Excavate Connections Happy Despite Second

Excavate, one of California’s early Kentucky Derby favorites, finished second in his second start Thursday but made a strong late run that left trainer Charlie Whittingham and jockey Chris McCarron eager to see more.

Against a good allowance field of horses that had never won two races, Excavate shook off a slow start and traffic problems on the turn and finished second, three-quarters of a length behind Avenue of Flags, in the 6 1/2-furlong race. A couple of jumps past the finish line, Excavate had passed Avenue of Flags, whose winning time was 1:15 1/5.

Excavate, a $1.1-million Mr. Prospector yearling who is owned by Dick Duchossois, Arthur Hancock and Whittingham, hadn’t run in 2 1/2 months since winning his debut by five lengths at Hollywood Park.

“I’m just glad we got a race in him,” Whittingham said. “This isn’t the Kentucky Derby.”

Whittingham, who won the Derby in 1986 with Ferdinand and in 1989 with Sunday Silence, is hoping that Excavate will be his next ticket to Churchill Downs.

“He didn’t break that good and he got trapped,” Whittingham said. “That other horse (Pillaring) knocked open the gate before the start, and my horse got a little antsy waiting for the break.”

Whittingham didn’t say what his plans for Excavate are, but his next start probably will be around two turns.

McCarron said that Excavate, who was in the stall outside of Pillaring, actually caused the other horse to hit the gate door.

“My horse wasn’t standing still, and he shifted his feet a couple of times,” McCarron said. “I was hollering at the starter when the other horse hit the door.”

Excavate was last in the six-horse field leaving the gate, and after he got clear at the top of the stretch, he still trailed Avenue of Flags by four lengths with an eighth of a mile to run.

“I’m not surprised that this horse got beat by good sprinters,” McCarron said. “If we had had a clean trip and hadn’t had that trouble at the five-sixteenths pole, we would have won. In the mornings, my horse trains like a horse who wants to run all day.”

The victory was the second in three starts for Avenue of Flags, a son of Seattle Slew who was making his first start since running second in the Hollywood Juvenile last July. The winner, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, paid $9.80. Excavate went off at 2-5.