Repent Stays on Course for His Place in History

Only two horses--Black Gold in 1924 and Grindstone in 1996--won the Louisiana Derby and then captured the Kentucky Derby. Repent is one race away from becoming the third.

Lugging in badly through the 1,346-foot stretch at the Fair Grounds and thoroughly testing his new rider, Jerry Bailey, Repent was a nose better than Easyfromthegitgo on Sunday in the $750,000 Louisiana Derby.

Trainer Ken McPeek, who has another Kentucky Derby contender in Harlan’s Holiday, one of the favorites for next Saturday’s Florida Derby, would appear to have three options with Repent--the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, the Blue Grass at Keeneland and the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. All three will be run on April 13, three weeks before the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

The Louisiana Derby capped a big weekend for the McPeek outfit in New Orleans.

On Saturday, his brilliant filly, Take Charge Lady, won the $350,000 Fair Grounds Oaks under Tony D’Amico, the jockey McPeek dropped in favor of the Derby-seasoned Bailey aboard Repent. A likely scenario for Take Charge Lady is the Ashland at Keeneland on April 6 and the Kentucky Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs on May 3, but McPeek hasn’t ruled out running against colts. Take Charge Lady will also be kept eligible for the Arkansas Derby and the Illinois Derby.

Repent was next to last heading down the backstretch of Sunday’s 11/16-mile race. Bailey attacked from the outside, but his mount kept bearing in during the final sixteenth of a mile, even though Bailey switched whip hands from the right to the left.

Easyfromthegitgo, running on the inside, didn’t give up and almost reversed the outcome on Feb. 17, when he finished third to Repent in the Risen Star Stakes.

After not switching lead feet--which shifts a horse’s weight--in the stretch of the Risen Star, Repent was late switching leads Sunday, and that’s a concern for Bailey.

“He needs to switch to his right lead sooner,” Bailey said, “because running on the left lead won’t cut it at Churchill Downs. It takes some horses longer than others to learn this, but the time for this horse to learn it is now.”

It’sallinthechase finished third, beaten by 23/4 lengths. Publication, the Bay Meadows shipper who hadn’t run since a fifth-place finish in the Hollywood Futurity in December, was the last of seven horses. French Assault was scratched after coming down with a virus.

Repent, earning $450,000, was timed in 1:434/5 and paid $2.80.

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When Azeri broke her maiden by winning at Santa Anita last November, it came only a few days before she was scheduled to be sold at a Keeneland auction.

“Instead of winding up on a Tex Sutton flight to Kentucky, she won by six lengths and stayed with me,” trainer Laura De Seroux said. “We pulled her out of the sale.”

Since then, the 4-year-old filly has been almost perfect, and there was more cause for hoopla Sunday when she beat Spain by three lengths to win the $300,000 Santa Margarita Handicap for her fourth win in five starts.

“She should be undefeated,” said De Seroux, who trains Azeri for Michael Paulson and the trust of the late Allen Paulson. “The last race [a second-place finish to Summer Colony in the La Canada on Feb. 9], she had too much to do. She was too far out of it early.”

Before the Santa Margarita, Michael Paulson told Mike Smith, Azeri’s jockey, to ride the filly “like Jerry Bailey rode Cigar.” The reference was to the horse that won horse-of-the-year titles in 1995-96 for Paulson’s father.

Azeri, who went off the second choice to Printemps in the betting, loomed in fourth place after a half-mile, but she was only two lengths from the lead as Favorite Funtime and Spain battled up front. The issue was down to Azeri and Spain in the stretch, with Azeri putting away her rival in the final sixteenth of a mile. Printemps finished third, beaten by four lengths.

“She got away a lot better this time,” Smith said. “The last race a lot of people didn’t realize that she fell in behind, and really rapped herself. She was like a washing machine that gets unbalanced, and it took about an eighth of a mile to get her straightened out. She still got away a little funky today, but at least she didn’t hit herself.”

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Yougottawanna and Danthebluegrassman, separated by three-quarters of a length Saturday in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields, are both headed for the Santa Anita Derby on April 6.

David Flores, who rode Danthebluegrassman, dropped his whip at the top of the stretch and improvised by hitting the colt with his goggles the rest of the way.

“I think it made a big difference,” said Bob Baffert, who trains Danthebluegrassman. “They were running on a hot pace, and my horse is pretty lazy, so having the whip to urge him on when it counted would have made a difference.”