Victory Gives Squall Lift in Derby Field

Summer Squall will get close to Mister Frisky when he goes to Churchill Downs in Louisville on Friday.

Of course, the two colts won’t be as close in the stable area as they will be figuratively in the odds and are expected to be literally in the Kentucky Derby on May 5.

Mister Frisky, the Santa Anita Derby winner who is unbeaten in 16 races, 13 of them in Puerto Rico, arrived at Churchill Downs at noon Saturday after an airplane trip from California.

About 3 hours and 45 minutes later, Summer Squall arrived in the winner’s circle after a muddy romp around the Keeneland track in the Blue Grass Stakes.

It was Summer Squall’s second impressive victory in a 1 1/8-mile race in two weeks and his seventh win in eight starts. In his previous start, he won the Jim Beam on March 31 at Turfway Park, also in the mud.

“We’ve asked a lot more of the horse than we would have liked,” Cot Campbell, president of Dogwood Stable, said.

Because he bled in a workout in February, his training was disrupted and he didn’t make his first start until March 17. He ran well in losing by a length to top sprinter Housebuster in the seven-furlong Swale on March 17 at Gulfstream Park.

The three weeks between the Blue Grass and the Derby will be Summer’s Squall’s longest layoff since he returned to action.

Not long after Summer Squall, ridden by Pat Day, crossed the finish line Saturday 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Land Rush, people were asking Mike Battaglia, Churchill Downs odds maker, who will be the early favorite for the Derby.

“It’s going to be tight,” Battaglia said. “I want to see the horses work out. I’m kind of leaning toward Mister Frisky.”

“Mister Frisky probably will have the edge,” Neil Howard, Summer Squall’s trainer, said Sunday.

“Summer Squall is the horse to beat in the Derby,” said Angel Cordero Jr., who rode Land Rush.

Battaglia said the line he makes on Mister Frisky and Summer Squall will be affected by the performance of Champagneforashley in the 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial Saturday at Aqueduct. A victory there would make Champagneforashley unbeaten in six starts.

Also expected to start in the Derby are Land Rush, Unbridled and Shot Gun Scott, who finished 2-3-4 in the $284,625 Blue Grass.