Luck ‘Major Factor’ in Red’s Run to the Derby

Thirty Six Red, named for the highest number on a roulette wheel, is good enough to get to the Kentucky Derby, in the mind of trainer Nick Zito. He just hopes the colt is lucky enough.

“Luck is a major factor,” Zito said Thursday before entering Thirty Six Red in Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

“Hey, luck is taking you there in the first place. He has gotten better, stronger and smarter since last year,” Zito said of Thirty Six Red, who won the one-mile Gotham on April 7 at Aqueduct.

If Thirty Six Red avoids bad luck and runs strongly, he will start in the 1 1/4-mile Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs.

“I want to go there with a shot,” Zito said. “That’s my theory. There’s no need to go if we get beat badly.”

One of the nine 3-year-olds Thirty Six Red has to beat to get his third victory in 11 career starts is unbeaten Champagneforashley.

Other Wood starters with high hopes for the Derby include Senor Pete, second in the Gotham; Burnt Hills, third in the Gotham; Yonder, third to Summer Squall, who is a leading Derby contender, in the Jim Beam; Adversarial, a former claimer who has won three straight, and Country Day, fifth in the Florida Derby.

Also nominated for the Triple Crown races are Pendleton Ridge and Duke’s Cup. Not nominated is Nasty Charger.

Burnt Hills and Pendleton Ridge will race as a Bobby Frankel-trained entry. Senor Pete and Adversarial are a Scotty Schulhofer-trained entry.

If all 10 start, the Wood will be worth $604,000, with $362,400 to the winner. Each starter will carry Derby weight of 126 pounds. Post time is 1:44 p.m. PDT, and the race will be televised on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.”

“He is really doing good, and I won’t have any excuses about the way he came to the Wood,” trainer Howie Tesher said of Champagneforashley.

“I have him 90% fit for this, and I hope 100% for May 5.”

The Wood comes only eight days after Champagneforashley won the seven-furlong DeWitt Clinton for New York-breds by 12 1/2 lengths at Aqueduct. That was the second start of the year for the colt, who was unbeaten in three races as a 2-year-old. In his 3-year-old debut, he won the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby on March 18 at Tampa Bay Downs.