One last run before roses
Ever since Street Sense won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by a record 10 lengths at Churchill Downs last November, the colt has been one of the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby.
He’ll get his final test before the first Saturday in May today in the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, where he’ll race a colt that already has beaten him on the same track.
Great Hunter, conditioned by Hollywood Park-based trainer Doug O’Neill, won the Lane’s End Breeders’ Futurity over Keeneland’s new artificial surface last October, with Street Sense finishing third.
Less than a month later, the result was reversed when Street Sense won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on the old-fashioned dirt at Churchill Downs, with Great Hunter third.
Great Hunter and owner J. Paul Reddam of Sunset Beach might have more obstacles than today’s seven-horse field between now and the May 5 Kentucky Derby, however.
Reddam’s ownership of the colt is being disputed by Fifth Third Bank, a Cincinnati-based regional bank that claims the horse’s previous owner, Ilona Whetstone, used racehorses, including Great Hunter, as collateral on loans that are now in default.
Reddam, who bought the horse from Whetstone for $550,000 last June, filed a civil suit against Fifth Third Bank in Orange County Superior Court in March, asking the court to declare his ownership free and clear. Further hearings in the case are scheduled this month.
“We own the horse,” Reddam said Friday.
Today, at least, the action is on the artificial surface at Keeneland.
“The last two times we’ve seen Street Sense, we’ve been impressed. Obviously, he’s a super-talented horse,” said O’Neill, whose Great Hunter is the 9-5 second choice behind Street Sense, the 4-5 favorite on the morning line.
“We both want to win so bad. At the same time, we’ve got to make sure we come out of the race good.”
That’s because this is all about being at their best for the Derby.
Keeneland, with a Polytrack surface installed there last year, has become something of a magnet for trainers preparing for the Derby.
It isn’t so much the size of the field for the Blue Grass -- it drew only seven horses -- but the number of Derby hopefuls training on the artificial surface.
Todd Pletcher doesn’t have a horse in the Blue Grass, but has four contenders stabled at Keeneland.
O’Neill, whose horses train on the new artificial Cushion track at Hollywood Park, also has four Derby prospects at Keeneland, less than an hour and a half from Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Carl Nafzger, the trainer of Street Sense, said he chose the Blue Grass as his colt’s final prep partly because the Polytrack handles rain so well -- and as it turns out, rain is in the forecast today.
“With the Polytrack, you don’t have to worry about weather or a hard track,” said Nafzger, who also trained Unbridled, winner of the 1990 Kentucky Derby.
Others in the field for the 1 1/8 -mile Blue Grass Stakes, a Grade I, are Zanjero, at 8-1, Dominican and Teuflesberg at 10-1, and longshots Love Dubai and Time Squared.
Today’s other final major Derby prep is the Arkansas Derby, with lightly raced Curlin, an undefeated colt who has run only twice, the 7-5 favorite in the $1-million Grade II at 1 1/8 miles.
Deadly Dealer, trained by Pletcher, is the 4-1 second choice. Others in the field include Officer Rocket, trained by Bob Holthus, who won the 2006 Arkansas Derby with Lawyer Ron.