Bobby’s Kitten could get Derby spot
Horses with more than 20 entries for Churchill Downs' Kentucky Derby are eligible for entry. The points leaders are 150 for California Chrome, 120 for Vicar's in Trouble, 102 for Wicked Strong, 100 for Samraat, Constitution, 95 for Hoppertunity, 93 for Intense Holiday, 90 for Wildcat Red, 60 for We Miss Artie, 54 for Chitu, 52 for Midnight Hawk, 50 for Ring Weekend, 40 for General a Rod, 30 for Candy Boy, and 20 for Vinceremos. Saturday's $1 million Arkansas Derby and $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass are the last two races for horses to earn their way into the Derby.
Bobby's Kitten is the Blue Grass' 3-1 favorite. He will race on a synthetic surface for the first time. Bobby's will be trained by Chad Brown. If he does well in the race, he will go to Churchill Downs to train and work. The Bluegrass is a 1/8-mile race with 15 horses. It's a betting race tailor-made for 10-cent superfectas. The winner of the event gets a starting spot in Kentucky Derby. There are turf horses, synthetic horses and dirt horses in it. Some of them are eligible to win. They are: We Miss Artie, Turfway Park’s Spiral and Vicar”s in Trouble.
Vinceremos won the Sam Davis and finished second in the Tampa Bay Derby. He has never raced on Polytrack but worked well over it when sold as a 2-year-old at Keeneland. His stablemate Gala Award has three strong efforts in three starts on turf. Harry’s Holiday, a $30,000 claim owned by Louisville”s Terry Raymond and Skychai Racing, lost the Spiral by a nose. Asserting Bear was flying at the end of the spiral and ended up fourth. Extrasexyhippzster is bred to handle synthetic and is the pick at 15-1 of BRISnet“s Ed DeRosa.
Rebel runner-up Tapiture is 9-5 favorite for the Arkansas Derby. Joel Rosario will ride Tapitures for first time. Bayern is 2-1 favorite in the morning line. Knock Em Flat is expected to be scratched.
Commissioner (8-1) beat Top Billing in a 1/8 mile allowance at Gulfstream. Ride On Curlin (12-2) never runs a bad race. Conquest Titan (10-3) gets one more chance to live up to the barn’s high expectations. BRIS past performances for the Blue Grass and Arkansas Derby are available at courier-journal.com/racingblog.
