Calumet’s 72-1 shot, a turf horse and a runner-up enter the Kentucky Derby picture
It happens every year.
Just when we think we have this Kentucky Derby thing all figured out, along comes not one, not two, but about 50 freaky factors that send us back to the drawing board less than a month before the first Saturday in May.
Oh, make no mistake, the undefeated Essential Quality is still the expected favorite for the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 1, thanks in part to the Godolphin homebred’s hard-fought victory over Highly Motivated in Saturday’s Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
And Concert Tour will no doubt be high up the odds board if trainer Bob Baffert’s best hope for a record-breaking seventh Derby victory wins the Arkansas Derby this Saturday at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.
Beyond that dynamic duo, however, exists just enough wild cards to have even your hard-core handicappers vigorously scratching their heads before heading to the betting window on Derby day.
Take Bourbonic. Actually, very few took Bourbonic, the Calumet Farm homebred who engineered the biggest upset in Wood Memorial history on Saturday, shocking New York’s premiere Kentucky Derby prep as a 72-1 shot at Aqueduct for trainer Todd Pletcher.
It was Bourbonic’s third win in six career races, but it was his first attempt in stakes company. In fact, the son of 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini finished an unimpressive second in his last start, an allowance optional claiming race, and was only entered in the Wood at the behest of Calumet owner Brad Kelley.
“I didn’t think Todd’s other horse was going to finish in the top eight,” Mike Repole, owner of runner-up Dynamic One, also trained by Pletcher, told the Blood-Horse afterward. “I didn’t think the winner had a chance and I don’t think the trainer thought he had a chance, but that’s why they run the race.”
The Pletcher exacta paid an eye-popping $906 on a $2 bet and also gave the two-time winning Kentucky Derby trainer a second serious roses contender after Known Agenda won the Florida Derby on March 27.
Next came the Saturday surprise on the Left Coast where Rock Your World rocked the Santa Anita Derby, winning California’s premiere Derby prep by 4 1/4 lengths in his first race on a dirt surface. The son of Candy Ride’s first two starts were both wins, but were on the turf.
Bred in Kentucky by longtime trainer Ron McAnally, Rock Your World was a $650,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September sale by trainer John Sadler and bloodstock agent David Ingordo for brothers Kosta and Pete Hronis, who own the colt along with Michael Talla. The Santa Anita Derby was the first Grade 1 win in America for jockey Umberto Rispoli and validated Sadler’s unusual Derby plan.
“There’s a lot of different ways to hunt,” said the trainer Saturday. “I chose to lay in the weeds.”
Meanwhile, Highly Motivated had been flying under the radar before his impressive run in Saturday’s Blue Grass. A son of Into Mischief — sire of 2020 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic — and trained by four-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, Highly Motivated won the Nyquist Stakes at Keeneland last November before finishing third in the Gotham on March 6 in his 2021 debut. Highly Motivated then set the Blue Grass pace before reluctantly giving way to Essential Quality just ahead of the finish line.
“He ran a huge race,” jockey Javier Castellano said afterward. “I’m very satisfied the way he did it today. I got beat, finished second, but I’m so proud of my horse and the way he did it today.”
Essential Quality is now 5-for-5 for trainer Brad Cox. After winning his debut at Churchill Downs last summer, the son of Tapit has won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland last October, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland last November, the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 27 before his Blue Grass triumph in his final start before the Kentucky Derby.
“It’s four weeks from today,” Cox said Saturday. “Hopefully, we’re ready.”
Kentucky Derby Leaderboard
- 1 - Essential Quality 140
- 2 - Hot Rod Charlie 110
- 3 - Like the King 104
- 4 - Known Agenda 102
- 5 - Rebel’s Romance 100
- 6 - Rock Your World 100
- 7 - Bourbonic 100
- 8 - Greatest Honour - 80
- 9 - Medina Spirit - 74
- 10 - Midnight Bourbon - 66
- 11 - Weyburn 60
- 12 - Mandaloun 52
- 13 - Concert Tour 50
- 14 - Highly Motivated 50
- 15 - Helium 50
- 16 - Panadol 40
- 17 - Soup and Sandwich 40
- 18 - Dynamic One 40
- 19 - Crowded Table 40
- 20 - Sainthood 40
- 21 - Rombauer 34
- 22 - Proxy 34
- 23 - Hidden Stash 32
- 24 - Dream Shake 30
- 25 - O Besos 25
This story was originally published April 4, 2021 at 10:59 AM.
