have gone back and forth on just how good his win in the Grade II Risen Star Stakes was and have settled on pretty darn solid. Yes, he took advantage of a pronounced rail bias. But the son of Candy Ride had to make a couple different moves in his first start since the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes last November and should move forward off that run. “He proved he has the tactical speed to do what he has to do, he had a pretty aggressive middle move,” said Doug Cauthen, vice chairman of Three Chimneys, which co-owns Gun Runner with Winchell Thoroughbreds.

7. Mo Tom: The best part of his third-place run in the Risen Star is that the gash he suffered to his right front leg when he had to check badly in the stretch was deemed “a non-factor” by trainer Tom Amoss going forward. The Lecomte winner lost all momentum when Bistraya moved in front of him in the stretch. He continues to finish like a horse that wants more ground and will get another shot at Gun Runner in the Louisiana Derby on March 26.

8. Greenpointcrusader: Still quietly going about his work pattern as he is expected to have just one more start before the Kentucky Derby. Worked an easy half-mile in :49.30 at Palm Meadows Training Center on Feb. 20.

9. Awesome Banner: The unbeaten son of Awesome of Course was singled out by McLaughlin as the horse that most concerns him in the Fountain of Youth. “I’m not sure he won’t be more comfortable not even having to get sent to the front,” trainer Stanley Gold said. “We do come out of there and ask him and once he’s there, we’re just sitting. You won’t have to ask him going two turns. He has a pretty high cruising speed and he always seems to have another gear left.”

10. Smokey Image: The unbeaten colt worked 5 furlongs in company Sunday morning in 1:00.40 under Victor Espinoza in preparation for the Grade II San Felipe Stakes on March 12. A word about his pedigree: Both his sire, Southern Image, and dam’s sire, Free House, were top runners over the classic distance. Southern Image was a Grade I winner at distances from 7 furlongs to 1¼ miles, and Free House successfully knocked heads against one of the great, depth-laden handicap divisions that included the likes of Silver Charm, Gentlemen and Touch Gold.

11. Zulu: The Fountain of Youth is his chance to “find out where he fits with the big boys” Pletcher said. “We anticipate he’s going to improve stretching out,” Pletcher added. “He’ll need to against this group, but we’ve been pleased with what he’s done so far. We’ll find out a lot more Saturday.”

12. Suddenbreakingnews: He came from the clouds with his last-to-first rally in the Southwest Stakes, but this gelded son of Mineshaft has been flashing talent in each of his six career starts. He’s never been worse than second and has shown some speed, sitting on the front end when he broke his maiden going 1 mile at Remington Park last Sept. 24.

The Next Dozen

Danzing Candy, Awesome Speed, Cherry Wine, Whitmore, Sunny Ridge, Destin, Forevamo, Flexibility, Discreetness, Shagaf, Fellowship, Uncle Lino.

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Derby Watch: Zulu looks to jump start Pletcher’s classic hopes."