It’s Not Luck, as Frankel Has Favorite in Florida
Trainer Bobby Frankel believed that Trust N Luck would be favored in Saturday’s Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, but it turns out that that distinction goes to Frankel’s Empire Maker. Frankel hopes that this is the only time this week he’s wrong.
After seven horses were entered Wednesday for the 52-year-old Kentucky Derby prep, Empire Maker was installed as the 9-5 favorite, followed closely at 2-1 by Trust N Luck, a colt from nearby Calder Race Course whose only Gulfstream start resulted in a front-running 5 1/4-length win in the shorter Fountain of Youth Stakes a month ago.
The second- and third-place finishers from the Fountain of Youth will also take another shot, Supah Blitz at 8-1 and Midway Cat at 5-1. The others in the field for the 1 1/8-mile test are Senor Swinger, 6-1; Formal Attire, 7-1, and Indy Dancer, 10-1. As long as he breaks in good order, Trust N Luck shouldn’t be burdened by the No. 1 post position. Empire Maker, who will run with blinkers for the first time, drew the No. 6 post.
The whole idea is to use Saturday’s $1-million race as a steppingstone for the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 3. In 2001, Monarchos won here and went on to win at Churchill, becoming the 19th Florida Derby starter to parlay his success in Kentucky.
Trust N Luck, who’s trained by Ralph Ziadie, has five wins and two seconds in nine starts. By contrast, Empire Maker is running for only the fourth time. Trust N Luck, however, has never run farther than 1 1/16 miles, while Empire Maker has been third and second in two tries at the Florida Derby distance.
Empire Maker’s only win came against maidens, in his first start at Belmont Park in October, but the Gulfstream handicapper, in making the California shipper the favorite, is betting that Saturday’s bettors will hop on the Frankel bandwagon, which has been going at open throttle lately.
Leaving his purported best older horse, Medaglia d’Oro, in the barn March 1, Frankel won the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap with Milwaukee Brew for the second consecutive year, and Sunday he was in New Orleans, saddling his other Kentucky Derby hopeful, Peace Rules, for a Louisiana Derby win that surprised even the trainer.
“I wish [Frankel] luck,” Ziadie said. “I have a lot of respect for his horse. He would not be flying all the way from California if he didn’t think he had a good shot.”
Frankel, who trains his California horses at Hollywood Park, bypassed running Empire Maker in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe on Sunday at Santa Anita. The fact that the Florida Derby is $750,000 more than the San Felipe was not the reason, Frankel insists. “The longer distance is why we’re running here,” he said Wednesday at Gulfstream.
Expected to be included in the San Felipe field is Man Among Men, who beat Empire Maker by one length in the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 7. Frankel, upset by the outcome, marched out, not even going trackside to rehash the running with jockey Jerry Bailey.
On the way home, Frankel picked up his phone and called Bailey on his cell. Bailey, who could tell that it was Frankel at the other end, didn’t even say hello. “Blinkers,” he said.
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Offlee Wild, fourth in the Fountain of Youth at 7-2, has recovered from a bacterial infection and is headed for the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 12.