Three Kentucky Derby prep races played out on Saturday. See which horses made a move.
Max Player made a big move in the final furlong, overtaking Monday Morning Qb and 9-5 favorite Shotski from the outside to capture the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York.
In his stakes debut and third overall career start, the son of Honor Code earned 10 qualifying points on the road to the Kentucky Derby with the 3 1/4-length victory. The Withers awarded points on a 10-4-2-1 scale to the top four finishers towards qualifying for the “Run for the Roses” on May 2 at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Trained by Linda Rice, Max Player stayed in sixth position under jockey Dylan Davis, as Grade 2 Remsen-winner Shotski led the eight-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 23.96 seconds. Urged up near the final turn, Max Player had plenty in reserve for the final push, making a strong bid in the five-path, passing Monday Morning Qb to his inside before gaining the edge on Shotski and finishing strong, hitting the wire in 1:53.87.
“He’s becoming more professional all the time in his morning workouts. Anyone that watched his two races at Parx could see he ran pretty green,” Rice said. “He got pinched out a little bit into the first turn and Dylan did a nice job of getting him back into the race and into the clear. He had a bit of a wide trip, but it was a great ride by Dylan. He’s shown us in the morning that he’s had a lot of run at the end of his workouts.”
The win earned Rice her 200th career stakes victory and first in the Withers. Rice said she will likely target the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 4 at Aqueduct, where Kentucky Derby points will be awarded on a 100-40-20-10 scale.
Off at 5-1, Max Player returned $12.80 on a $2 win wager. Bred in Kentucky by K&G Stables, he improved his career earnings to $173,500.
Shotski, the field’s lone previous graded stakes-winner, edged a late-charging Protos by a half-length for second. Trained by Jeremiah O’Dwyer, the son of Blame entered the day 10th on the Kentucky Derby points leaderboard and increased his total to 14, building on his Remsen victory that netted 10 points. Portos, stepping up to stakes company for the first time in his fifth start, rallied from last to garner two points.
The Law wins the fight
Tiz the Law charged out of the gate fastest in a field of seven, overcame traffic in the stretch and took over with command once asked by jockey Manny Franco to win the Grade 3, $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park in Florida.
Running for 2003 Derby winner Funny Cide’s connections, the New York-bred Barclay Tagg trainee dashed past Ete Indien before the quarter pole and cruised home in 1:42.04 in the 1-1/16 mile contest.
Ete Indien was 3 lengths back at the wire. There was a huge gap between the top two finishers and third-place Toledo. Relentless Dancer ran fourth, with each of those runners paid out Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 basis.
Tiz the Law was away at 6-5 and returned $4.60. He improved to 3-0-1 in four starts.
3K for Baffert
Morning line favorite Thousand Words held on to win the Grade 3, $100,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita, earning 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. The Florida-bred bay colt also gave trainer Bob Baffert his 3,000th win on North American soil.
Rallying off the pace set by stablemate High Velocity, Tiz the Law split between that colt and Tizamagician off the turn and charged to victory, improving to 3-for-3 under jockey Flavien Prat.
Once into the stretch, Royal Act joined a four-horse race and took second, with High Velocity third and Tizamagician fourth. Each of those horses earned Derby qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 basis.
Tie for the lead
Tiz the Law is now tied with Storm the Court atop the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard at 22 points. Thousand Words is third with 20. Shotski is fourth at 14 points. Enforceable rounds out the top five with 13 points.