Art Collector — and his Louisville connections — bound for Derby after Blue Grass win
If this year’s Kentucky Derby had been run on its accustomed date — the first Saturday in May — there wouldn’t have been a whisper about a 3-year-old colt named Art Collector.
There will be plenty of talk about him over the next couple of months. And he’ll be bringing a band of horsemen with Louisville connections with him to Churchill Downs on that first Saturday in September.
Art Collector stalked star filly Swiss Skydiver all around the Keeneland track Saturday before pulling away in the stretch for an impressive victory in the Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, announcing his presence as one of the top performers in this 3-year-old crop.
“I thought he ran a fantastic race,” said 48-year-old trainer Tommy Drury, who earned his first graded stakes victory. “Just got the dream trip, and just so proud of my horse. He really showed up today. We felt like he was going the right way and felt like he was doing things the right way, but you never know until you run against this kind of competition. So I think he answered a lot of questions today for us.”
The 3-year-old son of Bernardini took a roundabout path to the $600,000 Blue Grass Stakes, the latest stop on this most unorthodox of Kentucky Derby trails.
Art Collector ran his first three races on turf, switched to the dirt last November and earned his first victory for trainer Joe Sharp on that surface one race later. That result, however, was tossed after a positive test for the de-worming medication levamisole.
Owner Bruce Lunsford — a Kenton County native, University of Kentucky grad, and Louisville resident — moved his homebred colt from Sharp to Drury, and it was nearly six months before he returned to racing.
Art Collector made his 3-year-old debut at Churchill Downs on May 17 — that’s 15 days after the original date of the Kentucky Derby, which was pushed back to Sept. 5 due to the coronavirus pandemic — and that first race of 2020 was a winning one. Four weeks later, he romped to a 6 ½-length victory in another allowance race at Churchill.
That performance earned him a shot in the Blue Grass Stakes. He made it count.
“We decided to take it slow,” a giddy Lunsford said after Saturday’s win. “We probably could have been in some stakes races, but we just held on and said, ‘Our time could come.’ And for him to beat a filly like that one that we beat today — and the rest of the field pretty handily — lets me know I’m in the right place.
“And Tommy is just a tremendous horseman. This is going to be a change of life for him … and maybe all of us.”
How the race was won
Lunsford also praised jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. — a fixture at Kentucky’s racetracks and another Louisville resident. Hernandez had been aboard Art Collector for each of his previous four starts, all at Churchill Downs.
“He knows the horse. He knew exactly what he was going to do, and he followed it to a tee,” Lunsford said.
Indeed, Art Collector broke well from the No. 3 post and went straight toward the front, settling in behind Swiss Skydiver — the first filly since 1944 to run in the Blue Grass — and Shivaree, the front-running colt who was runner-up in the Florida Derby.
Art Collector stayed in that spot just off the leaders from the first call to the final turn, where he put away Shivaree and set his sights on Swiss Skydiver.
The upstart colt and the formidable filly were even at the top of the stretch and matched strides until the sixteenth pole, where Art Collector started to pull away. Hernandez flashed a fist pump and patted the winner on the neck just before they crossed the wire for a 3 ½-length victory.
Swiss Skydiver held on for second, and Rushie was a distant third.
About that filly
Trainer Kenny McPeek decided earlier in the week to run Swiss Skydiver — the leader in points for the Kentucky Oaks — in the Blue Grass Stakes instead of the Grade 1 Ashland for 3-year-old fillies Saturday as her connections mulled a possible path to the Kentucky Derby.
“She ran super,” he said. “Art Collector was the horse I was worried about. He is obviously really good and really talented right now. I thought if she was going to get beat, it would be by him. I am happy for Tom Drury. He works hard, and he has been at it a long time.
“It was a great race. Her fractions were pretty taxing, but she is fast. She is so special. We might lean against going to the Derby. We might go to the Alabama (Stakes) and consider waiting for the Kentucky Oaks.”
Art Collector’s bunch is bound for the Derby.
Drury has never had a starter in his hometown race. Hernandez has ridden in the Derby twice, never finishing better than eighth, and he said Saturday he didn’t have any concerns over the extra distance Art Collector will have to run on Derby Day.
“You’ve seen him today going a mile and an eighth. He was widening on ’em again today. They’re all 3-year-olds, and we’re all going to be trying to go a mile and a quarter. We got one of the Derby favorites right now. You gotta be excited.”
Drury was clearly that after the race. Forgive him if he takes a little time before he starts making his Derby plans.
“It’s taken my entire life just to get to this,” he said with a smile. “I just want to enjoy this one today, and we’ll figure that out tomorrow.”
